Reply To: Exercise 1: Evoke Emotion, Create Meaning
I had two conversations and wrote a lot about each convo in a journal, but the content was so personal, it seems like an invasion of privacy, a break of trust with my interviewees, to post it here.
So I am answering the questions more generally.
• How did you choose whom to practice with?
Family was calling me to wish me a happy birthday, following the first Spodek Workshop. I engaged with the first two people that happened to call me. It felt very genuine.
• How did you feel before starting? Was it hard or easy?
Easy, because these family members had already set time and intention to check in with me, to give me a call on my birthday. It might not be so easy to engage with people who aren’t open to relating.
• How did the experiences go overall?
Overall, it was fun and interesting. One part of one conversation brought up difficult feelings for me. Later I wrote and reflected on it and realized that people relate to nature in very different ways, and my difficult feelings were about personal bias and judgement. I did not voice them. I think the people I was interviewing enjoyed it.
• Did anything go particularly wrong or right?
I find myself jumping ahead in my mind, in the Spodek Method, calculating if these experiences that people are sharing will fit the bill to be intrinsic motivators. I brought my doubts along and it didn’t seem probable. Of course, I didn’t voice any of this.
• How did the other person seem to feel before you started? Did their mood change? If so, how?
I felt a little tension when I started the topic, no doubt from my own awkward intro, but then when I asked about a memory they were so quick to share it felt magical like we had time traveled together.
• How did their facial expression and body language start and evolve as you led them?
By telephone. I would have liked to see it.
• How did you feel hearing them describe their memory? … Their sensory experience? … Their emotions?
I enjoyed being in their shoes. I was surprised how quickly they opened up to me.
• How did they react when you confirmed their emotions?
They acknowledged again the same emotions.
• Did you get it right the first time or did you have to let them clarify and correct? If so, how did the process of iterating to them confirming you understood them feel?
I think I should have spent a little more time on the sensory question. I’m not sure the interviewees had a clear enough memory or could really put into words the exact sensory context.