My Son’s Interview
For his seventh grade humanities
class, my thirteen-year-old son was given the assignment to interview someone,
for which he had to write his own questions. Thomas chose to interview me, and
here are the results, from December 2016 (photo from 2014).
I am interviewing my dad. The interview took place at my house. I chose my dad
to interview because he was the closest person I could find, able to talk face
to face, and has many things to say that I wouldn’t know already.
What is one of your favorite childhood
memories?
Traveling with parents and siblings in Europe for two summers when I was
about 12. One summer we explored Scandinavia, including Legoland and the Little
Mermaid in Denmark, the fjords in Norway, and other sites in Sweden. The next
summer we visited Italy, the former Yugoslavia, and Greece. I wrote journals of
all these trips.
What is the most beautiful place you
have been to?
I would say a tie between Lake Louise, Alberta, Chamonix, France, and
Zermatt, Switzerland. All of them happen to be places where I’ve enjoyed skiing.
The fall colours in Kyoto are also beautiful at all of the temples and shrines.
What are some of your favorite hobbies?
Some of my favorite things to do include reading and writing poetry and
essays, downhill skiing, playing racquetball, traveling, and photography, plus
listening to guitar solos. I also love books, including reading, collecting,
writing, and publishing them. I also enjoy spending time with my children by taking
them to fun and educational places and activities in the Seattle area and beyond. I also
enjoy working on my websites and planning poetry-related events.
What would your dream house look like?
My dream house would have six bedrooms, a large library, media and family
rooms, a writing studio, great views of mountains and water, a game room, a
music room, and other rooms that houses have. But most of all, I would like my
dream house to have a tower with a useless
room at the top. It would also be fun to have a secret room somewhere.
Who was the best teacher you ever had?
I don’t think I’ve had one best teacher, but I remember particularly liking
my grade one teacher. I also particularly liked two English teachers in high
school and college who turned me on to reading and especially writing poetry,
which has become a lifelong passion.
Who would you be if you could be anyone
in history?
This question has never been important to me, but I suppose it would be
interesting to be Lewis Carroll, Winston Churchill, E. E. Cummings, and the
Japanese haiku poets Bashō and Shiki.
What would you change in your life if
you could change something?
If I could change one thing in my life, I would like to be more musical, so
I could play various instruments, especially guitar and piano, and to be able
to sing well. I envy my son who is so good at being musical, especially on the violin.
What would you want to do if you only
had 24 hours to live?
The practical answer is to put all my papers in order and to take care of
personal issues that my family wouldn’t know how to sort out. But an
impractical answer is also fun to think about. I would like to visit the moon,
and take my family with me.
What I learned from the interview process it that it can be hard to find an
answer to every question. There are always answers I
wouldn’t expect, like something that is out of his personality, like going to
the moon, or being musical. I think this assignment was somewhat fun, being
able to learn a few new things about my dad.
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