Miss Havisham and a Cat Named Magic

Background info: For my audience insight class, my group is making a news product geared towards families who homeschool. Part of our research required us to actually go out and talk to a member of that community. I scored an interview with Cindi, the founder of a group called Homeschooling Gifted Students.

The day of the interview (today) was kind of grey and dreary. I was also running kind of late b/c I foolishly decided to, um, prepare a beef brisket with a seasoning rub, instead of, say, prepare for the interview by printing out the questions and whatnot. So I kind of dashed out of the door in a whirlwind of panic and trepidation that Cindi would find me sweaty and ill-kempt. Just another one of those maladjusted "public school kids" who can't self-organize my way out of my apartment (which is partially true).

I get to Cindi's house 10 minutes via speed-walking, and just took like 5 minutes to take in her house. Guys...I felt like I was Oliver, peeking up at Miss Havisham's home. It was painted an aging white, covered with vines and bits of leaves and pollen caught in elaborate spiderwebs all around the door and windows. Lace curtains dropped the length in all of the windows. The door was a dusty blue with an actual mail slot--none of the houses on the street had mail boxes, which means they have an actual door-to-door mailman. And the doorbell button was broken. If it hadn't been for the light blue car in the driveway, I might've thought that no one actually lived here. I pressed the doorbell anyway, and a few moments later, Cindi came to the door, and she was everything and nothing like what I thought she would be.

She was soft and plump, with a soft voice to match. Her hair was caught up loosely in a bun, and she wore a flowy sky-blue blouse, a colorful peasant skirt and sandals. She has a BA in government from Cornell and two long-haired white cats, Magic and Snowy. The kitties scurried over to check me out, kind like they were making sure I was okay for Cindi to talk to. Snowy seemed uninterested, but Magic jumped up and sat down next to me, butting my hand with its head for attention, so I petted it throughout the interview, which was enormously fun and seemed sort of just...right, given the space that we were in.

And her house was amazing. To the right when you came in was an actual little coat area, with red velvet curtains instead of doors. Her living room was spacious, her furniture and rug somewhat antiquated looking. Instead of a sofa, she had one of those really long, backless couches with very high arms on the sides. It was a faded blue, threaded with gold. A huge painting of a field of wildflowers perched behind the sofa. We did the interview in the living room, so I didn't get to see the other rooms of her house, but from what I could see, it was quite large and decorated with things that look like they should be in a museum. The flatscreen TV on the wall and a multi-tiered cat stratcher-thing by the bay window seemed oddly out of place amidst all the other pieces that seemed from some other time.

Cindi was super gracious and I had a really fun time interviewing her. She was very helpful about homeschooling resources, but mostly I was really kind of enchanted by her, her cats, and her home. Everything seemed kind of surreal, but in a good way. I half-expected her to serve tea in fine china, maybe go apple-picking in an organic orchard and make a pie to cool on the windowsill.

After that horrible rude interview with the tattoo artist earlier this week, this was a welcome breath of fresh air. There ARE nice people out there who want to be interviewed! I like doing this journalism thing after all!