Hwk 58

I asked two of my friends and my mom about prom…

Inexperienced: I decided to call my good friend Aseela and interview her about prom. Aseela hasn’t attended a prom yet nor does she plan to attend one in the future. I asked her why she doesn’t want to go to prom. She said “it is not an event for us, people are dancing and they doing crazy stuff, we not allowed to do that with guys. If It was separated meaning boys and girls in separate rooms like they have at the Yemeni weddings I would have planned on going, but nahh I’m not gonna go.” Then I asked her about her thoughts on how people dress up for prom and how they take prom so seriously. She said: “They exaggerate prom so much, all prom is about is attention that’s it. I think that it is nonsense because they spending so much money on their appearance which shouldn’t be that big of a deal. They only going from high school to college, they make it all hyped up for no reason. I know some people go to have fun, but at the end it’s all about attention and I just think that’s stupid.” I thanked Aseela for taking the time out of her day to share her thoughts about prom and moved on to my next interview.

Experienced: This person wanted to stay anonymous and I respect their request. I interviewed another friend of mine who attended someone else’s prom last year and will be attending her own this year. I asked her about what she expected at the prom she attended last year; she replied: “I wasn’t really sure what I expected at the time being. It seemed much more important than my 8th grade graduation or a middle school dance where it wasn’t that big of a deal if you didn’t come with a date or stress about necesseties such as a limo or dress.” I then asked her about the dresses girls were wearing, what did these dresses “say” about these girls? She said: “Everyone in my limo had a long dress except for me and another girl. These long dresses were like ball gowns, they were sparkly and over the top. I wore a simple dress, nothing too over the top. I wanted to feel comfortable and not be dragging my dress around the whole night. I don’t know what it said about them, I guess it said that they want to attract more attention from others whereas the girls that were wearing simple dresses did not care as much about the attention.” I then asked her about who are the people that set the tone at prom. She replied: “The DJ has a big effect on prom; he/she has control of changing the mood with their choice of music. They are the ones who determine if others will be having a good time or not.” I asked her about how she felt throughout the whole night as a junior attending prom with a senior: “I had moments where I felt a little weird throughout the night because it wasn’t my prom, but later on I was able to get along with a few other juniors who were there.” I asked her about why she is going to prom again this year. “Because last year felt to me more as if I was attending a regular party. It wasn’t as exciting as it would be when I attend my own prom. I am going again this year because it is my prom, and many of these people I may not get to see ever again. Another reason is that I am going with someone I really like, so it will cause me to gain a different experience at prom.” I thanked her, exed out of the chat and moved on to my last interview.

Experienced (Older): Lastly, I talked to my mom about what they do in Pakistan when students finish high school. She said they have something called a “Farewell”. I asked her about this Farewell and what people do there. She replied: “They have all the students and teachers get together for dinner." I asked what type of clothes people wore, was it anything special or just the traditional Kameez Shalwar? She said ”Yeah everyone wore the kameez shalwar, you can say they got dressed up for this event, but not as nearly dressed up as people do for prom. My mom attended an all girls high school so she said that it was only girls at this “Farewell”, if there had been guys there her parents most likely wouldn’t have let her go. I then asked her why she attended this Farewell, she said that her friends were begging her to go which pressured her into going. Otherwise she didn’t have much of an interest.

Analysis:
After reading through these interviews I found myself agreeing with Aseela the most. Prom is all about hype thats it; these people attending prom just use the transition from high school to college as an excuse to have something to dress up for. I don't really get how people celebrate this transition by dancing in awkward positions and getting drunk later on in the night. From my second interview I was able to get a different point of view on prom. I respect everyones thoughts about prom, but I strictly stand in the same position as a did before this unit. Prom has nothing to do with me, and I have nothing to do with prom. If we had a Farewell like my mom did where there was segregation between the sexes I would have thought about going, but even then I would probably have second thoughts.