Humcore Students' next occupation: Literary Journalist

Spring Quarter has finally arrived, and Humanities Core students, such as myself, have been anticipating an extraordinary assignment that has been announced throughout the year. This assignment is much different compared to the usual thematic papers we encountered regarding a novel or film representing war. We have been granted the role of a literary journalist and ultimately interviewing a person that has been subjected to war of any kind. We each had the duty of choosing them (people involved with war or affected by it) and creating appropriate questions in order to ask them and tell their incredible story. Before interviewing, however, we were instructed to conduct research to better our questions and to have a better understanding of our interviewee’s experience. As a final product, we must present their story that reflects both their view and our own as well as describing how the project has impacted us.

I chose my cousin’s relative from her father’s side since her relative was the only one who actually had a war experience in our family. He, the relative, instructed me to conceal his name along with others he associated with while in Iraq from this assignment due to fear. While in Iraq, he actually faced a life changing experience that caused his political ideology of the United States to alter and to trigger his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now, he has a different view of the U.S. and rather not be identified or associated as an enemy against our country, thus concealing his name brought him a sense of security and comfort. The reason as to why I chose him was due to the fact that I have heard stories from my family regarding his struggles with P.T.S.D. At the time I had a vague idea of what P.T.S.D was let alone why people were afflicted by it. Apparently he suffered and had a lot of episodes regarding the disorder, but is getting better with time. With that being said, I was always curious to personally talk to him but never did because he lives out of California, but this assignment really encouraged me to finally contact him and hear his story.
 
The kinds of questions I plan to ask him are the following: What did you encounter when you first entered Iraq? What were your expectations of the country or previous knowledge of it? How were you feeling as you were there? The answers I expect to hear all vary. At first I was playing out the interview in my head, and I resorted to him maybe hesitating or carefully choosing his words when he would answer. However, I then assumed that he probably first encountered the sandstorms and rain during that time. He also probably encountered the native people and villages. After the 9/11 attacks, I naturally expected for him to have some knowledge on terrorism, who allegedly attacked the United States, and George Bush’s opinions on the tragic events. As far as how he was feeling as he was there, I expected him to be on edge, maybe prudent, or even afraid of what he may encounter. I have no knowledge of the event he encountered, but I do know it has changed him mentally. On my part, I will research P.T.S.D and what triggers it as well as who else has experienced it.

With the guidelines provided by the Humanities Core Course instructors, I managed to get my hands on three different sources from the UCI Libraries online archive and Google Books. The first two sources are scholarly articles that consist of documented statistics regarding P.T.S.D. Both sources document countless cases of veterans with P.T.S.D. and Traumatic Brain Injuries. Combat veterans have reported receiving injury to the neck and head, and from there they started reporting symptoms of P.T.S.D. The sources offered the implication that physical injury to the neck or head have most likely caused the disorder to manifest. This allowed me to broaden the idea that P.T.S.D. has different triggers, some physical injuries others emotional trauma. From there, I can analyze my interviewer's story and narrow down what factors that truly caused his affliction of post traumatic stress. The two sources give me enough evidence to support my claim given that it has a lot of statistics or research. Now I have the opportunity to ask more questions such as: Did you receive any physical injuries to your neck or head? If so did you start experiencing symptoms of post traumatic stress? The third source, The Iraq War: Background and Issues by Raymond W. Copson, is a book regarding the background and issues of the Iraq War. With that source, I will get insight into the politics of the Iraq War and expand my knowledge on it.


Image Source
http://www.abetterinterview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/flatter-interviewer.jpg