Virginia Five - Text
The subject,who recorded himself and submitted it to IDEA directly, was born and raised in Leesburg, Virginia. He speaks of his childhood, of fishing for soft shell crabs, of his horse, and of his music. Moved to Richmond as a young adult.
Recorded June 21, 2005. Running time: 05:49
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
I was born in (um) Leesburg, Virginia, which is kind of in the northern Virginia region, (um) not too far from Washington, D.C. And (um) I-- my-- I had a pretty nice childhood, I would say. (Um) My mother passed away though, when I was 11, so it was kind of tumultuous an’ (um) I guess I was picked on pretty badly in school, but (um) other than that, it was pretty sheltered. I mean, I enjoyed (um) life, y’ know, (um) just exploring, an-- and I was always getting into things. An’ my biggest passion, of course, was-- was music, an’ performing. An’ I started that very early. So my parents encouraged me to-- to do that. But (um) I remember some things like-- y’ know, we used to walk down the Potomac River, with our dog Ollie, an’ we’d dig for softshell crabs, with our bare feet. And (uh) we’d take the crabs that we wanted an’ we’d cook it, and (um)-- Oh, goodness, it was such a nice way to spend a summer day. (Um) Also in-- in L_____ there’s lots of horses, an’-- Yeah, I-- I started riding pretty early. (Um) I’d say about 11 or 12, an’ I got my first horse, Virginia, when I was 13. An’ she was a beautiful (uh) black mare with a white star on her forehead. She was a thoroughbred, an’ (um)-- An’ so I-- I enjoyed that pretty much. (Um) Ev’ryone kept me goin’, ’cause (um) I didn’ have m-- much in the way of friends. And (uh) it was neat to be out in the country. We moved out to the country when I was 15. (Um) In the western part of the county in Philomont. We rented (uh) an old farmhouse on the-- on the top of a large hill. An’ you had to be in good shape, because walking an’ climbing up that hill was-- was quite a task. (Um) We had to ’liver-- (Um) We didn’ have any running water down at the barns, so we had to-- the-- carry the water ourselves. An’ eventually we had to get another horse, ’cause you can’t keep a horse alone, ’cause, y’ know, they go crazy if you keep ’em alone, so... But that was fun, and then finally, when I was 18, after high school, we just moved to Richmond, my mother’s hometown-- my late mother’s hometown. An’ Richmond was quite an experience. It’s a lot differen’, y’ know, then-- then the country. It-- it’s urban environment, and (um) I had never lived in the big city before, but it really helped me get that, y’ know-- make a nice start, y’ know. ’Cause with the music ’n’-- I’ll-- An’ so I-- I’ve been in Richmond for the last seven years, jus’ playing music an’ writing like I was before, and (uh) hopefully I’ll get that hit record that I need. (Uh) I don’ know if that’ll ever happen but….
UNSCRIPTED SPEECH TRANSCRIBED BY JACQUELINE BAKER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR FOR TRANSCRIPTIONS, July 24, 2008