EDHS Contemporary World Affairs

MrsCavalluzzi · Guru

National Day of Listening - AN ASSIGNMENT FOR YOU!!!!

rtheisen · Senior Member

I interviewed my grandpa who will be 81 on New Years. He has had an amazing life.

Born in 1928, adopted months later. At the age of 7 he was sent to live in a foster home at a Catholic church because his adoptive parents couldn't care for him during the depression. at 14 he go into a fight with a priest and punched him. He was kicked out and sent to Juvenile Hall to be cared for. At 18 he went to New York and worked for a few months. He then hitch hiked to Tijuana, Mexico, and lived there for a few months. He joined the military, and was a Military Police in Alaska, protecting eskimoes from american GIs. Later on, he fell in love with his best friend's girlfriend, and convinced her to go out with him by balancing a broom on his nose( it doesn't work anymore these days, trust me). They got married...He became involved in the tobacco industry, and struck it rich as a salesman.

That's his life in a nutshell. The story took almost an hour to tell

jessmontano · Veteran Member

I interviewed my mother.
On June 16 she will be 42.

She was born June 16, 1967. When she was five she moved from Chatsworth (LA County) to Placentia with her mother, father, and 5 siblings. Growing up she was raised in a traditional and structed lifestyle. She recalls many neighborhood bbqs on 4th of July and New Years. She went to Sierra Vista, Tuffree, and graduated from El Dorado class of 1985. After high school she moved to Colorado and lived with her second oldest sister and lived there for a year. When she moved back to Placentia, she worked for a couple of years and then she met my dad in June 1990. They had me in October 1991, got married in February 1994, and then had my brother in September 1994. Now she works at Bank of America and has a great family. The last thing she said in the interview was, " Even though I moved around and tried to figure out what I wanted, I always came back to Placentia because it felt like home."

meganrizzo · Veteran Member

I talked with my grandma, who will be 76 this Christmas Eve. (though I was unable to record/tape it!) Born Sylvia Ann Clayton, then Sylvia Ann Rosser, and now Sylvia Ann DuMortier!

She was born in 1932 in Maine. Her and her family moved to Pennsylvania when she was young, so she grew up there. When she got older, she became a nurse there and really loved it. She got married to my grandpa at a young age. He worked for IBM back east so they moved around alot. She then had my mom and uncle and stayed home to take care of them. They moved to several states including: New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania (again) and some other states, I don't remember. All the moving was kind of too much for her to handle, and it was hard on my mom and uncle..so it cause fighting between her and my grandpa. They got a divorce and my grandma, mom, and uncle moved out to California in 1969. My grandma went back to work as a nurse at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton to support her kids and eventually remarried years later, but her husband died a year before I was born (kind of sad, she doesn't like talking about it). Anyways, she became a grandma and that is probably her favorite part of life. About 6 years ago, I think, she began to lose her eyesight. She was diagnosed with macular degeneration, each day is a struggle for her. Random facts: she has been smoking since age 16, she is diabetic and eats a lot of sweets, she lives in a house in my backyard, and she is rich. Some reactions I had were that I was suprised to find out the reason why her and my grandpa got a divorce and how hard moving around was for her. Also, it turned out to be over two hours talking to her..she loves talking. I could write more but this is long enough!

I love my grandma :)

cstair23 · Senior Member

I interviewed my dad
although i couldnt tape it i did write down as much as i could while still having a conversation

tetsuo sunagawa stair will be turning 56 this may
born in Okinawa, Japan my dad was forced to become right handed at young age because of my great grandmothers superstitions.

