Sunday, October 21, 2012

The Future Generation

After a long month's worth of interviewing, drafting, and revising my oral history paper, it finally came the day to turn it in. Just when I thought I was done with the transcript and all, Mr. O'Connor gave us the option to creatively make an erasure poem, where we could erase words from a page of our transcript to write a poem. I made my poem tailored to my experience with my interviewee: 

"I am special. Kids are people."

Short? Yes. I know. But it really illustrated how I felt during my interview, and how I feel when I am with adults I don't have a relationship with. Whether this is just her personality, the woman who I interviewed was very condescending and a tad snappy - she refused to give me any specific stories even when I asked her blatantly, and she treated me as if I were a 10 year-old. This not only made me upset, it made me think of how kids get treated by adults.

Yes, adults are older and supposedly smarter and have more experience with everything, but I think that even though we are younger, our voice and opinions are just as valid as someone three times our age. I don't feel as if that is the case now. 

Does this happen with most adult-kid interactions? Is this an American thing, or is it universal? Or is it just me...?


1 comment:

  1. Although I did not have the same problem as you during my interview there are times when adults have been condescending toward me. It would be hard for me to believe that the U.S. is the only place where this occurs. For example, in places where there are arranged marriages kids have a much bigger problem. The adults are so condescending that they believe their kids will not be able to choose a suitable spouse. I think your poem is really good because it is very ironic. You have taken the women's views and turned them into something that you believe. Also, they are words that contrast the way you described her treating you, so that is also cool.

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