Grandmother Interview
What is your definition of the word literacy?
Being able to read, and being up on some modern things.
Describe your experience of learning how to read and/or write in school.
We just used the method of using two little books and we just repeated. It was repetition and writing was the same thing. We had writing books and you learned by doing it over and over and over and over.
Who or what most influenced you to read/write?
My family were readers. So maybe my mom. And then my first grade teacher, Ms. Tennyson.
Describe any obstacles you may have faced in order to read/write or gain education in some way.
We never did learn how to sound out words. Other obstacles was probably because I was just fooling around. I never did get math well. I never liked it and I never got it. And we did not have, in the school I went to, overly sharp teachers.
If you attended college, in what ways did it affect your life? If you did not attend college, in what ways do you think it might have affected your life?
When I was young, very few women went to college. They just didn’t go because they were expected to marry and have children. I finally did go to beauty school and I liked it. But when I think back about it, that would not have been my first choice. When I was a kid I wanted to be a nurse or a school teacher, but that’s all there was for women—or work in an office. And it wasn’t easy to get in, except maybe nursing school.
In what ways have your reading habits and practices changed over time?
As I get older, I should be really into reading right now, but I can’t seem to concentrate. My hand is shaky because of my breathing medicine. Although I still like to read, it’s just harder.
Can you give me some specific examples of ways reading has helped you in your life?
I read for fun. It did help me through beauty school.
Describe a time from your life where you didn’t have access to reading materials you wanted/needed?
When we were in school, our libraries were so small, so each room kind of had a little library, so you did have reading materials, but you didn’t have much to choose from. You could go to Fulton to the public library and check out books there, but it wasn’t easy to get to Fulton.
What sort of reading and writing do you do presently?
I like scary, gory books. The mysteries. I wrote a book years ago and threw it away. It was about beauty school. I wrote it for my classmates. I took it and read it to them and we had a good laugh. Then I put it in a drawer. I found it recently and threw it away.
If you had to categorize the materials that you read, what categories would exist in your life (e.g. business, academic, religious, etc.)?
Fiction books (I read for fun, like Dean Koontz), I don’t like business at all
In what ways have you influenced other people in terms of their reading and writing?
Well, I helped all my girls with a little bit of it, but I probably didn’t influence anybody. Our first book was See Jane. And you read that “See Jane, See Jane, See Jane.” And then you moved on to “See Jane Run.” And some of the boys never did even see Jane. I told my grandkids stories and stuff. All my grandchildren I told stories to, and to kids at church. I tried to help my grandson Justin, but I couldn’t keep him off his head! I know now he had ADHD.
