Interview #1

Last week I completed my 1st interview and got some great stuff. I have a lot of raw notes from the interview and just need to transcribe them to find some patterns. The young boy I interviewed was African American and 15 years old. It was VERY difficult to break the ice with him (At the beginning of the interview i got the idea he wanted to answer only yes or no questions). But as SOON as he told me he liked to play basketball i knew i was in. :) I showed great interest in the fact he loved to play ball, and got quite the story out of it. He had a daily routine of walking to the park after school to shoot hoops. This was the one thing he felt he was good at. This same park was where the older kids (both kids in school and kids dropped out) would hang out. He was very hesitant on telling me in detail about these boys. I put an asterisk by that part of the interview. We then started to talk about things in his life that he thought he was good at. Sports was at the top of the list and education was near the bottom. He also mentioned dominoes as being near the top of his list. Dominoes is the most popular game these kids play here in the detention center. He told me dominoes was a daily activity played multiple times a day. I wanted to touch on the subject of education and why he said it wasn't his favorite. It was hard for him to pay attention during class and most of the material he never understood, he said. It was hard enough for him to sit still during this interview (Its seems to be a problem he has outside of school as well).

.....to be continued after game tonight

thurs night

Weekly Update

Busy week ahead of me. Lots of traveling for baseball and school work. This week I will conduct my first interview at the Juvenile Detention Center. My interview guide is typed up and ready to follow. Im looking forward to learn about the individual Im scheduled to interview.

Phenomenology Pt. 1

Today in theory we discussed phenomenology and its meaning. It's how things exist subjectively (rather than objectively) that really matters. We used the example...."When i go to an interview my job is to.." My job is to maintain a meaning of positive feedback from my interviewee's, in this case the juvenile. As I prepare to start my interviews within the next week, I look for different meaning(s) to bring with me. This may include a plan to make the juvenile feel comfortable around me, allowing them to tell their story. I could start with my personal experience of being involved with crime, and how I was able to turn it into a positive experience and land me a college scholarship. Overall, I want to have some type of "game-plan" to follow as i begin my interviews.

Thursday Night Post

Shreveport Police Reaching Out

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20100226/NEWS03/2260322/1062

Shreveport Times

"Police Reach out to Local Neighborhood"

by: Kelsey McKinney

This article in the times talks about the Shreveport Police department and their extra effort to help fight crime. Some 30 officers knocked on doors of Sherwood Park neighborhood residents arming them with information on how to report crime. However they were not able to reach one man. The resident spoke only spanish and the officers acknowledged that those who do not speak English often don't report crimes. This article interested me because I've heard about neighborhoods who don't report crimes because they think there protecting themselves. Neighborhoods are full of children and children tend to misbehave. Juvenile crimes should be reported because the earlier we can fix them, the sooner young children can better understand what is right and wrong. I remember committing crimes as a child, and I really never learned my lesson until i was finally caught. The sooner we can educate the juvenile population, the lesser the chances of juvenile delinquents.