Interview with IU Student 2
Interview was collected from IU Senior Taryn, age 22. Taryn is an out-of-state student attending IU, and she has attended IU for her entire undergraduate career. Interview was conducted in living room of apartment, with a second person entering the interview 2/3 of the way through.
Full interview
Selected quotations
“I have walked past [Showalter Fountain] many a time…”
“It’s on the IU bucket list to at least dip your feet in…”
“I like to personally roll up my pants…and get in it, stand around, splash people or whatever…”
“That youthful glow kind of wears off the longer you’re in college.”
“I never really thought about it much, just huh, no water…”
“It’s just like an iconic IU landmark.”
This interview makes heavy reference to the previous interview with AJ, as Taryn was present during this interview. Many responses given by informant were directly prompted by the collector’s prompting barring the section on the two butts of the statue at the center of the fountain. Once the second person entered the conversation, there was a much more natural flow than was previously present when it was just interviewer and informant.
Like the previous informant, Taryn holds a position of power over incoming freshman that prompts her to tell them about the fountain and the tradition of entering it as a rite of passage. Comments about the number of butts on the statue in the center of the fountain have a higher likelihood of being mentioned when passing the fountain than the tradition of climbing in because this fun fact is less known.
Like the previous interview, there seems to be an emphasis on keeping the tradition of climbing into the fountain alive. The tradition appears as a rite of passage for IU students, being something that is meant to be done before graduating IU as a gateway to the full college experience. As such, students in a position of power over incoming students feel the need to introduce them to the tradition and provide them with the opportunity to partake in it.