He came to the US at the age of 16 with my grandmother tomi sunagawa who remarried to wilbur stair after my dads real father abandoned him at a young age.

he prevailed through high school and eanred his diploma; and like many of those around him joined the service after high school

he was stationed in germany for three years
what he did there he refuses to tell me
i like to think he did some type of "band of brothers" thing but i truly have no idea

however i did get some things out of him

upon entering the service my dad was still not completely fluent in english, and he was in essence forced to "speak english or die" as his drill sergeant so eloquently stated.

as a result he read the dictionary
he just memorized words whenever he could and used them in every day conversation

apparently
the only time one could read in peace, in germany, while in the service, in the 60s was after lights out

so due to the lack of light my dad sat on the floor of the company latrine and read the dictionary for hours until he memorized enough words for a conversation that day

he then got up at 6 AM everyday for patrol or training or whatever he did and repeated this life style for three years

upon his return to the states he was fluent in english
he got a job
met my mom
got married
had some kids
fulfilled the american dream
no biggie

my dads awesome

Danika · Veteran Member

I interviewed my grandpa (my mom's dad), Ken Nelson, he's 80 years old.

Born in Massachusetts in 1928, he moved around a lot with his parents and two siblings. He says he liked moving because it gave him an adventuresome spirit and taught how to not be afraid to meet new people. He mostly grew up in California during the Depression (although he never actually said the word "Depression," he just commented that there was a recession at the time), so his dad was never around a lot because he was looking for work and his mom was pretty much the only parental influence he had. As soon as he was seventeen he graduated early and joined the Navy, he went to Japan and many other places and he was very lucky because the war was pretty much over at this point and he didn't see any action or lose any of his comrades.

It was really nice to be able to do this interview with my grandpa because he has Parkinsons and often he forgot the question or what he was saying so the interview only lasted about a half hour, but it was nice just to be able to hear about his life and see what he's learned through his many experiences.

natamakove · Veteran Member

I interviewed my mother. She is 35 years old.
(She was in her second year of university when I was born.)
And also I didn't tape the interview. I typed it.
Since I don't have any other relatives here in US I asked my mom about my grandparents and great grandparents.
The interview lasted about two hours, with breaks. Me and my mom usually talk a lot, so I had to use the Question Generator on that website to find some interesting questions that I wanted to ask her.
Some of her answers were very surprising, about how she and dad met, about raising me...She gave me totally unexpected advices...And than she said she does believe in love at first sight, which was very hmm surprising for me too. And, well, some details about our family history that I didn't know.
An interesting story to share?
My grandfather went to Second World War when he was 17, came back at 20-something. He lost his left leg in a battle. His division actually reached into Berlin. He knew my grandmother since they were both children. He always loved her, but she didn't notice his love. He waited for her for many years. When she was 36 they finally got married when she already had two kids with other man. My mom was born when grandmother was 41. Sadly, my grandfather died from a heart attack when I was only three and I almost don't remember him

-- Edited by natamakove at 14:46, 2008-12-02

KirstenHarms · Veteran Member

i interviewed my grandpa charles juliano (chuck)
he was born setemper 28th 1932 in Florence Italy. he came to america when he was 10 with his Mother Father and five sisters. (he had a baby brother who died durring infancy named joseph.) they moved to philedelphia . his dad worked in a deli and his mom stayed home. his favorite treat to eat (and mine too)is tasty kakes which are amazing. he married his chilhood sweetheart caroline and they had a littel girl tiffany. but it wasn't meant to be and thery divorce when tiffany was 4. to cope with his heartbreak he came to california to start a metal shop with his friend joe. there he met my grandma katherine mae rubie. who married him and had four spontanieuos and beautiful daughters. my grandpa taught my grandma how to drive when my mom was 5. his favorite holiday is thanksigiving and 4th of july because he remembers what has to be thankful with in such a beatiful country. and he like the 4th of july because it my brothers birthday and he loves all the patriostism. all in all he had a really fun and blessed life. oh he didn't fight in any wars but he didn't tell me how he got out of it.

