Synopsis: Zoom Meet interview with Mrs. Robyn Fredricks, dated May 12, 2024
At the beginning of the interview, David Sharak (the interviewer) asked Mrs. Robyn Fredricks (the narrator) if she was able to see and hear him. Upon her responding with an affirmative, David reiterated the parameters of the Digital Release Form, and began the interview by asking Mrs. Frederick about the Carlsbad Beaches. Mrs. Fredericks recounted her childhood spent at various beaches along Carlsbad’s coastline, along with recounting memories of her favorite restaurants and frozen yogurt establishments around the 1970’s and 1980’s. She spoke with particular relish as to the freedom and social development that her outings with friends and peers afforded her in that time period, when Carlsbad was a smaller town with less fear of criminal activity. Meanwhile, Mrs. Frederick also commented on the rapid development and expansion that the City of Carlsbad had undergone in the last several decades, from the almost rural coastal town dominated by tomato fields of her childhood to the comparatively large, tourist-popular city that it is today. Commenting on the Race and Oral History Aspect of the project, she noted that the City of Carlsbad as a whole had become more racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse, and how the experience of youths growing up in contemporary Carlsbad is likely more characterized by this diversity of background and culture than that of youths in her own childhood. Near the close of the interview, Mrs. Fredericks also discussed the naming conventions of Beaches, stating that given the lack of well-known “official” name for the individual beaches, most beaches were known colloquially either by the name of the street adjacent to a given beach, or some major landmark like the Powerplant. Mrs. Fredericks then made a final comment about the significance of Carlsbad Beaches to her own life, that of the community of Carlsbad, and the entire population of people that come to Carlsbad as visitors. The interviewer and narrator then bid each other goodbye, and the interview was ended.
This interview covers topics like social value of public lands, youth culture, and cultural developments resulting from land development and municipal expansion. The interview was conduced via Zoom. The interviewer was David Sharak, a second-year transfer student Senior with a History Major and Philosophy Minor.
