Updated Harvest Questions
So just for the tape, tell me your name, your age, and that I have permission to record
these interviews.
So like for somebody that never met you, like say somebody in New York is going to see
this little interview, tell us a little story about you. Like where you live, where you go to
school. What crops you’ve been harvesting and what states you went to. You know just a
little story and you can say whatever you want.
I just want you to tell me a little story about your parents and family, like where they
have lived, where they’ve gone to work; what crops you’ve picked; and, what their
history is… just tell me stories like your mother or father told you.. And then I’ll ask you
some questions.
Okay. So what’s it like … the first time you remember going with your family to work in
the fields? Tell us about that.
So, so far you’ve told me about _________, and what other crops have you or your
family worked on?
So like tell me a complete sentence about how … say, “I was, I was ten or eleven when I
started driving the truck and they made me drive the truck,” because whatever … You
know make it into a little story.
Okay, so we talked about ________________. Is there anything else that you guys have
worked in?
Sure, well that’s great. Okay, how about … how about when you go … when you
migrate, do you always go to one state, or do you go to lots of different states? Or do you
sometimes go to one place and sometimes to another? So tell us about migrating and
which states you go to.
How about school? Have you been to other schools or do you always go to school here at
home?
Can you tell us about one time like when you were learning something, like maybe you
were learning math, or maybe you were learning history, and then you went to a different
school and they were at a different level in history or a different level in math, or English,
or … Can you tell us like an example of when that happened?

So let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about how it works with your grades and is it hard
because you move and because they teach different stuff and that you have to catch up?
Or, you know, just tell me about your grades and about studying and about classes.
So how about your feelings? How do you feel about changing schools? How do you feel
about, uh, migrating? How do you feel about picking crops and … ? So can you talk
about your feelings about all that?
Now…. Tell me about why you work…. A lot of kids don’t have to work…but you work
very hard… do you do it to help your parents? Why? Do they need the money?
And so how do feel about like helping your parents or being with your family, or
traveling in the big truck all together? How do you feel about your family and being with
them and do you have a good relationship with your parents and with your brothers and
sisters?
How about your dreams? Do you have dreams about what you want to do in life? Or
where you expect to go? Or do you want to keep migrating or do you want to keep
traveling? Or would you want to go to school? Or anything else? Just tell us about your
dreams.
Okay. So you want to be_______? Yeah, so that’s what you want to do. So tell us more
about that. Like what makes you want to do that and how you get there and be able to do
that and …
Yes. That is great. Okay how about … so that was a turning point for you, that you
decided that you wanted to be a _____. So to be a ____ you have to … you have to get
good grades and do good things and not get into trouble, and like that. So have there been
other days, like other teachers that have made a difference in your life, or counselors that
have helped you, or do you have any stories like that, about teachers that have been good
to you or helped you after school, or I don’t know what …
Have you ever experienced someone being negative to you? So do you remember like
one particular day when people were mean to you like that? When you encountered some
Hostility?
So I want you to know that I’m really proud of you, the way you work ‘cause I used to
work that way and my brothers and sisters used to work. But how do you feel about it?
How do you feel about … like are you proud of yourself, that you’ve done all those jobs?
That’s great. So do you think there’s anything that people don’t understand about
migrants and about kids that have to move back and forth in school, and that have to
work hard all day? Like maybe somebody in New York City is going to see this film and
they’ve never been out of the City; they’ve never been in a field; they’ve never talked to
a migrant student; so can you tell … could you tell them like what it’s like … how it’s

different for you from their life?
So how about if I was a “pink fairy” and I had a magic wand and I could say, “I can
change anything about your history, James, anything about your growing up.” Like what
would you want to change …?”
Okay. So suppose I said I’m going to change everything. I’m a genie, and I’m going to
change everything. Now you’re going to live in South America and you’re going to be a
girl and all this stuff. Everything is going to change about your life. So is there anything
that you would say, “Okay, you can change everything, but this one thing. I want it to
stay the same. Don’t change this. You can change everything else, but not this. This is the
most important thing to me.”

That’s beautiful. Okay. Okay. So how about memories … What’s your first memory. Like
when you were a little tiny kid, what’s your first memory of working with your parents or
being in the field, or …
That’s beautiful. Do you remember a time when you were super tired and you still had to
keep working because, I don’t know, because the family needed something …?
Has there been a moment when you thought I don’t want to be a migrant anymore? I
remember one girl told me it was looking at her shoes that did it… old, dirty, muddy
shoes… she took one look at them one day and went no mas!
I want to end this interview with you telling me something about you that other people
don’t know about you. Something that is very personal. It doesn’t have to be a horrible
thing, just something that’s uniquely you.
Is there anything that I haven’t asked that you would like to talk about?