the process

To gather information for this life history, I went on two interviews, spaced between two weeks. I traveled to Larry's farm in Floyd, both times on a Sunday. The first time I went, I got terribly lost. Eventually we found the route and drove up the winding gravel road to be greeted by a pen full of baying beagles. Larry was in his kitchen, cooking up lunch. He offered us a mug of tea and we sat down to talk.

I recorded the interviews on an iPod, which I would recommend to anyone. An iPod is a device is generally used for storing and listening to music, but can store other files as well. I had a small microphone that attached to mine, and was astounded by the clear sound quality. The file was converted to mp3 format. This meant no fragile, unwieldy tapes, and best of all, no rewinding.

The interviews were each around forty-five minutes in length. I transcribed both of them, down to each laugh. Larry's exceptionally friendly brown lab, Sirus, made his presence known throughout the interviews, begging his guests to play. For the first interview, I asked Larry a series of eight questions. I brought follow-up questions for the second interview. This site's content is based closely on the interviews, with editing for clarity and flow. As much as possible, I tried to preserve the mood and texture of how Larry chose to tell his story.

I learned some important things from this process. As a feminist, I was happy to see that our professor teaches with feminist principles and ethics in mind. In class we had lengthy discussions about power dynamics and how to present another person's story. However, I think the most interesting thing I learned from this class has nothing to do with the study of anthropology at all, but of writing. I was fascinated, upon transcribing the interviews, to see how real dialogs are performed. It gave me some insight into how I might construct my own fictional dialogs in creative writing.

I titled the site "My farm is my society" because that was the feel I got for Larry and what he wanted in his life. He worked very hard to obtain his land and maintain his livelihood. He spoke of being outside the mainstream and of his disillusionment with the political structure. He spoke of isolation from the world alongside a strengthening of community. I felt as if Larry's farm was more than just his sanctuary, but more a model for what he wanted his world to be like, as created by him and his wife.

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