The Beauty of Stories

by Diana Muñoz

Diana conducts an interview with one of her interviewees.

The hardest moment in my project journey would have to be the process of scheduling and completing the final sixth interview.

As a class, we had made a “Goals and Deadlines” sheet where we planned out the finishing steps of our individual projects in the course of the entire month of January and February. Since my ultimate goal was to finish six interviews, I was almost done. I had overcome the constant contacting of recruiting interviewees, the unexpected cancellations of pre-interviews, the monotonous process of formulating questions, the unreliable scheduling of the recording room and the interviewee. At last it was nearly done. The final interviewee was Sergio Medina.

We had agreed to meet at church at 3 pm, just enough time for me to check-in with my church’s music director, who reserved the conference room for me, and set up the room for the recording, which means making sure there is close sitting and no outside noise. I had been practicing how I would start the interview - professionally but not intimidating. I wore my favorite dress and heels with my newest folder and pen. I had confirmed that he was on his way so nothing could go wrong.

However, when I arrived at the church, there were kids running, screaming, throwing food. People were in their tank tops and shorts either playing on rides or enjoying Mexican food. I realized that the music director had failed to tell me that there was a spring festival going on that day. There was no parking, music was blasting, kids were everywhere, and buildings were locked. I could not cancel the interview but I did not have the option of recording there. I had to figure out how I was going to tell my interviewee and where I could move the interview to. When he arrived, he was very confused but willing to either reschedule or change locations. My disappointment and frustration quickly turned into optimism and gratitude.

“I realized that I had been stressing so much on the unpredictable problems that I had forgotten to enjoy how beautiful my project was."

Ultimately, I conducted the recording in my quiet dining room and we ate dinner afterward, in appreciation for his willingness to be flexible and helpful. I had never had to move interviews to my house nor work so hard to make the interviewee comfortable and ready to open up. On the other hand, it made me more comfortable in how I would structure the interview without having to worry about the time of the reservation of the room nor the potential background noises.

After some small talk, I was able to get Sergio to tell me a long story about every question I asked without any insecurity or doubt about my dependability. I realized that I had been stressing so much on the unpredictable problems that I had forgotten to enjoy how beautiful my project was. I had met people that had the courage to share their story, learned about how different all of the interviewees were, and was able to help guide their story to create the pro-immigrant community that had never been given to them. I have learned a lot about communication, storytelling, and have even made close friends through this project. I’m so grateful for all of my interviewees, teachers, family, and the Houston community for being so diverse, helpful, and supportive.