MARISA CELISE TORRES · Veteran Member

i interviewed my father, anthony peter torres, he is 66.
he was born may 14, 1942. his dad was away fighting in japan during WWII when my father was born. he has 3 sisters and 2 brothers, which are all extremely goodlooking. my dad has lived an amazing life, he has had many careers.

he was a Los Angeles Sheriff for 35 years, then he became a lawyer in 1996.
later in life he didn't like the lawyer life, so he bought some houses, and re did them, and sold them. in 1997 he became a chef, which he is extremely good at. currently his is a lawyer, and works for the auto industry.

while he was a sheriff he meet the love of his life ( my mother ) they had three extremely goodlooking children, Gabby, Marisa, and Camille Torres. before he had three children, my dad had everything anyone could ask for, he had some porshes, a couple of houses, and did what ever he wants, but he gave that up so he could have a beauitful family.

also my dad grew up in a very old school traditional way, so i have been taught that way by being raised by him. i remember him telling me ( while we were watching a Marilyn Monroe movie ) he couldn't watch half of the movies we watch together because they were to risque for him to see.

that is pretty much the highlights of my fathers amazing life.
oh and he always gets mistaken for being a italian mobster.
nickname - papa mafia.

my dad is awesome.

-- Edited by MARISA CELISE TORRES at 19:46, 2008-12-03

nicholeoli · Veteran Member

i interviewed my mother, who was born in egypt. she is half egyptian and half greek. she grew up in egypt till she was 12. then she came to america. she talked to me about her child hood. she went to a school that spoke and taught in french, and spoke arabic and greek at home. so she grew up tri-lingual and continued to learn more languages such as german and english. her father (my grandpa) was in the army so she was needed to be a big help for the family and grew up in a strick, proper family with many responsibilities including taking care of her yonger brother. her mother (my grandma) died when she was 12 and she was left as the only woman in the house to help the family with the duties women had. on top of that she had her little brother to support as well. my mom grew up to be a wonderful woman and fantastic mother! i learn from her everyday and love her more than anything, and only hope to become a great mom like her one day.

alliestoom · Senior Member

i interviewed my grandma, oma, who was born in hungary. she fled during world war 2, her brothers fought and died in the war. she has 3 other sisters, her being the youngest. her mom was sick and she was always left to take care of her cooking and baking and doing things around the house. she met my opa, grandpa, and moved to the u.s. not knowing any english and living in virgina. my grandfather was stationed there to interpret german books and pamphlets or any other piece that was in german. he also taught people how to speak german. my grandpa worked in a tire patch factory when she came over here, and her sister taught her how to speak english. my uncle was born in virgina and when my opa was finished in the army, they moved to whittier/la habra and having been living in the same house since they moved.
she works at a deli now and my opa stays at home. everyones really happy and she loves us all and we love her.
awesome!

Zach_V · Senior Member

I interviewed my great great uncle Manuel.

He was born in 1916 and is 92. He's the last of six siblings and is the most interesting man I know. He was the youngest guy to work on the Hoover dam. Then when WWII started he joined the 101st airborne division. On D-Day he parachuted behind enemy lines on Normandy. He was separated with just his fire team and was the only man to survive. He also fought in the famous Battle of the Bulge and is one of the newspapers of the time. Later on he secured one of Hitler's houses or mansions or something like that. But anyway he stole one of Hitler's hunting rifles. I've held it myself. It's a double barrel 12 gauge shotgun with a single shot 8mm nitro tipped Mauser under it. After the war he got into masonry. He worked for some big company and became an avid hunter. He won a bunch of trophies and was hunting partners with Chuck Yeager. And now he lives humbly in his small house with his wife.

Beccawicks · Senior Member

I interviewed my Grandpa, who I've lived with along with my parents my entire life. He was born October 1, 1926. He grew up in El Segundo, California and used to go down to Paramount Studios and watch tapings of radio shows for dates. On July 4, 1944 when he was seventeen he enlisted in the army and went to Washington State College for training. Six months later he was sent to the Phillipines to train for the invasion of Japan. However, since the bomb was dropped and Japan surrendered, he did not have to invade. He arrived in Japan two days before the armistice was signed and was one of the first troops to occupy Japan. By the time he was 21, he was no longer in the army and he went to Pepperdine University where he majored in education and won the coveted Doris acting award (runs in the family?). Eventually he became the superintendent of the Norwalk-La Mirada school district. If you have ever seen Grease 2, yes it exists, the school it is filmed at was one of his schools. Somewhere in our mass of family archives we have a genuine Rydell High Letterman's Jacket. He and his wife had two girls and one boy and he adopted his wife's oldest daughter. Now he occupies his time by keeping up a newsletter for El Segundo High School graduates of 1944.

