After the Interview -thoughts for VOF Month 1

Wow, I made it through the interview! I was so nervous since my first 2 choices would be out of town until the end of the month. I was asking the secretaries/admin assistants who else they could think of since I really wanted it to be a native woman in a \"power\" position since we need to reinforce the idea of strong indigenous woman.

I had put in a voice mail to Denise Morris at the Alaska Native Justice Center but had not heard back from her that day and was beginning to feel like in that one movie \"The Bachelor\" where they are on the bus after trying to find a former girlfriend who would marry him that next day. His friend says 'Ok, looking ahead, if she says no, then who else?\"

Luckily I received a call back from Denise and was able to schedule an interview with her for today. I searched around online but had written her name down wrong so could not find her anywhere I looked to find out a Bio of her. I made sure to get there early so I could see if they had one there and luckily they did. So for half an hour I read and grew more impressed and wondered why I had never heard of her before.

I had planned to buy a new mini-recorder to take with me but forgot to. It was kind of exciting waiting in the lobby. It made me feel like Salieri in the movie Amadeus the first time Mozart is to play there and he is playing a game with himself wondering which one it was of the group of musicians standing there. He wonders if talent like that shows somehow. I tried to keep my nerves calm by telling myself over and over that I am so changed from before and while I have a bit more to go I am no longer a useless slug, that I am a strong, brave, empowered woman well on her way to becoming a citizen journalist.

In doing the research before the interview I read about the Alaska Native Justice Center and know a lot about the current situations in Alaska so felt pretty good about being prepared and not letting Pulsewire down by embarassing myself! I was glad I knew about most of what she talked about, phew!

Once when she was talking of a new Bill called \"Tribal Law and Order\" that is upcoming I was racking my brain trying to think of a polite way to ask if she really thought it had a chance of passing here in Alaska. Luckily she saw my hesitation and explained it was a Federal one. That is one thing to keep in mind for when I have my conference with Christi and Jennifer that I missed earlier! How do you ask a question when it seems they are a bit mistaken on an idea!

I was wishing I had scheduled a much longer interview since there were so many things I wanted to talk about once we got going! So, I will keep that in mind for my next interviews. Did anyone else get a bit embarrassed at their scribbles when taking quick notes and seeing the person look at them. I so wanted to make up a story about it being the shorthand style of Pulsewire or something but managed to restrain myself!

I have the gist of the interview written and will wait until tomorrow to post the rough draft so I can make sure it sounds as good to me tomorrow as it does today! I know I sometimes get awkward sentences that I do not notice until reading it a day later (after my journals have been posted) so want to make sure I do not make that sort of mistake!

My purse is a little metal one and when I was leaving today I made sure to remember my digital camera to get a picture of her, I had asked when we set the appointment and she said it was fine. So, I get there and am looking for my purse and then realizing I had the metal camera in my hand and must have thought it was my purse! Luckily I did not speed on the way home since it always seems when you do something silly like that they somehow know! Did anyone else do something like that because they were so nervous and excited?

What I loved is how things seem to be so connected since the \"Motto\" there is Find your voice, Find your Way, how amazing is that?!

It would be great to have a sort of 'Interview, Part II\" or something to go deeper into the issues and things we talked about! I think it is a good sign when you are left eager for more and hopefully captured that feel in my interview...

Maria