July 16

From Claire, age 14

On Thursday, July 16 we did interviews. While at the Building Museum we practiced interviews. We put together introductions and 3 main questions that we would ask the interviewees. We (the U Street Team) then metro'd on the green line to U Street. We brought our cameras so we could video people during the interviews (the ones that would allow us to record them, at least).

When we got to U Street, we split into 5 groups of 2. One partner asked the questions and the other could video or take notes. Each partner got to do each job. We got 9 interviews total (yes, we were missing one). I think this was pretty good. I realized that guys who live, work, or chillax in the U Street area are more likely to accept your request to interview than girls. Just a note!

When we got back to the National Building Museum, we did 3 writing exercises with Jess. Jess used to be a team leader during summer 08 at IWWL. My favorite pieces of writing that I wrote was a poem about U-Street. First we came up with 20 words about the neigbhorhood we were investigating. Next, we arranged them into a poem. Even though mine did not make much sense, I still think it turned out to be pretty interesting

Poem:

Interesting murals food loud love
Hidden friendship singing power
Casual happenings city within a city
Nice peace change think neutral
Homey work diverse