Day 1 of Fieldwork - Interviewing

Hello everyone,
Once again, it has been too long. Since my last entry, I've moved back to SaN Francisco, CA to do my fieldwork for my thesis. So yes I finished finals, did my immersion trip, took the LSAT, started working at the law firm, and started my research. My life is hectic as usual.

I'm not writing to vent though, more so to share. I was supposed to start my interviewing the week I returned to the California. I called up my friend to schedule all of the interviews. She informed me that due to various murders taking place in the neighborhood, many of the usual students in the program, were not coming. We got off the phone and all I could do was cry.

Time and time again, my colleagues in my Masters program ask me how will I refrain from being subjective in my research. My immediate (and well rehearsed) answer is "I have taken my passions, researched them, and successfully translated them into scholarly discourse. Through semi-structured interviewing, I hope to prove my hypotheses." Meanwhile, on the inside, my heart is saying, teenagers are not supposed to grow up meeting death before they have met life. Too many of my childhood friends have been murdered or involved with the "turf war" lifestyle; while even more of my female friends and family members have been adversely affected by it. I don't need Elijah Anderson, Lois Wacquant or Jodi Miller to teach me these things because I've lived it. Further, my first attempt at meeting the respondents because the population of 14-18 year old girls living in this neighborhood are afraid to leave their homes.

It's not right. As a community member, I'm outraged. As a researcher, I'm intrigued. As a Christian, I am praying steadfastly that the Lord provide a resolve.

A month later, I was able to start my interviews. I prepared a binder that has all of my current research, approximately 30 pages of literature reviews and information on my methods and methodology. A counselor and I sat down to do the interviews and my hypothese are already being proven. Approximately half of the respondents live in the neighborhood of interest. They describe their community as "full of hopelessness."

I try to leave all of my blogs on a high note, but I'm still processing this whole experience, so I'll end with a request to simply pray for a young people growing with no hope. I pray that God will speak to them and let them know that they must be the change they wish to see.