Interviews are always sort of a double edged sword. On the one hand, you have to sit down and ask a person personal questions about themselves, and then type up an article on it. On the other hand, you get to know new things about a person you might have already thought you knew. That was the case when I interviewed my longtime friend, Jailyn, And I’m very proud to say, I genuinely got to know more about her after this interview. 

When I had asked Jailyn about her favorite childhood memory, she recounted going to Maryland with her dad and uncle, and how fun it was for her. On the topic of family, I asked her if she had a favorite family member, and if she’d ever moved houses before. People I’ve interviewed before have never mentioned a sibling when asked about a favorite family member (and as an older sister to two brothers, I wouldn’t). When interviewing Jailyn, she said her older sister  is her favorite family member. I asked why, and she said

 “Because she’s the older sister, she doesn’t really depend on me as much as my other siblings”

When asked about moving houses, she told me she’d moved from Fort Lee NJ to Teaneck NJ in 2013. A few miles away, but a whole different world for a young child. Since we were having a sit down talk, I thought it would be appropriate to ask my interview subject who she would want to talk to, alive or dead, if she had the chance. Jailyn said Cai Haoyu, who is the head of the game company Mihoyo, the game company behind the mobile game Genshin Impact. I’ve personally never played, but according to my interviewee, it’s amazing, and I definitely should. To wrap up our talk, I asked Jailyn about school, or, more specifically, What subject she struggles with the most. She said her Spanish class, which is not uncommon, as a lot of students do struggle with language classes. 

This question wrapped up my interview, and while I have the pleasure of saying that I knew Jailyn for a while before this (almost four years, in fact) I’m surprised I never knew any of this. Some answers I expected, some I didn’t, and I believe that’s the beauty with people, you never know what you’re going to get.