Posted: December 2nd, 2015

Life history dream analysis

istory interview:
7th grade me was an extremely different point in my life. I moved from school to school all throughout my pre-teen life because of my poor behavior, all the way up until I finally settled in a school in 8th grade. I was getting in trouble nearly every week for either talking too much, being obnoxious, disrespectful, or even being destructive. I was born and raised in Kennewick, Washington which isnt that big of a town it self, however the surrounding cities, Pasco and Richland, made the Tri-cities that much bigger. As I was getting older in middle school, I started to mature, I stopped acting out in class and started getting my work done. Throughout my life, my dad wasnt really around that much. When I was growing up he was always working, we never hung out or did anything together that you picture dads would. I couldn’t say to this day that we even do any of the things a father-son relationship would do. I have a very close relationship with my mom, that is probably because the lack of a father figure in my life. Although my parents arent divorced, my dad is disabled and cannot work so my mom is basically the “father” of the house. Time after time I would yell at my dad to get off his ass and support the family he has(I have 3 siblings, I brother 28, sister 26, sister 24). Frustrated with my dad and home arrangement I wouldnt find myself at home too often. In high school I find myself distracting the home struggles with playing football, baseball, and basketball. I also found a companionship in video games, either on xbox or pc. In highschool I started being your typically high school student, I would work do homework and hang out with friends. There isnt really that much to do in the tri cities so as it came closer to the end of high school we would find ourselves smoking pot whenever we could. Before school, during lunch, and after school. In particular we would go to the sporting events at our school high as fuck and cheer. It was kind of a way to pass time. Also, as high school was coming to a close I always wanted to go to college, the University of Oregon in particular but because of how high the tuition was I decided I would be a coug! Most of my friends came to WSU so it was easy to get adjusted to this life, although I am still trying to become adjusted to being bored sometimes and not knowing what to do.

Dream
I am fast asleep, comfortably laying in bed. I see a brilliant blue light through my mind’s eye. This blue light is a bright electric blue, but at the same time, it is a deep, rich blue. It is all the colors of water and sky, light and dark, day and night all-in-one.The blue light hovers at the end of my bed. It is very inviting, calling me towards it. I suddenly find myself at the foot of my bed with the blue light. The blue light steps off to the right to give me more room. I can see that my body is still safe in bed.I step forward a few feet and kneel on the floor in front of my altar dedicated to the Great Goddess. Mysteriously, I find there is a tablet of paper and a black ink pen on the table’s surface. I take the pen in my right hand and begin to write.I remain deep in thought for a period of time while I write. All the while, the blue light watches and waits patiently for me to finish my work.
I set the pen down on my altar. I look up at the blue light. Both of us our satisfied with my work.The blue light is a female presence. In this dream, I recognize her and seem to know who she is. I am in no way threatened by her or intimidated by her. Perhaps, she is some kind of guide or protector?

You will prepare a six-page paper using the information above, or making your up that details your analysis. This paper should give a thorough overview of the partner’s life history (about two pages) while leaving adequate room to also present the dream (one-half page) and its analysis (about three pages). This project thus gives you the opportunity to practice field methods, but it should also be connected to information about the culture with which the student identifies (i.e., African-American, American, punk, Mexican, urban, etc.). In order to make these connections, the student should incorporate source material from three outside sources, listed on a bibliography page (page seven). Many students might find remembering and recording dreams to be a difficult task; for this you must practice! You have the whole semester to record your dream and should record as many as possible in order to give your partner the best chance at connecting your dream to your life history. When recording your dream, try to be as detailed as possible: does your dream contain anything from the previous day’s events? Who are the characters in the dream? What are they doing and saying? What emotions did you experience in the dream? What colors, sounds, or smells do you remember? We will discuss dreams later in the semester, but try to get started on this soon—as with anything else, practice makes perfect. The more you record, the more you will remember from each dream as time goes on. Lastly, please keep in mind that you will choose which dream to share with your partner. In other words, you are not required to share anything you find too personal or traumatic. If you have special concerns about this, please come see me.