ENG 102 Oral History Spring 2024
Enjoy the papers, transcripts, audio files, and pictures of people who made an important journey from one place to a very different place. These people were interviewed by HCC students in Dorothy Pam's ENG 102 class in Spring of 2024. This is part of a Community Based Learning (CBL) project.
Moving from place to place is a challenging task, but even more challenging during civil rights movements. This interview deep dives into the life of Toni James. She was born and raised in Fort Pierce Florida and now resides in Russell Massachusetts. I wanted to explore further on her story of what it was like leaving the South and moving up North. We sat down together on March 11, 2024 and examined her life.
See the paper and transcript
Listen to the audio file of the interview
Reynaldo Cruz Diaz, was pleasant to interview. I learned so much about his transition, with coming to the U.S. due to not being welcomed in his own country and having to make a choice to leave to pursue his dreams of being a vocal journalist. Freedom of speech is not allowed in his country, due to the government of Cuba. Reynaldo was threatened on multiple occasions which ultimately led to his decision to transition to becoming a U.S. citizen. He had many obstacles along the way, and till this day is an ongoing process to obtain the freedom he is seeking for.
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Listen to the audio file of the interview
For my Oral History, I chose to interview one of my dearest friends, Paola Del Mar DÍaz-Adorno. I met Paola in 2019 when we were both majoring in Foundations of Health and shared a few classes. At the time we had both just graduated from High School and were completing prerequisite courses for our respective careers. She was going for Pharmaceuticals and I was going for Veterinary Medicine. We became very close friends soon after a few encounters in our Health class and would often have study sessions or grab lunch, which then became this habit of bringing each other pick-me-ups before class.
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Listen to the audio file of the interview
For my oral history, I had the great pleasure of interviewing my grandmother. Her name is Milagros Heredia, Millie for short. She was born and raised in Ponce Puerto Rico. At age 10, she had to leave her homeland and move to the States, where she ended up in the State of New Jersey and had to start a new life. Millie describes her trip from her homeland to the States saying: " It was cold and we only had a sweater on." While starting her new life in the States Millie was telling me she was excited to do and meet new things. She said in the interview that she didn't know any English and she didn't know what pizza was until she tried it for the first time. Now she is very fluent in English and Spanish and she still loves to eat pizza.
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Listen to the audio file of the interview
This oral history interview took place on March 22, 2024 on a zoom call. Marilyn Glazer is a member of the ESL support program team at Holyoke Community College. Glazer was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a mother of three children, who are all in the field of music and art. Glazer attended high school in Milton, MA. While in high school, she got a part time job at a dry cleaners. Going into her adult years, attending college was uncommon for most women, and community colleges did not yet exist. Glazer didn't attend college until she was in her 40s, graduating from North Shore Community College with honors, and also attended Tufts University. Growing up fluent in English and Yiddish, Glazer majored in Spanish at Tufts. Later attended UMass Boston to get a degree in applied linguistics, while taking care of three children and working multiple jobs.
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Listen to the audio file of the interview
Imagine yourself born and raised into a life of familiarity and comfort, then moving away to a new one when you're only twenty. Think about the horrors of losing your friends, your lifestyle, and everything that brought you peace. This is the story of Carmen Alexandra Luna, a woman born into a home of the Dominican Republic and now resides in Holyoke, Massachusetts. I sat down with her on March 14th to discuss the journey her life took, and today am reporting back my reflections on this very important oral piece of history.
Matthew KaneLong, at the age of 55, enjoys the simple pleasures of life. You usually find him drinking his favorite beverage coffee milk, which is exactly what it sounds like, and watching TV. Matt is a father to five children and husband to his wife of almost 30 years. He worked as a physics teacher and wrestling coach for many years at many different private schools across the country. Matt is a man that despite his outward cynical attitudes is a truly loving man.
Peter Fein was born in Wilhelmshaffen on August 11th, 1935. He moved to Berlin in 1939 because his father was transferred there on a job. His father's job was with the Naval High Command, and he was in charge of making the periscopes for U-boats. The different pieces were made in different countries, so he was not home a lot. Peter was just 5, WWII was beginning in Germany, and young Peter was then assumed the man of the house with his father away. He has told us stories of how he had to slaughter his family's hens at such a young age. His mother told him stories of her brothers and his father's brothers, who had moved out of Germany, and into the prosperous United States after WWI. This planted a seed in Peter that he would hold onto for many years, and marked the beginning of a rite of passage.
See the paper and transcript
Listen to the audio file of the interview - Part A
The person I interviewed for this project was my mother, Jennifer Preisig. She was born in 1974 at a hospital in Concord. She is currently the Technical Leader of the Forensic Biology Crime Scene Response Unit for Massachusetts and is currently living in Southampton, MA. When she was a child she explained how much she moved during that time especially since her parents split up when she was only three years old. She mainly lived with her father in Andover but went over to her mothers at Bedford to visit. After elementary school she moved in with her mother for highschool until she left for college in Boston. After college she moved a few more times from Arlington to Shrewsbury and then recently from Warren to Southampton where she is now.
I sat down to interview my dad Frank Wawro. He joined the military at a young age and has been overseas and lived in many places. I choose to interview him because of the places he has lived and to see what life was like while he was a child. Imagine joining the marines at the age of 18 straight out of high school and moving away from everything you have loved. You won't know anyone where you are going and don't know what to expect.
See the paper and transcript
Listen to the audio file of the interview