I love my grandpa.

drewtekulve · Senior Member

I Interviewed my mother, Katrine Anne Tekulve. She was born in Los Angeles on April 10th, 1953 and was adopted by Carl and Mary Lau 8 months later into the same house they live in to this day. They found about my mother because their neighbor was a social worker that filed private adoptions. Well, she grew up and attended Morningside Elementary, Alta Vista Junior High, and finally graduated at Selmar High. Here she met my father in a high school dance in the summer of 1968. They were friends for many years before their marriage. Katrina then attended USC and graduted in a degree in Psychology. Soon thereafter, she became a Crises Counselor for those who just needed help. Here at this job, one of her most interesting life experiences occured.

On September 21st, 1980, at 4 in the morning, she was kidnapped by two men at knifepoint who escaped a drug rehabilitation center in San Fransisco. They tied up my mom's co-worker and told her that if she called the police, they would kill my mother. The kidnappers forced my mom to drive to an airport to dump her car and buy a rental still at knifepoint. She was forced to act out a story that one of the kidnappers was her husband. Sure enough, she gets the rental car, a bright red camero, while 50 policemen were searching for her old car that they dumped. The kidnappers were forcing Katrina to find her own ransom, so she had the idea to call her Mom so that they could wire money to the Western Union because she had said that her car broke down. But to the wit of my mother, she told me grandma that this was "Katrina Lau" (She had just gotten married so this was something abnormal to say after recently being married) and told my grandparenets of the false story of the broken down car. My grandmother knew something was wrong and called the police.

However, the kidnappers had a lot a time to waste in order to wait for the money to be wired. So they decided that they wanted to drink to pass the time. They forced my mom to buy alcohol and other various snacks and they forced her to drive them to these campgrounds in the middle of nowhere. There, they continued to drink, and at this time my mother asked if she could use the restroom nearby to where they were staying. She walks inside into the lady side of the restroom and looks out the window to see a group of hunters.

So she decides to make her move and escape. She runs out of the bathroom towards the hunters surprising the drunk kidnappers. The kidnappers chase after her, and my mom told the hunters that she had been kidnapped and they all pointed their rifles at the kidnappersr and told them that she was not going with them. They escaped drunkily in the rental car only to be later arrested by police. They were both sentenced to life in prison.

My mom's story of being kidnapped was then published by Anne Rule in a book called No Regrets, which is a compilation of true crime stories, my mom's being the only one in which the main character survives.

That's only one specific story my mother had to tell. She has countless life endangering ones. It's rad.

-- Edited by drewtekulve at 05:35, 2008-12-05

Matt. mhm · Veteran Member

I interviewed my mom. She is is 40 years old. Born in 1968.

i Just got finished interviewing her, while she was watching 90210. ha. Anyways, She told me some really BIZARRE stories when she was a little girl growing up. Like stories that most of you probably won't believe, but i found it VERY interesting and actually enjoyed interviewing her. Well, my mom, Rechel, when she was around 7 and 8 years, she moved in to a 3 bedroom house with her family, located in Lindwood NOT inglewood, Lindwood. Anyways she was telling me when they first moved in around 1975 strange things would go on around the house. Like Polterguist (I Know). Well, My grandma first starting to notice stuff after they had everything rearranged, painted, etc. She, my grandma, used to hear things always at night, and never in the day, but would never see anything. And as for my mom, she use to see stuff she said. She told me one night in her room she was laying down on her bed, and one of her toys, ahhhh you know the ballerina one? Where you like twist the nob, and it makes the noise and the ballerina twists in cirlces? Well, its that one! aha, anyways, she said that would go off about once a week for a solid 20 seconds. She also told me that her carpet had like squares on it, and that the squares used to turn into images of like a woman hitting a stone and that the squares would change colors. When that happen, my mom told my grandma, but my grandma kind of shrugged it off. Until my grandma later heard my grandpas typewriter go off in the middle of the night. My grandpa worked at night, so it wasnt him, but my grandma said (well my mom told me what my grandma told her) that when she would walk in the room, the type writer would stop. Also she said that the newspapers in his office would constantly be flipping pages. But it wasnt until my grandma and my mom BOTH saw something, because my mom stopped sleeping in her room so she slept with my grandma. Well, one night while in bed my mom thought she was getting kicked by my grandma, and my grandma thought the same about mom. Until they both kinda said something to eachother and while turning around, they saw a little girl bangin like a rock or some sort of on like the side of the bed. My mom said the little girl like vanished but the bed was shaking. Well, the next day my grandma called a priest and they had the house blessed. My mom said nothing really happened after that, but that's because they sold their house shortly after. They ended moving in Buena Park, in which my Grandma and Grandpa still reside today. This is more like a scary story to tell around a campfire, but it was a pretty creepy interview, not gunna lie. Also im a VERY bad storyteller if you didn't notice.

