(Feb. 19, 2009)
As I mentioned last week, the project has been transforming. No problem with that. Well, okay I admit I was a little worried at first, but this is all going to work out in the end. The biggest problem I've been facing so far is just that I have far too much information. I've got death certificates, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and census records up the wazoo for both parent's sides. I've got two trash bags full of pictures from my mother's mom, Busia. I've got interviews transcripted up to four pages long. Where do I go from here? How do I sift through all this ... crap?
I think it's finally time to make a decision. Since my project is multi-genreal and will be in a scrapbook, the tenative plan right now is just to create a scrapbook page for each monumental moment in my White-Polek's side of the fence. My father will be disappointed, but there just isn't as much enthusiam from his side to get included in this project, making it difficult to get information. This way though, if I center this project on my mother's side, I'll get more clarity as I sift through information and it'll be easier to tie up loose ends and answer any questions I may have. I still want to keep the genogram aspect of the project as well... I'm not sure how I'll keep all that information organized in the project though.
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You wrote: "My father will be disappointed, but there just isn't as much enthusiam from his side to get included in this project, making it difficult to get information."
ReplyDeleteHere is one of the areas I didn't plan on seeing so much of, which of course is silly since this happens to *everyone*. There are simply family members who are inaccessible for a whole host of reasons. Again, to be respectful of your participants and the community, you have to let them remain inaccessible to a certain extent. If you pushed harder, there might be bitterness in the family, and that just isn't worth the research interest you have right now. There may be times that it IS worth that risk, but not for this class.