Interview #7 Revisited

As promised, I have Kristen back with me again today to finish up our conversation from yesterday.

KC: OK, I've got to know more about this whole Jodee Knight thing. How did you two end up being friends? She seemed so mainstream to me.

KW: You know, I'm not really sure how we became friends. We were in debate class and she sat in front of me with some other popular girl (can't think of who)...anyways, you know me, I was very opinionated about issues, most of which the class hadn't even thought about much or even more scary, knew anything (Apartheid, what is that?)....First of all I think she was just intrigued because I had lived near Wash. D.C. and she had gone there the previous summer and so we talked a lot about the area. I think it was her first big trip out of Utah and it obviously impressed her a lot. I was sarcastic and not afraid to say what I thought and I think she thought that was so "quirky" and that it would be a huge step for her to associate with someone outside her little clique...we just continued to chat and hang out together at debate tournaments so I guess circumstance really cemented our friendship more than genuinely trying to hang out with each other. She had a WAY more busy social life than I did, but in Senior year she did include me in a lot of stuff. We skipped class and went to a Howard Jones concert with two other girls and stayed in a hotel in park city (that was a riot and a really long story because those girls did not know how to really cut loose). She knew I didn't like most of her other friends though, and they felt the same about me so for the most part we just kinda tolerated each other. She and Angie did not like each other at all, for obvious reasons, they were complete opposites!

For a brief period, she really struggled with her identity. She told me a lot about how she wanted a lot of things but knew that her upbringing and her Mormon values acted as a barrier to her really embracing life. Honestly, she wanted to go to D.C. and work and live the single girl's life for a while and she talked to me openly about how she questioned things in the Mormon church and about life in general in Utah. I swear, I know its hard to believe, but its true! She didn't like always being the misshomecomingqueen personality that she couldn't avoid being...she even made me take her dancing to some 18 and under club that briefly opened in ogden and started hanging out with some of those guys in drama who were goths and openly acted gay (I don't know if they really knew what they
were)!

I don't know it was weird, in the long run, she really couldn't break free of her values and just accepted a life as a good mormon, going on her mission and marrying that guy. I remember her parents were so cruel to her because they wanted her married after her freshman year of college and she hadn't done it yet, that is why the whole mission thing came up.

I have to say I'm grateful to her because through her I in some small way saw a little different side of the people I judged to be jocks and snotty girls. Like John Taylor, from your class, he came back to a game right before his mission and we were hanging out and I was being me, coming up with some game to invent poetry (one person would make up a line, the next continue) and he apparently was totally impressed with that and thought I was cool and told people that he wished he wasn't going on his mission so he could ask me out. . .and Sean Casey (I think that was his name) had the best taste in music, I was shocked!!! Sara somebody ended up being a little more knowledgeable about the world than I thought (plus she told me she had a nose job, that was priceless)...

Phew, that is a lot of info. But my memory bank has been triggered and its downloading fast and furious.

KC: OK, number one, I'm SCREAMING (not in a bad way) to hear John Taylor wanted to ask you out because he is the first guy to have ever seen my bare boob during a make-out session. Whew, just reading his name brought back a whole bunch of stuff. At any rate, I know Jodee and Angie hated each other, but I always thought that had more to do with the fact that Angie was good friends with Ron Eastland and Jodee didn't like that. Anywho, what's the coolest thing you've ever dug up in the field?

KW: Whoa baby, John Taylor got a special surprise (and obviously a penchant for non-Mormon girls!).

Yeah, you are right, I think a lot of Angie and Jodee's antagonism had to do with Ron and Angie's friendship but me being friends with both didn't help! To be honest, I didn't even remember Ang and Ron were friends but that is because I didn't see them interact a lot together (they both worked at Gap right? Or did you and Ron work at Gap? Damn memories)....

Coolest thing I dug up? Very easy: A carved Ipiutak (Ancient Eskimo) antler endpiece for a staff and an ivory decorative item (perhaps part of breastplate) with Jet Black eyes...I'll attach pictures but don't post them anywhere since the village is concerned about their publication. They are only around 1200 years old, but they were so beautiful and I dug them up while trying to carefully excavate a displaced burial with a group of elderly Eskimo women and young children watching me. When I uncovered the antler item, I think my heart almost stopped and the gasps from everyone were astounding. It was the first time I became really emotionally involved with my work, I didn't realize it but tears were running down my face and when I finally stood up, all the little old ladies came over and patted my arms and blessed me with little statements because they were grateful for the way I had handled it. That whole project was the best experience of my life, I learned so much about myself and grew besides doing amazing archaeology.

Longer answer then you expected, eh? I'm trying to avoid finishing this bibliography, I HATE doing them.

KC: See, I think that would be really exciting to hold something like that. I mean, really, you're holding history in your hands. When you think about the past, it seems like something totally disconnected from everyday reality, but to hold something tangible and realize what permanence and longevity really mean is like having the breath knocked out of you a little. As far as John Taylor's surprise, believe me, it was a small one. :-) Yeah, Angie and Ron worked together at the Gap and I didn't even realize how close they were until after he died and Angie called me about it because I don't think she knew who else she could cry to. They showed his picture during a slide-show at our 10th reunion and, of course, everyone got really quiet. I didn't really know him at all. I also remembered another piece of gossip that's pretty good. Did you know that Matt Godfrey is the mayor of Ogden? I guess that's not really gossip, but interesting, nonetheless. Now back to the questioning. Which teacher did you hate most in high school and why?

KW:(History) Yes, you summed it up pretty well. I was hooked the first time I was digging a site (a Spanish Colonial house destroyed in the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680 in Santa Fe) and realized I was the first person to see what I had uncovered since it had been left behind on a day that must have been frightening and horrific (the residents of the house probably got away thanks to sympathetic Pueblo Indians in area).

(Little surprise) Ha!

(Ron's death) I feel bad when that happened, I think it was when we were freshman in college. At that point I think Angie and I had had a bit of a falling out due to the fact that she owed me money and we were running with different crowds, I feel bad that she didn't really have anyone there to help her with it. I was kinda absorbed in dealing with Jodee, she really clung to me because I was the only one that wasn't saying all the stock sympathetic statements to her. She really expected Ron to come back and that they would settle down, I don't know if it would have happened but of course at the moment of tragedy she couldn't let go of that notion. I didn't get to go to my 10 year reunion, no one told me, I don't think Angie went either? Our class officers weren't real good about advertising it to people.

(Gossip) Yeah my brother told me! I think it is kinda funny. I seem to remember something tragic happening to him, like he had a girlfriend in CA who was murdered or something...

(Most-hated teacher) Mr. Moore. I couldn't stand that man even though I know everyone that he was the most spectacular English teacher. First of all, he wasn't, he just impressed everyone with all his exotic recollections of his European trips. Second of all, he was creepy, he latched onto some girls in my class and it made me very uncomfortable how much time he spent with them and how he would sit there and actually do things like give them candy in front of the whole class...it just wasn't appropriate. He also couldn't stand me because the first day of class he ran his slide show of art from museums in Europe where he impresses everyone with how much he knows about art history and I answered every one of his questions...he literally was flustered by the fact that someone was responding! I think he pretty much didn't like me after that. Remember how he used to throw things around at people when expounding on points, well one time he looked like he was going to throw one of his hefty gold rings at me and I looked him straight in the eye and said "Don't you dare throw that at me or I will walk out of here". I did well in his class (and subsequently scored a "5" on the AP English exam so he couldn't have been all bad as a teacher but I credit my teachers in VA more).

KC: And once again, it's time to end our interview for the day. I want to thank you again for taking time out of your day to chat with us today. Hope to talk to you again soon.