The Mother Plant

Today (6/11/15), I had my first professional interview as a reporter.

The interview was supposed to be at 10:30.  I knew it was going to be about a 20 minute drive, so I came in an hour early to prepare my interview questions and make sure I was calm enough.

Just before we were getting ready to leave for the interview, Art called and said that he was at a dentist appointment that was running late, and that I could come by at noon to get the interview.  I had about two hours to get my other work done and and to finish preparing myself.  To me, there is no such thing as being over-prepared.

We finally headed over to his house for the interview at 12, using Google maps as a guide on how to get there.  He had told me over the phone that he had a pink elephant in his front lawn and to just look for that.  Sure enough, when we pulled up to his house, there was a ginormous pink elephant just standing in the yard.  We pulled into the driveway two minutes early.

I got to meet Art’s wife, Dixie, before we started the interview.  I could not have been luckier than to have Art Williams as my first interview.  He was very friendly, energetic, and excited.  I hardly had to ask him a thing because he answered all of my questions on his own.  It was less like an interview and more like just casually getting to  know someone and what they’re passionate about.  That’s the kind of thing I love, getting to know what people are passionate about and what inspires them.

The interview was about Century plants, or agave.  One of Art’s agave plants was blossoming and leaving dozens of baby plants behind.  He kept referring to it as the mother plant, which made me think of a mother ship and some kind of alien plant.  He even gave me one of the babies to remember the interview by.  I have named the plant Seymour after The Little Shop of Horrors.

On the downside, I got completely eaten up by mosquitoes while we were there.  Art also raises and sells guinea pigs, which is really unfortunate for me because I am allergic to guinea pigs.  My allergies have been on the fritz ever since.

All together, though, my first interview was a great experience.  It was interesting, easy, with nice people, and I got a free plant!