LUCYS DIVIDING FAMILY - MY DISCOVERY OF THE PERSON IN THE SUBJECT

This essay is excerpted from a larger project the author conducted wit h adolescent and preadolescent children of divorce. It tells the perso nal story of the author's first interview experience with her first pa rticipant in this project, here called Lucy. At the time of the interv iew, she was 11 years old and her parents had been divorced for 3 year s. In the effort to engage the reader as an outside interpreter of her story, this essay invites the reader in, to the ''raw data'' of Lucy' s experiences, as described in her words. Presented here in dialogue a re the two voices of participant and researcher, as well as researcher reflections and recollections of this memorable experience.