The other day I was asked, “Who was the most memorable person you ever interviewed, who is the 1st person to pop into your head.”
To be honest I can’t even put a number on the amount of people I’ve interviewed over a 40-year time period, it would be a lot. Hundreds easy, a thousand possible. Let’s just go with ALOT.
But in that nano second after the ask one person’s face came to mind…a woman.
I can’t remember her name; she may actually have been one of the first dozen or so people I ever interviewed.
I do know this, it was my third television story.
The first story I ever did as a professional news/feature reporter that didn’t involve a car wreck.
Or flames.
Fresno, 1982, maybe 1983.
Cameraman, Scotty Sherlock.
Fresno County Fair.
The Pie Baking Queen.
“Ah, no.”
“Do you want to taste the pie.”
“No thanks.”
Scotty, out with the new guy, doesn’t say anything, the blue TDK video tape camera (that’s a film camera he’s holding there but it’s the only photo I could find) on his shoulder never moves.
The Lady, “Hmmm.”
It is silent, but it is not, it’s a county fair, adults, kids, rides, clowns, but I hear none of that, something in me is telling me, what to say next…
The Lady, “Um well I…”
“You know can I ask you (of course I can I’m a TV reporter with a cameraman standing in front of you) um…”
And the moment I said “Um,” Scotty, somehow, from someplace, hits the zoom button on the lens and it slowly begins to turn and zoom in on the Pie Baking Queen’s face…
“…um…do you mind if I ask you WHY you do this…why.”
And the zoom in stops.
And with his left-hand Scotty reaches over and grabs my right arm, the one with the microphone in it, and slowly moves it closer to the woman so the audience will clearly hear her answer…
Her face bowed looking at the ground.
One deep inhale.
One more deep inhale.
Head comes up, eyes locked straight on me…eye to eye…
“Why, you wanna know why, I’ll tell you why…”
“…I’ll tell you why…”
As I waited to hear, I saw the blue TDK camera slowly pan down off her face, Scotty took a step back, slight re-rack focus, my eyes followed the camera to see her hands, her left thumb move ever so slightly across the rim of the tin pie disk.
“…why…” she is not looking at me, she’s looking at the pie but that’s not what she sees, I’m froze, in my head something is screaming…wait…wait…wait…
...Scotty must hear it too, as very slowly the camera tilts back up to her face, you can see the lens turn, sometimes you can hear the gears within if it is really quiet.
The Pie Baking Queen heard the lens, thumb stopped touching the pie, a quick wipe on the apron she wore, she looked at the camera, then a slight head turn and we were eye to eye.
“Why you ask, you don’t want the recipe, you don’t want to have a slice, you only want an answer…”
Nothing.
She says nothing, but never takes her eyes off me, I return the nothing.
In her time, she’ll say why, she’ll say why.
One last head tilt to look at the pie, and then straight back up, eye to eye with me, both hands on the table she leans forward, Scotty backs up, I don’t move.
“Why do I bake these pies, I bake them not for me, I bake them not for the crowd, I bake them for my mother, I bake them for my father, you want to know why, I bake them for my parents in heaven, you want to know why, you want to know, I bake them for them so they will be proud of me, I bake the pie for them, and I win for them because when they came here, I was just a child, and they said this was going to be our home the valley here, I bake this for them because they spent their lives picking berries in the fields…”
I don’t remember her name.
I don’t remember if the story ever ran.
The most memorable person I ever interviewed was the Pie Baking Queen of the Fresno County Fair.
The daughter of migrant workers who went from picking berries with her mother and father, to baking berries and winning.
I learned at that moment in the 4H tent that you, not anyone else, determines what it is you chase in life, you determine the finish line and who it is that you run the race for.
You.
I also learned this, never ask how, always ask, why.
db
PS: Someday I’ll tell you why I look like that in my press photo, I had just walked into the KFSN newsroom and was told I had to take a picture for the photo ID…I look like that because I had just crashed…an F-16 Fighter Jet…
I want to take a moment here to thank, these folks you see me with…dazzling talented people, news people who I worked with over 40 years ago who became life-long friends, who became family (thereare others who I don’t have pictures ofwhen I do find those photos I will add them.) These are journalists in every way shape and form of that word. You should knowthat every word I have ever written on the job, the awards, the places I’ve been, the people I’ve interviewed…all of it because of the gift these people gave me…encouragement&friendship.
Do that for someone, it works.
db