Entrancement: transcribing and auditing TAVP interviews

Spring 2014 intern Jessica Rubio at work transcribing 

an interview with Sister Helen Prejean. 
Jessica also audited Derrek Brooks' oral history interview.

Jessica Rubio is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin and a TAVP Human Rights & Archives intern this semester. Read more about her in the Meet the Interns post!

This post is the first in a series titled Digital archives internship (also tagged as Archiving the death penalty), where TAVP interns publish their reflections processing the TAVP collection. Check back for new posts in the series.

Entrancement: transcribing and auditing TAVP interviews 
by Jessica Rubio

What is transcribing? Auditing? I would say that it is much, much more than listening to an interview and typing what you hear, or editing the transcript for mistyped words after the fact. These definitions touch the surface and describe the mechanics of the process. A deeper understanding entails realizing that you are the mode through which an interview will find public attention and that you may be the first person to see it with fresh eyes. (click "read more" below the video to see Jessica's full post)

"There's a relationship that happens and I receive from it --
it's reciprocal; it's mutual"  (go to 2:38 to listen to a part Jessica cites)

-- Sister Helen during her TAVP interview, Dec. 3, 2013

It is having a hot cup of coffee or tea you've prepared to accompany your work until you look over an hour later and realize that they level of the liquid hasn't changed, but the temperature has; you were so entranced by the story you never reminded yourself to drink it. 

It is finding the perfect level of volume at which the words will truly flourish. 

It is not hearing a word or phrase well enough to be able to transcribe it and leaning in towards the computer screen on the second attempt, as you're waiting for the other person in the conversation to lean in, too, and speak up. 

It is have a notepad and pencil in front of you so that you can scribble notes of the interview as you go along so you'll have them in the end, yet finishing your work session and realizing the pencil never moved. But, most of all, it is sitting down with an open mind free of any possible biases or judgments, opening your ears to listen as if unlatching a kitchen screen door to let in a smooth breeze, and letting your fingers effortlessly Charleston across the keyboard. 

It is approaching the interview with few to no expectations and granting it undivided attention in order to both understand what is being said and feel what is being said. Taking the time to reflect on everything you've just heard is one of the most crucial steps of this process; what is the point of oral history if those that encounter it don't take the time to internalize it and think about the different realities it introduces and the many viewpoints it encapsulates? 

Sister Helen Prejean, whose interview I'm currently transcribing, said something in her interview that I've been thinking about since transcribing it. In regards to storytelling and the presence of two people in a relationship she remarks, 

"There's a relationship that happens and I receive from it -- it's reciprocal, it's mutual."  

 "There's a relationship that happens and I receive from it --
it's reciprocal; it's mutual"  (go to 2:38 to listen to the part Jessica cites)
-- Sister Helen during her TAVP interview, Dec. 3, 2013

And later Sister Helen adds,

"When I'm conscious of going to someone who I know hasn't had anybody listen to them, I know that's the main thing I'm going to be doing." 

"When I'm conscious of going to someone who I know hasn't 

had anybody to listen to them, I know that's the main thing

that I'm going to be doing." (go to 1:12 to listen to the part Jessica cites)

--Sister Helen during her TAVP interview, Dec. 3, 2013

I began my internship with the interview of Derrek Brooks*, the son of the first man executed by lethal injection in our state. Watching his raw emotions, the excitement in his eyes when talking about his experiences with his father, his hesitation to say too much that might lead to another person thinking of his dad as a criminal -- All of these emotions have stuck with me and, if anything, make me better at what I'm tasked to do. 

What is the purpose that oral history as a whole serves? I understand why oral history needs to exist. Why we all need to pay attention to it, and see its potential to change the opinions, views, and life experiences of those who live now and those who may be watching or reading the work we've done a hundred years from now. 

I may not live to see that day, but in part due to the work of archives, the stories of these people, their emotions and the trials they've endured, and the history itself, will be, well, everlasting.

* The oral history of Derrek Brooks will be available as part of TAVP's archive soon.