The most rewarding part of doing this interview was now having a story to share with the family about what life was like during WWII.  I know this is not a subject we ever discussed at Thanksgiving Dinner.  So I am going to print out the story and share it.  The other rewarding aspect was just spending time with Aunt Peg.  I am always mindful that she is 84 and you never know how much time you have.  I love her very much and always have a blast with her. 
The most difficult aspect of this project was keeping Aunt Peg on task.  She has so m so many stories and she did as was predicted in class for interviewees, she would tend to ramble.  The best way around that was to really focus the questions on the second interview to get the story straight and in a sequential order. 
During the first interview she was very consious of the recorder so I just let her go and made notes as I went to ask her more specific questions.  The second interview went much smoother and quicker.
Another difficult aspect was deciding how to tell her story so that it was personal.  I couldn't figure out the voice of the story.  By "exchanging" letters the story comes across personal and touching.

I think the two biggest themes in my story are Patriotism and fear. 
Fear:
"I was at a friend's house when President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. And I said it was frightening time because of Germany and Adolph Hitler was really a frightening person and I was scared to death because of him going into France and thinking of England and I was afraid he was going to come to this country, because he was such a scary person."  Our country had great fear of Adolph Hitler.  My Aunt and her friends really felt that there was a real possibilty of him reaching this country.  They saw and heard of his atrocious behavior and they had every right to be nervous.
Patriotism:
"It was a really scary time and all the men went, all the boys.  There was no "I don't want to go," or runnin to Canada.  They went and all the women went to work for the war effort."  "I had several soldiers to my mother's house for dinner.And they enjoyed it.  You had to keep up their morale.  I danced with them at the USO, I baked Cookies and sent them over, I wrapped bandages for the Red Cross and I sold War Bonds. Everybody was behind everybody else.  Nobody wanted war but beins there was war we were happy to do our share."
Both of these quotes show how patriotic and supportive the people at home were of this war and the war effort.  My Aunt sacrificed for the effort and all Americans had great respect for the President and wanted to do all they could to take care of this country.  The people at home felt that the soldiers were protecting them so they had to willingly do all they could back in the States.  It is interesting to note that that even though she quit school, went to work at Campbell's Soup, joined the USO and focused her life on making the lives of soldiers easier she never felt that she was sacraficing anything.  The climate of the country at that time was such that everyone had a responsibility and they took it seriously and without bitterness.  In fact thay did it out of love for their country and their soldiers. 

"I was at a friend's house when President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. And I said it was frightening time because of Germany and Adolph Hitler was really a frightening person and I was scared to death because of him going into France and thinking of England and I was afraid he was going to come to this country, because he was such a scary person."
I think this quote shows how much of a change was coming to our country.  This reminds me of the fear I felt on 9/11.  I knew on that day my life and the country's life would be forever changed.  What then was left to decide was how it was going to be dealt with.  Aunt Peg had more faith in our leaders then than Americans have in the leaders of today. 

Number Three

"It was a really scary time and all the men went, all the boys.  There was no "I don't want to go," or runnin to Canada.  They went and all the women went to work for the war effort."
This quote shows more of the same.  That in the time of need no one protested or tried to shirk their duty.  The level of respect that Americans held for their country then is not seen today in our society.  I believe there is a lot wrong with this country but it is still the best in the world.

Studs Terkel's account of the Great Depression was a little hard to follow for me.  At times it felt personal and at others it got lost on me because he continually says he doesn't remember that day.  However I think he does a great service to those whose memories he has printed in this book.  Louis Banks on the other hand tells his oral history in a way that truly conveys the horror of the times.  My grandmother lived through the "Depression," my father was only five at the time.  She would tell me how they ate "poor man's bread", bread and water mixed together and put in a frying pan.  She became known as a woman who could make a pot of soup out of water and an onion.  It was as hard as Louis states, there were bread lines and "government cheese," these people who had worked their whole lives without handouts now relied on them to keep themselves and their family fed.  Children were hired out to work, anything to make ends meet.  This story gives me strong connections to my Granmother's stories and I have always had a sense of understanding the Depression because my family never recovered after their losses.  We would always be worker bees from there on out.  Money for education was lost to my father so as a laborer so are his children.

While I was reding this piece I was struck by how much we lose by not appreciating all communites, not just our backyards but all around us.  I remember last semester when we were placed in Camden, I was so shocked by the lack of literature in the classroom.  Not only was there no black author literature there was no white author literature.  So if not for literature where does a student begin to understand the world around him?I felt a sense of loss for these youths in Harlem to have to fight for their neighborhood because of Columbia.  A student named Phillip asked, Why we have to have gentrification give us things we should already have based on the fact that we're human, we're people?"  Gentrification of any cultural neighborhood has both pros and cons.  If the inhabitants of these neighborhoods don't want it, who ia anyone to force it down their throat?  The country we live in is truly melting down to an innocuous, PC, bland territory.  We only have to drive down I-95 to see how different cultures are disappearing.  There was a time that we could only get grits in the south, now we can get it anywhere.  Even the Amish are getting in on big business and the perks that go with it.  I have seen Amish going to work in cars, putting on lipstick.  Is this another culture that will go by the wayside?  One thing I have learned in my classes is that literacy is not just about reading, writing or music or...it's about the total package of knowledge and connections to our world.

Doing the twitterive project did make me more aware of my surroundings.  I enjoyed revisiting memories from over the years.  I love my yard and my roses and my life with my family.  Doing this project made me really notice the changes that are taking place, not only the physical yard, but the emotional growth and changes taking place in my family's life as well.  Watching my daughter grow, i've always taken pictures with my heart.  With this project, I was able to look through pictures taken with a camera and review and remember the actual changes in a linear way.  If it wasn't for Weebly and the computer situation this would have been a project filled with joy as well as some bitter sweetness to it.  All in all I'm glad to be done with it.  I hope when I get my new laptop I will be able to improve on this project that will produce a better outcome.

What do I think of Weebly? It sucks!  As a matter of fact, I'm hating all technology right now.  Because of last week's  robbery I am doing my project on my pc.  This pc should be in the big pc graveyard in the sky.  I worked literally all day from 11am til 6pm.  Nothing worked! Weebly was also uncooperative.  It would not let me upload a single photo.  My homepage got deleted and when I ran to the bathroom for a much needed break...I ran into a dining room chair and broke my baby toe!!!  I know it was my fault, my homepage, garbage in...garbage out.  One good thing is that I was able to get different fonts on my project.  However, being so hung up on the technology made the writing process for me much more difficult.  The story gets lost.
This got me to thinking about the disadvantages of the financially challenged student who does not have the resources to be able to learn and practice technology skills they've learned because they don't have a computer or the ability to get somewhere to use one.  I know my situation will change.  I'm fortunate. 
So for students where the project is using technology they are not going to do as well.  I did not enjoy this project.  I felt a bit overwhelmed and out of touch.  I won't keep this going after this class.  I hate weebly and feel it hurts the writing process and the creativity of the writer.  Maybe if we paid for weebly it would have been more user friendly.  As it is it's difficult to navigate if you've never done it before.