I decided to interview an older woman of a different generation. I interviewed Nancy Webb, my girlfriend’s grandma. Nancy Webb was born on November 15th 1948 in Kingsford, Michigan. Kingsford, Michigan is a very small town in the Upper Peninsula so I thought it would be very interesting to hear someone talk about life where everyone knew each other. I grew up in a large town and so did my family so I wanted to hear a different aspect of life. Nancy attended a catholic school, American Martyrs, when she was younger. At her school there were no sports teams for girls and no gym classes. Her classes were picked for her and there was a “right” way and a “wrong” way for girls to be successful. When she discussed this I couldn’t help to think about an early reading we had. It reminded me of “A Day Without Feminism”. When she was discussing the “norms” that men and women encountered I was really blow away on who true our readings were in class. She said girls couldn’t play baseball or have any extracurricular activities to participate in. Her man job was to get through school and then to attend to her three brothers and sisters she had. Nancy was the oldest of six and had a lot of responsibly at an early age, which really shaped her into the person she is today. Nancy is very hard working, organized, and well spoken.
In Kingsford, Michigan there were only about 5,000 people in the whole town. There were no African Americans or Muslims; basically the only race in Kingsford was white. She described some other races being of Asian descent but they were just wives who married service men. She said that there were no racism in Kingsford but definitely sexuality played a huge factor. Nancy couldn’t go out and chop wood or fish, her main goal in life was to cook, clean, and care for her brothers and sisters. Her brothers were allowed to go out to the yard and her and her sister weren’t really aloud to leave her house. Nancy’s hobbies included knitting and sowing and she said she never saw a male knit and sow in her entire life, which I thought was really quite interesting.
When Nancy was growing up she always wanted to become an engineer. I asked her why didn’t she go to school and pursue her dream? She said it wasn’t her path, and that she decided it would be best off if she just married a man with an inspiring career. She was though that the man makes the money in the family and she has to support that. This then led me to my next question. What was your biggest regret in life? She stated how she didn’t attend college and she always wanted to further her education. Nancy grew up with a family who no one attended college. It wasn’t even really a option in her family. Right after high school you work and that was that.
Nancy Webb was a very hard working, organized, confident, and well-spoken women. During my interview I learned a lot about life in Kingsford, Michigan and how our reading really focused on how life really was for women back then. Overall it was a great experience!
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