Interview
For my Research Paper, I wanted to interview an influential adult who had prior knowledge and experience with the topic I was focusing on. Through Mr.Falls, he gave me the contact of Mrs.Nina Magpili-Smith. She is an ODU Professor and Leader of Kapwa Workshop of the Hampton Roads area. It was a passionate phone call where we both shared our knowledge and opinions on the Filipino culture, its changes and developments over time. After speaking with her, I gained a lot of insight into different aspects of my topic that I had not originally thought of. Here are some of the notes I gathered while speaking with Mrs.Nina:
- Grew up in the Philippines until the age of 26
- Went through a lot of adjustment
- With new exposure, she realized how different it is
- Encountered many issues with cultural background
- Eye opening experience
- Difficult to understand different perspectives
- Not much diversity in the Philippines
- Did a lot of research of nation’s past
- Researched beginning of existence
- Impact of observer varies
- Values are still indigenous
- “Fiesta”: spanish way to convert the people
- Positive and negative
- Social media has been used to be more empowered and proud
- Filipinos are very adaptable
- Very hospitable
- Open to new ideas, while forgetting some original ways
- Many show ideas and concepts are stolen from the US
- History of being Americanized
- Good: very open
- Bad: susceptible to being Americanized
- Decades of occupation
- Idea that Filipinos cannot rule a nation
- Although they established their own government
- Fought for freedom at the cost of 1,000,000 lives
- US realized a military approach wouldn’t work so they used education
- Transferred thousands of teachers to teach that American ideals are ‘better’
- With the colonial mentality, they devalue themselves (1 in 3 filipinos)
- The impact of technology is two-sided
- More exposure
- “More Fun in the Philippines”
- Sell skin-whitening products
- Constant message that a lighter skin tone is better
- Alters the raising of a child
- More empathy = everyday message
- No significant change in the idea of success
- Success = speaking english
- Higher regard for a higher societal status
- No patronization?
- Mentality if it came from the Philippines, its quality is less
- Gender equality
- 2 female presidents
- Female/mother breadwinners
- Match image society has set
- Patriarchy
- Feeling empowered
- Expectation of being quiet and gentle
- Don’t rock the boat too much
- More aware to speak up more
- There is some info on social media you can’t trust/ people can’t trust
- Difficult to verify credibility
- Some people’s intentions are not good for the public
- Better to have info from someone who has the welfare of people in mind
- It is a very powerful time
- Important for society as a method for youth to speak their mind
- Nothing can compare to real-life connections
- Ability to rally behind a cause, better than posting for likes from random people who may put others down because they hide with anonymity
- Get to know people truthfully and spread correct information
- Issue with privacy; Facebook