Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Day 2: En Route to Scottsdale

This is all being written retroactively as I am currently in Arizona and traveling back west a bit to go to the city of  Quartzsite in La Paz County.
The first day of traveling was LONG but not too bad. Once you get past the usual LA gridlock, driving long distances is actually bearable (but then again I'm not the one driving lol). We made stops in Palm Springs and Blythe for restrooms/diapers and gas, respectively, and I was able to interview a grocer at Smart and Final in Palm Springs.

Didn't get into Arizona until late, maybe 1am or so. Father saw a pastor friend of his and I was able to ask him a few questions. He also obliged to being featured in this project! Finally arrived at my cousin's in Scottsdale at 2am and pops hit the hay almost instantaneously. As soon as I arrived in the residence itself I realized that I had not eaten much of anything for the duration of the 7hr drive. I was worried that I was going to have sleep for dinner but soon realized that I was in a house with food, made myself two sandwiches (butter and strawberry preservatives) along with water (there wasn't much milk left and I was raised well enough to know not to finish someone's milk as a guest in their home). Then I slept.

Spent most of the morning asleep, eating, and getting dressed. Got a lot of thinking done:
-I'm really taking personal offense to people belittling what I'm doing. "Your road trip thingy," "Ahh, I'm not a Trump supporter so I guess you cannot interview me." "That's what you're doing, right? Finding out why people voted for Trump?" No. This is not about Trump. Or Clinton. Or whomever. This is about America. I'm purposefully not going to ask people who they voted for, for two reasons in particular.
1. As soon as I ask that they are immediately going to feel like I am judging them one way or the other or feel self-righteous for voting the way they did and try to persuade me that what they did was the right decision. This is not something that I am concerned with whatsoever.
2. People viewing these interviews or reading about them will instantly have certain stigmas and presuppositions in mind about these people before fully hearing them out, leading them to align the way they do.

Also, I came up with some particular questions that could be of use and have relevance in each conversation:
-Who are you?/How did you grow up?/ What leads you to where you are now?
-Who did you idolize or look up to when you were growing up and why?
-Describe the community we are in right now for those that do not live here.
-What are some pressing issues facing the community? What is your take on it?
-Politically active community? Thoughts on current presidential administration?
-Can you name two things, either one material and one social/not physical, or two of either, that you find necessary and are most essential to you being happy with your life?
-Economic issues in the community?
I hope for this list to continue to expand the more I meet people.
Stay tuned.


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