Poppy-Anne Elcock / Staff reporter
When given the task of finding 3 Elder interview blog posts I could learn from, I chose the following. You can tell they are interested in writing about what their elders had to say and doing it justice.
“Cathie Hemeon’s Journey into Social Work on Reserves” by Chloe Summer is about Summer’s Grandmother, who is “described as loving, helpful, open-minded, generous, family-oriented.” Hemeon is in the social work industry and has been for the past 24 years “helping indigenous people living in and around the 18 Nak’azadli reserves.” Summers decided to interview her grandmother because of the environment she works in and her experiences and knowledge about “the systematic injustice towards indigenous people.”
When reading Summer’s blog post, you can tell that she put a lot of time and effort into getting the information from Hemeon, which allowed her to create an in-depth elder interview. Summer gathered information about her grandmother’s experiences and how they affected her as a person in the long run. It mentions she now “looks for the closest door and sits near it” or “parks her car facing the street so she can quickly drive away if needed.” This extra detail helps create a deeper understanding of Hemeon’s story and is something I can add to my blog posts, as mine can be surface-level. So, for the future, I need to do extra research to allow the reader a higher level read and get more out of the Article than they expected, such as I did when reading Summer’s blog post. Summer also gives the reader a chance to learn more about particular topics written about in her Article through a documentary mentioned at the bottom of her Article, “For Love”,” narrated by Shaina Twaine, on Netflix.
When looking at “The Story of a Boy Stuck in a War” by Taha Asdai, I immediately noticed the type of images Asdai used. The pictures help convey the emotion of the piece and helps allow the reader to understand the impact the war had on Iran and the people in it and the emotional connection or the relevancy is something I need to add when creating my blog posts. “The worst period of my life was during war,” said Jahangir Asadi. The last picture shows the damage’s severity and allows me to comprehend the damage done in Iran. Because it was not just buildings that were destroyed, it was people’s livelihoods and homes. Powerful quotes from Asdai’s father also helped to convey emotion as he would talk about the anxiety of when a loved one was off at war.
“Every day there would be bodies of soldiers who were returned, and I always feared that the next one would be my father”
– Jahangir Asadi.
Asdai’s Article also gives us lessons to take away told by his father, such as “I would tell youth to not be afraid of hardship and failure. When you fear failure, you are making it stronger and creating a monster out of it. There is a higher chance of success for you if you are fearless in everything that you are doing in life. This quote is something that hits close to me because fear is something that’s holding me back from potential opportunities. I had writing and life lesson takeaways when reading this Article, which is very powerful and is something that takes Asdai’s blog post to the next level.
“Life during the war in Iran” by Barsin Mohammad Awali is an excellent Blog post to read and learn from because the images featured in the Article connect to the tone of the story and help the reader picture what it would have looked and helps the experience of her grandma come to life. Her “Grandma Shahla was born and raised in Tehran, Iran.” However, after “watching a missile hit a home in their neighborhood,” having her “two younger brothers Siamak and Saiid forced to go to war,” and her “brother Morteza spend three years Evin prison and getting tortured by the prison guards” she had had enough so after the Iran and Iraq war ended she decided to move herself and her three kids to Ontario and then eventually Vancouver.
The detail in this story is impressive. It helps me get the whole picture, and because I do not know too much about the Iran and Iraq war, I also learned some history from the personal perspective of someone who lived through it, so when creating my next blog post, I would like to think about what my readers could learn from my post and if it is necessary. She has clearly chosen a significant topic that she cares about. When reading the Article, you can tell that this was not rushed but was planned so Barsin could execute this story in the best way possible, which I would also like to convey in my future blog posts.
Sources –
“Cathie Hemeon’s Journey into Social Work on Reserves“
“The Story of a Boy Stuck in a War“
Images –
Photo of Cathie taken from “Cathie Hemeon’s Journey into Social Work on Reserves“