Emma Finley:Ok, this is Emma Finley. I'm here with Jody Sisk. So, i'm gonna start off by reading the consent form.
EF:So, I Emma Finley am a student in history 325 the long 1960s taught by Doctor Rebecca Scofield, associate professor of history at the University of Idaho. We are collecting oral histories from people who lived in Moscow and other areas of Idaho during the 1960s. This consent form serves to inform the interviewee of the conditions of their participation. So, we'll review it and then you'll just say that you understand and approve of the following statements. So, participation in this project is voluntary; you may withdraw from the project or end the interview at any time. During the inner- or- duration of the interview will vary up to 60 minutes and follow up interviews may be requested and are also voluntary.
The interview will be recorded and transcribed and a copy of each will be made available to you. That recording of the interview may contain material to which you hold copyright, you may transfer copyright of this material to the Regents of the University of Idaho. Transcriptions will be made available to the entire class for research purposes, and they may then be preserved by special collections and archives. The University of Idaho student's faculty and staff as well as researchers visiting special- special collections and archives may use the interview for any research, educational promotional, or other purpose deemed appropriate. The University of Idaho library will preserve the interview and transcript. The interview will be made publicly accessible through the UI library for scholarly and historical purposes, including potentially through its website. So you can agree that we've reviewed the consent form and agreed to its statements.
JS:OK, I do agree to its statements.
EF:OK so we can just go ahead and get started then. Do you mind stating your name and date of birth?
JS:My name is Jody Sisk, and my date of birth is October 28th, 1956.
EF:Alright, so do you mind telling us where you were born and raised?
JS:I was born in O'Neill, Nebraska, and moved to southern Idaho; the Hazleton area, at about the age of three.
JS:I spent most of my growing up years in and around the Hazleton and Jerome area. Other than a couple years in Gresham, Oregon when I was in first and part of second grade. I went to school from third grade through my sophomore year in high school in Jerome, Idaho.
EF:And so, what was the broader culture like in your community, in Hazelton or Jerome?
JS:I grew up in a- it was a farming community. And Jerome was a fairly small town. We grew up- we had a farm of our own. So, and the culture? I mean it was the 60s and 70s and like I said it was a farm community. The only- with a few Hispanics. Other than that, everybody was Caucasian pretty much. And it was mostly, largely, a Mormon community.
EF:OK were you aware of any big pushes for change in your town? Do you remember any-
JS:I wasn't. It was the beginning of the Vietnam War, of course and at least by the time I was in the late 60s early 70s there was a lot of us- the younger people, who were against the Vietnam War. But there was no, again it was a farming community so there was no like protests or anything like that, that I can remember. As a-as you know as a younger child and an early younger teen. But there was a lot of talk among my friends you know and against the Vietnam war. At home it was just fear and you know I had older brothers that were at the age to be drafted and so there was you know that fear that one of our family members; brothers, cousins, whatever, would wind up being sent to Vietnam. But none that I know of, none of my family was ever killed in Vietnam.
EF:So, when it came to the Vietnam War, what were your personal thoughts on it at the time? Were they-
JS:As a young person when it first started there was a lot of news programs about the horrific killing of children in the villages and stuff like that so I was- you know, as I. And most people I knew were not for the Vietnam War, they did- they were against it, it was none of our business that sort of thing. And there was a- like I said, a lot of horrific news shots and stuff of villages being wiped out. Amongst my peers there was anger about you know, the killing of the children and the innocents and that sort of thing. But a-among my parents, it was just "why are we there, what are we doing with our- sticking our nose into something that's not our business?" basically.
EF:Yeah. Did- so did seeing those like videos, and hearing that rhetoric from your parents and your peers change how you felt about America as a global leader?
JS:It didn't, I think because I was so young, I didn't think in those terms.
JS:You know a-again I was born in '56 and Vietnam started in the mid to late 60s if I remember correctly? I wanna say like '67? So, by that time I'd have only been you know 6, 8 years old. Well- maybe a little older than that, I would have been probably 10 or 12 years old but yeah. So, for me it was just, uhm I didn't have any question about our government so to speak 'cause I didn't, you know I didn't even think about government.
JS:At that, in those ages.
