Monday, April 27, 2009

Fits of Journalistic Nostalgia

A conversation with a pal brought up this story, about the first interview I ever did. I was in eighth grade, and it was for the school paper. I cannot for the life of me remember the teacher's name, but I remember I was assigned the story because she was new to the school, and had been teaching at a consulate school and then a local school in Mexico. In the course of the interview, I remember asking her about culture shock, and she told me the story about their little dog, Pepe, who they had adopted after moving there. They had a housekeeper, and occasionally her mother would come and make them fresh tamales. In the area they lived in, fresh meat was so scarce that the local butcher would run up a red flag when he had some. So they, uh, ate what meat was available. One night, the teacher came home to a big, steaming pile of tamales. She ate several, and then began calling for Pepe...to no avail. I think you know where that was headed. I told the whole story in my piece, and it was, I suppose, the first hard-hitting expose I did - on the dog-eating science teacher. So what was your first interview?