Roberts

=Adanna Roberts=

Podcast
media type="custom" key="12077411"

BIOGRAPHICAL/GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE

 * The interviewees’ name is Adanna Roberts; she emigrated from Trinidad to America in 1991 when she was 12 years old. When Adanna came to America she went to school to get an education. When she got older she got her green card and took the oath to become an American citizen, and she was the only one there in uniform working in the military for the Untied States. Now she is currently working at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base. **


 * Trinidad is an island in the Caribbean. Its climate is tropical and the rain season is June- December. The island geography is mostly plains with some hills and low mountains. Natural resources are petroleum, natural gas, and asphalt. The agricultural products are cocoa, rice, citrus, coffee, vegetables, and poultry. They export methanol, ammonia, and steel. The export partners are the United States, Spain, and Jamaica. They imports food, chemicals, live animals, gas, and machinery. Import partners the United States, Russia, Brazil, Colombia, Gabon. The type of government is parliamentary. They declared their independence from the United Kingdom on August 1, 1962. The population is 1,227,505 **

=Creative Writing=

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Hayslett: What’s your full name?

Roberts: Adanna Roberts. No middle name.

Hayslett: Where did you immigrate from?

Roberts: Trinidad, Tobago.

Hayslett: When did you come to this country?

Roberts: 1991. Hayslett: What job did you have before you came to this country?

Roberts: Didn’t have a job because I was 12 years old. So when I came here I just went to school.

Hayslett: Why did you come to America?

Roberts: For a better life, and freedom. And a better education.

Hayslett: How was your life in the old country?

Roberts: My life in the old country, it was, it was okay, it was all I knew. It wasn’t too bad till I came to America and realize it was different from over there; you guys had a lot of candy. But it wasn’t too bad. It was all I knew.

Hayslett: Do you have any hobbies?

Roberts: Hobbies yeah. I use to make my own kites, use to fly them. I like to skateboard. And I used to have a skateboard.

Hayslett: How was your school life?

Roberts: School it was different. I went to an all girl Catholic school. We use to get hit by the nun. So if we didn’t do our homework. That’s about all girls no boys.

Hayslett: Did you have friends?

Robrets: Yeah. Yeah. Some of them I don’t remember because it was a long time ago, but.

Hayslett: Do you still speak to them?

Robrets: No. No I sure don’t.

Hayslett: Oh.

Roberts: Yeah sad. I should try to find them on Facebook. Huh?

Hayslett: I don’t know. So how was your family life?

Roberts: Umm we had a pretty big family everybody live in one house. In my grandparent’s house, it was all my aunt, uncles, and my cousins. And everybody lived under one roof we were very family orient. So no one really moved out least you were starting your own family.

Hayslett: What your favorite food?

Roberts: Beans and rice, beans and rice. That will probably be it. Red beans and rice to be exact.

Hayletts: What was your country major religion?

Roberts: Catholic.

Hayslett: What sport did people play or watch?

Roberts: Umm a lot of what we call football but you guys call it soccer here. So a lot of football and cricket it’s kind of like (pause) baseball; you have a bat and ball. But you don’t have as many bases as you do in baseball; we just had two bases (pause) and (pause) it’s a long game it goes on and on. Its a fun game. The match is on for days at a time like a whole week for the same match (laugh).

Hayslett: what was the climate like? Roberts: Um we just had rainy season and dry season. Yeah it doesn’t get cold there no snow. Or fall or spring or anything like that. You just have rainy season which is wet season and dry season which we don’t get any rain for months, months, and months, and it’s most hot.

Hayslett: What your favorite memories you have.

Roberts: It will probably have to be picking fruits off a tree instead of going to the store and having to have to buy it here. We had the advantage of going outside picking a mango off a tree and just eating it. I don’t know where you guess get your mangoes from probably form the Philippines. But (laughs) um in Trinidad we could go outside and just eat them. I can’t do that here. So that’s probably one of my good memories I have, that I miss the most.

Hayslett: what language did you speak?

Roberts: English.

Hayslett: So that’s means it was kind of easy coming to America then.

Roberts: Um yeah actually. Well not um well yeah. We speak a lot faster than you guys. But I had to slow it down. (Pause).I had to slow down because we speak really fast.

Hayslett: What kind of music do you listen to?

Roberts: Umm mostly reggae. Umm a lot of calypso music. I don’t’ know if you know what that is?

Hayslett: nope.

Roberts: Umm you can Google it. Um it’s almost like reggae but its slow version of reggae.

Hayslett: Okay. Did you have any fast food?

Roberts: not when I was growing up. But now since I been back to Trinidad I think they have a McDonalds and a T.G.I Fridays. But when I was growing up there was no fast food. But there may have been like a KFC, but we couldn’t go because it cost too much (laughs).

Hayslett: How did you come here?

Roberts: On a plane. I flow over to New York it was where a lot of people make their start. When I got my green card, I stay there for a few years and then I got my vista. Then since I been to Ohio I gotten my citizenship.

Hayslett: Was it hard getting your citizenship?

Roberts: Yeah. I had to take a test. But we had to take a test on America history things. You had to pass the test and some other things in order to be granted your citizenship.

Hayslett: How did it feel like when you took the oath?

Roberts: I felt umm (pause) pretty proud because one my mom came in this country so I can have a better life. And then I felt like that I was doing the same thing when I was becoming a citizen so my future kids would have a better life being here in this country. And it was pretty cool because I got to do it in my military uniform actually. I want down there and I think I was the only one there enlisted in the military and I wasn’t a citizen. So basically I was fighting for this country and I wasn’t even a citizen so that was pretty cool.

ANALYSIS
In social studies class I learned that coming to America wasn’t as easy as it is now. When the Europeans first came to America some of them didn’t make it. They were killed on the boat because of lack of food or sickness on the boat, or they were killed by the Native Americans because they thought that the Americans was going to take over their land or because they thought the Europeans are their enemies. Then the Europeans and some of the Native Americans became allies and shared some of the land. Then as the years went the Europeans took more land and started to make laws on emigration.