Michigan 21

Listen to Michigan 21, an 18-year-old woman from Lansing, Michigan. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 18

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/06/1999

PLACE OF BIRTH: Lansing, Michigan

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Hispanic

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: freshman in college

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS: none

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The speaker is bilingual. She was raised in a Spanish-speaking household.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Jason Dernay (under supervision of Deric McNish)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/03/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I grew up in the town that I go to college in, and, um, I spent a lot of time in my home with my parents because I’m an only child and I went to school in a different district than I lived in. So, I would have to travel about twenty minutes to hang out with friends, so, I spent a lot of time with family, and then by the time I got to high school and I was able to drive, I explored a lot of neighboring towns, um, because I felt like I was never only in one place because I lived in one town but went to school in another, and would do sports in another, and do theatre in another, so, um, I, I feel like I lived in one town but kind of grew up in a larger area and kind of took from a lot of those different neighboring towns.

Going to school in high school was weird because I went — I lived in a different town and the school that I went to was definitely a richer area, and it was a lot of white, conservative, um, families that — where your, like, last name had a lot of meaning and your family — like your family — the family that you came from could do a lot for you, ‘cause it was a very small town and, um, for me, I kind of made my name for myself almost — I mean, like, my reputation with my teachers and my friends and such, because nobody really knew me when I, uh, grew up there because my family was like, had the last name, like, that doesn’t click with anybody in a white neighborhood. [Subject laughs.] But, um, so, it was weird because, um, I felt kind of like an outcast, in that, kind of, um, sense, because, I mean, my family is fine financially and all that, but, um, I’m definitely not, like, rich to the extent that all of my friends were. Um, but I was lucky enough to find a group of friends that, like, didn’t care about any of those things, um, which was definitely, um, like a good thing to grow up with. But it’s always kind of been in the back of my head that, like, you know, I am from a Hispanic family, and even though I do not look Hispanic whatsoever, I definitely — um, it definitely, like, hits home when people assume things about Hispanic families or even just, you know, kids that come from different-income families and stuff like that because at some point — at one point in my life, it kind of felt like I was there. Um, but, other than that, um, it was kind of fun living separated from my high school because it was a small town, so I wouldn’t go to the grocery store and see every single person in my math class. Like, I could go to the grocery store and just be with my parents and not have to run into a bunch of people that I didn’t want to talk to. So I definitely had that separation that I think, um, separated me from drama and unnecessary, like, problems that had nothing to do with me. It was more of, like, a community and like a higher society kind of thing.

[Subject talks about her friends, in Spanish]: Bueno en la secundaria yo tenia un grupo de amigas que eramos muy cercana eramos como cinco de nosotras. Y yo me Senti como que cada una de ellas anadia a mi persona y a mi personalidad. Entonces cuando nostros ibamos a eventos de futbol eventos de la escuela Yo me sentia como que necesitaba ya cuatro alrededor mio para poder, um, no se como verme como una — una persona mayor y mas grande y madura en la escuela para que la gente me respeta y para poder tener esa imagen de tener un grupo de amigas que linda y que siempre no teniamos el mejor interes en mente y nosotros hicimos mucho en la secundaria siempre salimos a comer cada viernes y es una cosa que yo he tomado que yo me he llevado conmigo en mi vida porque ahora en este momento yo estoy en la universidad y nosotros no hemos separado.

[English translation: Well, in high school I had a group of friends who were very close. We were like five of us. And I felt like each of them add to my person and my personality. Then when we went to football events — school events — I felt like I needed four of them around me to be able — um, I do not know how to see myself as an older and bigger and mature person the school so that people respect me, and to have that image of having a nice group of friends and that we always had the best interest in mind, and we did a lot in high school; we always go out to eat every Friday, and it’s a thing that I have taken that I have taken with me in my life because now at this moment, I am in the university and we have not separated.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jason Dernay (under supervision of Deric McNish); transcription of Spanish and translation by subject

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/03/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

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