Wisconsin One - Text
Subject is male, in his early fifties. He was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and has lived there for his entire life. His speech patterns have very little pitch variation. He discusses his education, hobbies, and profession. Recorded by Cynthia Blaise on 8/9/99. Edited by Shawn M. Muller on 9/9/99. Recording is 2.14 minutes in length.
TRANSCRIPTION
I was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is located approximately four miles north of the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, on Lake Michigan. I lived in [??] Park, Illinois, which is-- the northern border of the town is the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, so I lived, basically all 52 years of my life, within a 15-mile diameter area.
About the only time when I was out of this area was the four nine-month periods when I was in college at Southern Illinois University. I majored in mathematics, because it was a sure thing of getting a job at the time. And it still is.
I enjoy doing any type of do-it-yourself projects. I’ve built canoes from scratch, sawing the wood into thin strips, and using templates to help shape the hull, edge-cooling them, finishing it by sanding the entire hull, fiberglassing it. I do mechanical work on cars. I completely rebuild engines, transmissions. I’ve done bodywork. I do some electronic work. I just finished building a computer, which I’m ready to put the operating software into, as soon as I get a little bit of extra time.
This is during my spare time, which I don’t have much of, except in the summertime, because I teach and generally end up grading papers for two to three hours per evening on the average night during the school year. Which is why I-- try to avoid that completely during the summer, if I can, just to maintain sanity…
UNSCRIPTED SPEECH TRANSCRIBED BY JACQUELINE BAKER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR FOR TRANSCRIPTIONS, October 24, 2007