Interview With Jason

Do you remember your first interview?

I remember mine. Yikes.

To be honest, I don't remember anything I said. What I do recall is the sound of my shaky voice, wiping my sweaty palms on my pants, and telling myself to BREATHE.

Surely I can't be the only one. Why is it so uncomfortable to be interviewed?

About a year ago, I realized that the entire time I was in public school, I was never put under that kind of pressure. I stuck to my books and hid in the back of the class, and my teachers let me. Therefore, I was never able to get used to it. Now, as I'm about to graduate from college, I wish someone had put me on the spot like that so I could practice answering questions confidently.

As I'm constantly finding new ways to help the children I work with, I thought interviewing them every now and then could be beneficial to them. This blog is a perfect excuse for that.

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jason, a longtime member of the after-school program I work at. I chose to interview him not because he is known for his witty responses, but because for hours on end, he plants himself in a chair and shoves his face into a book. As an English major, I'm all for children reading on their free time, but I see myself in his spot and can't help myself.

The interview went as follows...

Raven: "Please go ahead and introduce yourself." 

Jason: "I'm Jason." 

R: "Hi, Jason. How old are you and where are you from? Tell me about yourself." 

J: "I'm ten years old, and I'm from Milford. I've lived in Milford for my entire life. But not in the same house. I live with my mom, dad, brother, and cat. My favorite color is red, I like pizza, and I hate broccoli." 

R: "Thank you, that's really good to know. Why do you like coming to this after-school program?"

J: "Um... I like all the fun stuff you get to do." 

R: "Like?" 

J: "Everything." 

R: "Oh okay... What do you want to be when you grow up?" 

J: "Do I have to... can I say more than one thing? I want to be either a cartoonist or a video game graphic designer." 

R: "That's pretty cool. I could see you writing comics."

J: "Like the Captain Underpants series!" 

R: "Right. Exactly. Do you have any advice for anyone reading this?"

J: "Advice? Like life advice? Yeah, don't eat yellow snow. It's gross. Oh and also, you should interview my brother next. Intelligence runs in the family."

I'd say it was a successful interview. What did I learn from it?

We have to learn not to be so austere. Not only did he have fun with this interview, but he also gave me everything I needed to know.

As Jason continues working on his comics, I vow to work on not taking myself so seriously.