Interview

      This article was written in the last month of the year 2018. As we progress into a new year, it is also important to reflect on what progress we have made in the past year. In terms of normativity, social media is a warzone. There are people who perpetuate certain normalizations because they benefit from them; there are people who resist that and advocate for the end of societal normativities; and then there’s everyone else in between. No matter what normativities you believe in, there are thousands of Twitter threads to choose from. They can and will get confusing and overwhelming. That is why this author was so fortunate enough to take the liberty to conduct multiple interviews with people from irl. Four young women were interviewed on Normativity and Representation in relation to that in the video available above. However, we were also able to interview one young man off of camera. The interview questions were left in a more general format in order to give room for expression and interpretation. ​

      Before all interviews began, interviewees were given a controlled definition of Normativity which was articulated as the concept of the normalization and often encouragement of certain traits and characteristics in society. Throughout the video, the positions of the four young women were very similar. It was their personalities that shined through. No matter what issue each person brought up when asked to bring forth an example towards the end, they felt that when it comes to more representation, minorities deserved more. Alex and Amber are both fellow freshmen I know through the college of Wooster. Alex is from Erie, Pennsylvania and Amber is from Arizona. Since they have been on campus, they tend to try and be more vocal on controversies than some of our peers. Because they were interviewed in a more formal environment and were also stressed over finals, I expected their answers to be strict and sweet. As opposed to Unique also known as Unique Lashea- a 17 year old who has gained half a million subscribers on her youtube channel UniqueLashea in less than a year. Always repping her original hometown New Orleans but residing in the atlanta area, her channel gives her audience more insight on what it’s like to be a successful teen mom and gives other girls and young women hope with a new video every week that they have every chance to be more than just another statistic whether it’s through a vlog, 1 on 1, or a fun challenge. If you would like to see actual videos of her being as though her interview was through phone call, I will do my best to figure out how to link her channel in the description of this Youtube video. There is also Saniah, also a 17 year old track star, goofball, and aspiring singer from West Philly. Both ladies have big personalities and, needless to say, are the reasons why it took me little over four hours well into the night to edit this video and get it uploaded. However, that was to be expected as well since I preferred to interview them both in more casual environments. I did this specifically because it’s often difficult for young Black women and women of color in general to express what they really believe in because of a common fear of their natural state being constantly looked at as unprofessional, “ghetto”, “hood”, or “ratchet” are common words used to mark down the value and existence of the Black or minority women. I am proud that these two ladies were comfortable in their own voices for this interview especially as it was necessary for it to be successful. Finally, I was able to get another interview in from Jaqui Farrar- a shining young Black man, 6th generation MGD number 2 GKA Keystone, member of class CAU ‘22 (Clark Atlanta University), and a soon to be well known television and/or radio personality. While I did hope to be able to capture Jaqui’s mesmerizing and unique personality on camera, he provided extremely well delivered and articulated answers to the interview through text which was (once again) to be expected once you have a conversation with him. Jaqui is from South Philly, and once given the controlled definition of normativity, also had similar views as the previous interviewees in that we are in need of more diversity. A written piece of Jaqui’s interview will be directly below this. I would like to conclude that it was a pleasure to interview all five of these young women and man. While I did originally aspire for a more diverse age range of interviews, the importance of the age similarity in this is that it gives a clear voice to the generation this country is currently being handed to. To be clear, all members of these interviews were in gen Z as opposed to millenials, and until now, gen z was considered too young to be given a proper voice in the media when it comes to social issues. If these interviews have any indication of what our future is going to begin to look like come even 2020, the last advice I can give is to invest in some designer sunglasses.
Jaqui’s Interview:​

Question 1: What is your definition of normativity?​

Answer 1: “I believe that society has a way of stressing masculinity on boys and men. Everything is always about showcasing ‘machoness’. Even though our generation is believing that this can change, there is still a lot of people who don’t want it to. Same way how for women and girls, society stresses the importance of listening to the men/boys”.

Question 2: Do you think that representation has a role in regards to Normativity?​

Answer 2: “Most definitely. I think that it’s a direct result of normativity.”

Question 3: Is representation important then for normativity?​

Answer 3: “Yes. It displays how much society has grown while measuring how much growing is needed for the future”.

Question 4: What do you think SHOULD be normalized and/or have more representation in society and why?

Answer 4: “I think the idea of having an open mind to other people and their different beliefs is needed to be normalized! Nowadays, as soon as people have different beliefs (religion, politics, sexuality, etc) then close minded arguments start. I think that society needs to do justice to its people by acknowledging and encouraging open mindedness as long as it doesn’t harm others”.