For engaging with history week 9, I decided to spend some time interviewing/speaking
with my grandmother about her experience with the media and historical events. My
grandmother was born in 1943 (at the tail end of WWII) in Pennsylvania. My grandmother grew
up and lived her entire life in the Pennsylvania sticks and often struggles to remember key
historical moments since she never really concerned herself with the media. However, one of the
first historical events that really impacted my grandmother's world view was the day JFK was
assassinated. My grandmother was 20 at the time and this event really made my grandmother pay
attention to not only what was going on in the nation during this time but the world as well. After
that, my grandmother was invested in the moon landing, 9/11, the recession, 2016 election and
the events that transpired during 2020. In the past, my grandmother consumed whatever channel
was available to her with basic cable. As the world continued to advance, my grandmother
eventually switched over to fox news and that is the news station she has been watching ever
since. In my grandmother's perspective, she believes was changing for the better and that the
media was becoming more “diverse” in the stories they told. However, when the presidential
election took place in 2016, my grandmother was shocked with the political climate split. Fox
news during the 2016 election and all the way up until 2020, changed my grandmother’s
perspective on politics immensely. Before 2016, my grandmother was never registered to vote
and never concerned herself with politics. When Donald Trump ran for office, my grandmother
really stood behind him due to the sole reason that Trump advocated for regions like where my
grandmother lived. The advancement of technology and the introduction of the computer,
iphones, and ipads really impacted my grandmother's life. These technologies allowed my
grandmother to converse with her family and friends without having to physically be present
which was huge for her.
I learned that my grandmother has always been expected to be a wife and mother from a
young age which stopped her from seeking further education. My grandmother’s perspective on
the 2016 election opened my eyes to how Trump gave individuals like my grandmother a sense
of pride for who they were and where they lived. It was really interesting having this
conversation with my grandmother due to the fact that I did not necessarily agree with her on
most things. However, this conversation brought us closer together because I was able to educate
her on history and she was able to educate me on how individuals who lived in the sticks felt for
the past 4 years. If I were to use this conversation for a story, I would use this in a journalistic
feature story that focused on individuals who possess privilege but also who feel left “behind” by
their own country. If I was a historian, I could conduct research on how one’s geographically
location plays a huge role in their overall education, knowledge, and perspective of the world
around them.