This website is an initiative of J-Lab
This website is an initiative of J-Lab
Sheila Regan talks about interviewingSheila Regan of This Q&A is adapted from a longer interview; answers have been edited for brevity. Q: Your piece, “The night I got arrested,” could have easily been an all-first-person piece. Why did you decide to include interviews from peace activists who chose not to join the protests? A: I could have just skipped that part [with the peace activists]. I didn’t have to start from there. But I felt like it was an important thing to mention, because over there it was an extremely peaceful day— all these old hippies. They also opposed the war; they just didn’t want to deal with the violence. I just wanted to touch on that to show the contrast. Q: In general, do you always make a point to include interviews in your stories? A: I’m not a trained journalist, but I am a writer. I’m a playwright and I write stories. I write dialogue. That’s how I write nonfiction. So it probably carries over. When I talk to people, I fall in love with people. I want to show my readers: Look at these cool people. Q: How do you approach the people you interview? A: I do it without even thinking. That’s the person I am. I just talk to strangers. I am a theater person. I like to find out about different people and the way they talk. I ask general questions to get people talking: “Why are you here today?” Don’t just go, “Let’s go over here and sit down.” Try to make it really casual. Q: What if someone is more introverted than you are? What advice would you give to them about talking to strangers? A: I think you just have to practice. Anybody who has ever been a salesperson, it’s a similar thing. You just have to hold your breath and just do it. And just have a certain amount of detachment. Just recognize your role. There is a reason you’re asking this question. You have to introduce yourself and say why you’re there so [people] don’t think you’re this creepy person: “I’m a writer, and I was just wondering if you could answer a couple questions.” Q: What was your most difficult interview? A: It was with Darryl Robinson, vice president of Communities United Against Police Brutality (“Cop watcher arrested”). He was very secretive and wouldn’t give me any details. I finally went to the street corner [where group members were watching cops] and said, “Hey Darryl, I just want to ask you some questions.” He needed to see identification, but I’m just a citizen journalist. He was suspicious of me the entire time. He didn’t understand I was just trying to tell their story. We met in front of [a] church. When I started to talk to him, I wanted to ask him about a settlement he had won [in a 2003 civil rights lawsuit against the Minneapolis Police Department]. After this happened they were harassing him all the time. They pull him over for everything. Then I really understood the story — and why he was suspicious. Q: How did you make him comfortable enough to open up to you? A: You kind of let him talk and try to direct it where you want it. He’s an activist. He likes to talk.
Back to Chapter 1: “Why Interview?” Students help Richmond neighborhood
Site design, programming and content by Hop Studios. 
|
.png){kind=small}
