My Lenses (Not the Ones in my Glasses)

I am a white, eighteen year old female from and middle class Christian family in the “sticks” of northern Rhode Island and am very shy. For where I live, I’m main-stream, but going to any other part of the state or the country makes me look like a small-town hick. I have lived here for my whole life and spent summers in New Hampshire with my parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and my grandmother on a lake. I am a freshmen studying psychology but hoping to switch to elementary education, to be a preschool teacher. I volunteer at my church with the younger Sunday School classes and would like to teach a class soon. I work for a chiropractor doing computer work and taking care of patients. I do karate and love anything art-related. I grew up playing musical instruments and watching educational shows on PBS.

                My subjects are also middle class from pretty rural areas, mostly in Rhode Island and Connecticut. They range from toddlers in high chairs to groups of teenagers, to families, to elderly men at the counter. My subjects also include waitresses, hosts, and hostesses. The waitresses are all young, college-aged white females; the host and hostess are both white and middle aged. They all seem very friendly and outgoing.

                I fit in with these people, and am a regular at Zip’s. I am worried about being rejected by some of the people I would like to interview. I am also worried about my social awkwardness and shortcomings while I interview people. I have done interviews before, but I am honestly terrible at it and always think of better questions after the fact.