For this blog, I interviewed my brother because I think that he is the perfect candidate for this interview. Why? Since me and my brother are really close, I am more confident to get information out of his mouth. On top of that, I see him everyday at home so it’s more convenient for me to reach out to him. Who is your best friend?: His best friend is a friend that he met at the age of 16. He has met his friend since high school and they kept in contact up until now. He chose him as a best friend because he mentioned that time doesn’t matter to him. He has met friends that he knew from the elementary school, but their personality has changed over time, therefore he didn’t consider him as a close friend anymore.
What kinds of things do you like to do together?: Most of time, they spent time to each other on video games. However, when they do get times to meet with each other, they would go to YMCA to play sports together. Rarely, they would invite each other to their houses because my brother prefer taking this opportunity to do an activity outside of the house.
Have you ever told how he means to you?: This question is a little bit ambiguous because my brother do tell his best friend how much he meant to him. But, he doesn’t do that on a regular basis. Based on what he told me, his relationship with his friends are more the type to “go with the flow”. They don’t have a particular date designed to sharing emotional feelings. But, when one of them realize that the other’s facial expression is not right. One of them would mention it and they would put more time to talk about the subject matter.
According to the text, “stereotypically male activities such as watching or talking about sports , playing video games and “bar” games…”. This perfectly represents my brother because that’s what he usually do with his best friends because they both work so they don’t have time to go out. However, my brother is a perfect counter example for “Homophobia is perhaps the greatest barrier to friendships between men.” Based on the text, the author kept describing how men would distant themselves from physical interaction because they are afraid that they would be perceived as “gay” men. However, my brother has never took that into consideration. He would show affection to his best friend whenever it’s needed. But, one of the biggest challenge for their relationship is that they would only talk about their problem if one of them actually brought the subject up. If not, they would avoid speaking about personal things with each other.
Lovers and Fighters | Section 22 