If you made it to this point, you deserve a gold star.
also, my mom side of the family and her are all average joes, no coo coos. Hahaha.

kk peace.

-- Edited by Matt. mhm at 06:02, 2008-12-05

-- Edited by Matt. mhm at 06:04, 2008-12-05

ginagaunt! · Veteran Member

I interviewed my Grandma Betty, who basically is my best friend!

She was born on January 4, 1921 in Compton, at the Los Angels hospital " in the heart of the city".
Her full name is Betty Elizabeth Gaunt, But shes says shes not really sure if its legal or not.. but she changed her first name to Betty because she thought Elizabeth was too proper! (SOO HER) She was born on January 4, 1921 in Compton, at the Los Angels hospital " in the heart or the city". She attended catholic schools throughout her childhood and attempted to graduate from Lincoln High School in Los Angeles but only made it to 11th grade before she had to go work towards the war efforts. She soon met my grandpa and they married not long after in June of 1941 in Las Vegas at the little drive-thru chapel!!! i never knew that!! They had 4 kids together in between the war, my eldest Aunt is 20 yrs older than my dad for ex.. They lived where ever their jobs would take them from L.A., South Pasadena, Buena Park , and now she resides in Whittier. So when My grandpa went away to WWII and when he came home he had a heart attack and died that same year, my dad was only 4 years old :(. My grandma says everything happens for a reason. Som eof her best times were getitng away to Big Bear on sunday afternoons, and kickin it in Palm Srings for the summers. My Grandma has the biggest heart! This past summer she got ran over in a good will while shopping and a man knocked her over with a clothes rack and she shatter her hip.. i was grateful enough to take care of her and learn so much more about her.. even in this mini thanksgiving interview i learn more and more. The traditions she carries now are with her grandkids. I take her to the 99cent store whenever shes down and we both have to get our dose of The Golden Girls.. man cant get enough!! I LOVE MY GMA BETTY!

CharlieBurling · Veteran Member

I interviewed my dad!

He is 45 years old born March 6, 1963 in Weston, CT. He grew up in a small town in Connecticut (less than 10,000 people) only 50 miles away from New York City. His dad was a police officer and helped form the 1st police department in the town. His mom worked in a dental office. He has one older brother. His parents seperated in 2nd or 3rd grade. His dad moved out and he was raised by his mom. He met my mom at college and after she graduated they took a cross country trip! They basically packed all thier belongings into a van and drove with no destination in mind. They ended up in Southern California in 1987 and moved up to the San Francisco Bay area shortly after. In 1989 they married and in 1991 they had thier first (and most favorite) child, me. In 1993 my sister Carina was born. In 1995 they moved back to Connecticut since both sides of my family live there. In 1998 my brother J.D. was born. In 2000 we moved to Yorba Linda. In 2005 he seperated from my mom.

