Missouri 23

Listen to Missouri 23, a 23-year-old woman from Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 23

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/03/1991

PLACE OF BIRTH: Kansas City, Missouri

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: African-American

OCCUPATION: patient-service representative and actress

EDUCATION: bachelor’s degree

AREA(S) OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject was raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and spent summers with her grandmother in St. Louis. She also spent four years at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY:  Paula Cavanaugh Carter

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 01/08/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH:

wɛʔ hiz ə stoi fɪr ju, serə pɛri wʌz ə vɛdɝneri nɝs hu hæd bɪn wɝkɪn deli æʔt ɪn olʔt zu ɪn ðə dɪzɛrdɪʔt dɪʃtrɪk ʌv ðə teɪtori so ʃi wʌz veri hæpi də stɔrd ə nu d͡ʒab æd ə supɛrb praivɪʔ præktɪs ɪn norθ skwer nir ðə duk striʔt tawə. ðæʔ eria wʌz mʌt͡ʃ nirː fɝ hɝ æn mor tə hɝ laikɪn. ivɪɲ so ɔn hɝ fɝs mornɪn ʃi fɪlʔ strɪst. ʃi ed ə bol ə porɪʒ, t͡ʃɛkt həsɛlf ɪn nə mirː æɪn waʃt hɝ fes ɪn ə hari. ðɪn ʃi pʊd ɔn ə pleiɲ jɛlo ʒrɪs en ə flis ʒækɪʔ, pɪkd ʌp hɝr kijɪʔ ænʔ hɛdɪʔ fo də dor.  wɪʔɲ ʃi gaʔ ðer, ðer wəz ə wʊmɪn wɪθ ə guːs weidɪn for ʌ. ðe wʊmɪn gev serə ɪn ofɪʃʌl lɛdɝ for ðə vɪʔt. ðɪ lɛdə ɪmplaiʔ ðɛt ðɛ ænɪmɔ kuʔ bi sʌfrɪn frʌm ə rer form ʌv fʊʔ ɪn mauθ dɪziːz, wɪt͡ʃ wʌz sʌpraizɪn bikʌz normɪli ju wʊʔt onli ɪkspɛk tə si ɪt ɪn ə dɔʊg or ə gɔʊʔ. serə wʌz sɛnɪmɛnəl, so ðɪs meiʔt hɝ fil sɔri for ðə biudɪfʊl bʌɝd.  bɪfor loŋ, ðæʔ ɪt͡ʃi gʊs bigæn tə strʌʔd əraun nə aofɪs laik ə lunətɪk, wɪt͡ʃ med ɪn ʌnsæniteri mɪs. ðə gusɪz ownə, mɪs herɪsɪn, kɛpʔ kaolɪn, “kamə, kamə,” wɪt͡ʃ wʌz, wɪt͡ʃ serə ðɔʔ wʌz ən aʔd t͡ʃois fɝr ə neːjim.  kamə wʌz ʃtraoŋ ɪn hjuʒ, so ɪt wʊd tek sʌm fors tə t͡ʃræp hə. bʌʔ serə hæd ə dɪfrɪnʔ aidiə. fəs ʃi t͡ʃraiʔd ʒɪnʔtli ʃtrokɪn nə gusɪz lowʌ bæk wɪθ hɝ pam, ðɪn sɪŋɪn ə tun tu ə. fanəli ʃi æʔtmɪnɪstəd iθə.  hɝ ɛfɝts wɝ naʔ fjutaːl. ɪn no tam ðə gus bigæn tə taː so serə wʌz eibuʔ tu holʔd ountu kamə ɪɲ gɪv hɝ ə rɪlæksɪn bæəθ. wʌɲs serə hæʔt mænɪʒt tə beð ðə gus ʃi waipt aɔff… ʃi waipt hə aɔff wɪð ðə klaɔθ æɪn leʔd hɝ oun hɝ raiʔ saːd.  dɛn serə kʌnfɛɝmd ðə vɪts daɪgnosɪs. ɔmost imidiɛtli ʃi rimɛmbəd ɛn ɪfɛktɪv t͡ʃriʔmɪnʔ ðɛt rɛkwaɝd hɝ tə mɛʒʊr auʔ ə ladə mɛdɪsɪn.  serə worn ðɛʔ ðɪs kors ə t͡ʃriʔmɪnʔ mait bi ɪkspɪnsɪv, iðə fav ə sɪks tamz ðə kaɔst ʌv pɪnɪsɪlɪn. a keːn imæʒɪn pejɪn so mʌt͡ʃ , bʌʔ mɪs herɪsɪn, ə mɪjʌner loijə, ðaɔt ɪʔ wʌz ə fer prais for ə kjuə.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paula Cavanaugh Carter

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 01/08/2014

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born and raised in K.C. There’s a difference between K.C., Missouri, and then Kansas City, Kansas. Mm! I was born in K.C., uh, on the Missouri side. Um, I lived there for all of eighteen years, and then, uh, when I first started my freshman year of college, that’s when my mom got her job in St. Louis, which is where she’s originally from, and they moved out there. Every summer – just about every summer – when I was growin’ up, we would go visit Grandma, who lives in St. Louis, and that was always interesting, when you go back and everybody talks about they summers, and they were like, “Where did you go?” “Grandma’s house.” “AGAIN?” “Yeah. I went to Grandma’s house again.”

Sophomore year, my grandpa and my uncle died. My mama had called my daddy, and at the time, Daddy was still in K.C. because he was still havin’ to work, and so they both drove down from both sides, and they were like, “We just wanted to let you know PawPaw died today,” and I was like, “Are you SERIOUS?” Because two weeks before that is when my parents drove down to tell me and my sister my uncle had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer. And so I was like, “Ain’t nobody got time for this.” And I remember my birthday was like maybe a week AFTER the funeral, and I was chillin’ in my friend’s room, and, and I just broke down. I was like, “He really ain’t about to call me this year. Like, he ain’t gonna call me and tell me happy birthday.” So two weeks after PawPaw died is when my daddy drove up, and my daddy’s like, “Hey.” I was like, “Hi?” And he was like, “Uh, how’[wa]s your birthday?” I was like, “Fine. You asked me that already.” And he was like, “OK. Um, I just wanted to let you know, uh, your uncle passed.” Mm. They were buried in the same cem- cemetery. The year before, he had just celebrated his fiftieth birthday. My mama’s friend — we call her “Auntie Ph.D” (she’s a minister too) – and so she flew in, and she was like, “I have no idea why this happened, and I’m not gon’ pretend and act like I know why. I have no idea; I have absolutely no idea what God is tryna do for y’all. ‘Sorry’ can’t say enough for how bad I know this feels for y’all. But you have to give it time. And I remember she looked at my mama and was like, “You HAVE to give it TIME.”

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paula Cavanaugh Carter

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION ((DD/MM/YYYY):  01/08/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

The archive provides:

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• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.
• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.
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