Informant: So, a man runs into his buddy, and he sees that his friend’s car is totaled. Just—[makes face to indicate car is not in great shape] leaves and dirt and branches all over the front. The windshield is shattered. There’s some blood. And so he asks his friend, “What on earth happened to your car?”… Continue Reading »
Informant: What do you call twenty skydiving lawyers? Me: I don’t know. What? Informant: Skeet. The informant (my dad) is a particularly self-deprecating lawyer. While he does take pride in his work, he often admits that he only went to law school because his father had been a lawyer, and the informant had “no idea what to… Continue Reading »
“We’ll do it. Me, myself, and I.” The informant (my grandmother) was born in Missouri and has lived in Berkeley, CA for close to sixty years. She has always been a remarkably hard worker; she was raised by her uncle on his farm, where she more than carried her own weight, and, after completing four… Continue Reading »
Informant: In the country, when we were just joking around, usually offering food, with guests—people we liked—we’d tell them, “Take a lot of them; take two!” And sometimes we’d add, “There’s plenty more down in the cellar in the teacup.” The informant (my grandmother) was born in Missouri and has lived in Berkeley, CA for… Continue Reading »
Informant: Grandma Johnson once saw a flying saucer. Yes, she saw it—saw it hover, and then it landed in a field by her house. And when she went to go look at it, there was a—a burnt place, in the field. A burnt area. Me: Did anyone else see it? Informant: Not that one, no…. Continue Reading »