Some cool facts/stories about my dad:
-He took a trip to Spain when he was 15 and lived with a family that spoke no English.
-He parachuted at the age of 16 because my Grandpa has parachuted over 2000 times and he wanted to see what it's all about.
-He always drove a motorcycle when he was a teenager
-He loves music and has been to many concerts. His favorite band is The Grateful Dead and he has seen them over 100 times (I've even been to a few when I was a baby). My dad met Jerry Garcia when he was still alive which is a big deal to my dad.
-His greatest lesson in life is "Treat others how you want to be treated".

He's a pretty cool guy

-- Edited by CharlieBurling at 20:36, 2008-12-05

coolkidchaney · Veteran Member

I interviewed my Mother! Florida Elaine Chaney but everybody calls her just Elaine Chaney.

She is 55 years young born on October 4, 1953 in Vacherie Louisana a small town between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. She was the third out of sixth children in her family all of them raised by their Mother because their father passed on when they were younger. Her mother a bunch of jobs to keep the Family afloat espically during the segration era and the civil rights movement. She graduated from St. James Parrish High School and went on to Southern University to get her Bachelors Degree. She later went to earn her Masters in Louisna Tech and University of Chicago. She met my Dad at Texas A&M University and quickly got married. They later moved to Venice Beach California and settled down. Until August 7th 1990 when they had their pride and joy of their family (ME!). The we moved out here to Yorba Linda and started the good life. She is now the VP over marketing at the Dacor Kitchen Supplies company. Her mother my grandma still lives with us today as we speak. Without my mother I wouldn't be here right now.

-- Edited by coolkidchaney at 07:41, 2008-12-05

patrickisoverrated · Senior Member

I interviewed my dad, Carl Edgar Woodard, born December 25, 1940-age 67.

My dad was born in Portsmouth, Virginia to Una and Edgar Woodard. My grandma, Una, is 95 years old. My grandpa, Edgar, died before I was born. My dad was part of an impoverished family-he was born just after the Great Depression had run its course and the war economy of WWII had set in and not all families had been able to fully re-adjust their situations. My grandfather worked on the railroad as an engineer, but since times were tough he had to get a second job-reposession. Basically, anyone who had gone into debt and didn't want to file for bankruptcy had other people buy their debt and if they didn't pay it back in time, my grandpa would go to obtain the money, and if they didn't have it he would take back whatever they had gone into debt for(ex: refrigerators, sewing machines, etc.). My dad told me of one story where my grandpa took him on one of his trips. He frequently had to visit bad areas of town, and since segregation was still in place(Brown v. Board-1954), many of these segregated people lived in these parts of town and didn't exactly take kindly to this man coming to take their money. My dad told me that they had even heard gunshots several times ON THAT ONE NIGHT, but my grandpa did what he had to do and then got home with my dad-safe as always.

It was a really cool story.

Flanny · Senior Member

I interviewed my brother, Danny Flannagan, due to the fact that he tends to be the best story teller of my family.

My brother is 24, which was news to me because for the longest time i thought he was 26. If i could have to describe my brother i would definitely use Jesus as a reference, or John Lennon in the 70's. He, although probably not the best role model, is the one person i look up to and receive advice from and have been more influenced by him than any other person in my life. Back in high school my brother was the popular guy, was on the football team, participated in school activities, and was part of the art programe at El Dorado. Little did i know however that there was some extremely racy stuff happening during his high school years, and learning about that now is good to know because its nice to know that life isn't perfect and its the imperfections that creates interesting conversations. I'm not going into to detail of what my brother said with his particular short stories, but I'm sure being high school students one could only imagine what my brother had told me. I thought this experience was nice to share with my brother considering he no longer lives at home and being so far apart in age we seem to have grown apart.

I hope one day ill be able to be as cool as my bro.

kb · Senior Member

I interviewed my grandpa

My grandpa, use to be rebel. He got bad grades and lived with his step father, and mother. He had always wondered about him, and one day he found his biological dads address which was in Canada. He took off with out telling anyone he was leaving and went to Canada to met him. His dad had already re-married and had a few other kids, but my his dad welcomed with open arms, and he lived there for a few years. He later returned after a few years, to see his mom, when he met my grandma on a bus. They instantly fell in love. He re-united with his mom, and stayed in contact with his dad. It was happily ever after type story. :)