EF:Yeah, that makes sense. Did you- were you aware of any other social movements at the time? Was there any other discussion about it among parents or peers?
JS:Yeah- because it was the age of the hippies and the protests and all of the stuff. My parents were you know; "Those stupid hippies doing these protests." and "What are they thinking." and "They need to cut their hair and get a job." haha and all of those things, that they were- you know they were upset by the drug use and-and all of that, because you saw a lot of that on the news. Again, not so much in our community. It was it-it was definitely a conservative, farming community. Uhm- yes, the boys wore their hair longer and that sort of thing, but there weren't really hippie communes or any of that stuff going on.
EF:Right, that's interesting.
EF:Did you get most of your news through the television?
JS:Yes. Television and newspapers.
JS:I was gonna say- and where we lived, we had one channel. So, it was local Twin Falls Idaho news channel. Of course, they have world news; you know, like CBS World News or whatever station it was- I don't even remember now. Walter Cronkrite- Cronkite, that kind of thing. Uhm so yes television was the main source of our news.
EF:OK that's really interesting. So, I guess kind of shifting topics a little bit I wanted to ask you about- like, as a woman from the 1960s I wanted to ask you like what changes have you seen as a woman from the 1960s to today?
JS:Lots of changes. Social mores are different. Women have a lot more freedoms then they did starting in the 60s. For example, uh when I went to school in the 60s girls weren't allowed to wear pants to school. You had to wear dresses, and by the time I got into high school; in the early 70s, they started allowing us to wear pants to school. You could wear pants you know into town and in your casual, but you weren't allowed to dress that way at school. So those kind of dress codes or mores changed quite a bit. Miniskirts were in, and they had regulations about how short your skirts could be and things like that.
Again, it was a conservative farming, Mormon community mostly so I saw changes in dress and work. The way women were treated on the job, and the pay that they made was way less than a man. And of course, in the 60s I wasn't working yet; again, I was still a child, but during my lifetime I have seen a lot of changes in how women are treated and respected at work. There was you know sexual harassment was a very big thing nobody- there was no rules against it, there was no laws about touching, or what you could say to a woman, when I first started working in the 70s for example. And now of course there's lots of laws to protect women. And men now from sexual harassment on the job and things. Women are- you didn't see women in politics when I was a kid. It was all men; there were no women senators or congressman of any sort. There were no women mayors or governors or anything like that.
EF:So, do you think- would you say it's better or worse for women today?
JS:I well- in my opinion it's better. Again, we have more respect on the job; we're still not there but it's better. We're getting closer to equal pay for women. We definitely have women in power positions in our government, as well as in corporations, and in our- you know in all areas of life there are women in power now. Where that was a- that was; when I was growing up women were still pretty much expected to get married and raise babies and stay home. Other than you know; both parents- rarely did both parents' work. You know the dad worked the mom stayed home. I grew up with a mother who did work out of necessity when- 'cause we grew up on a farm and farming didn't pay that well so when she wanted extra money, my mother went out and got a job. But it was a waitress job, it was sewing in a drapery shop, it was those sorts of jobs.
It wasn't any money jobs, and she didn't have the education for big money jobs anyway. But as soon as she got the money for the new living room set, or to add a room on, or whatever we needed that we couldn't afford; other than the bare bones stuff that the farming paid for, once she- she quit that job and she went back to being a homemaker. And that's kind of how I grew up, with my mom working different jobs, grocery clerking, or waitressing or-or she managed her own businesses. She managed restaurants; ran them and did the cooking and you know kind of was- she was a business owner throughout my life at different times. So, she was a, you know- but that wasn't the norm at the time. It was more usually the husband that opened the business. It was rare for the woman to. But in my mom's- and my stepdad you know I'm sure financially assisted with the business as well as backed her you know with uhm- the way he could. But he didn't actually work the business, she did all of that, did all the managing and the financial and everything for the business.
EF:Oh, ok. So, shifting topics again. What- I guess I'm curious about you personally, so do you remember any music or artists that you were listening to in the 60s?
JS:Oh, definitely I- in the 60s; because I had brothers that were 8-9 years older than I am I listened to a lot of- I grew up listening to country and western with my dad, and big bands with my mom. So that's the music I grew up with. Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins and the big bands; Lawrence Welk on TV, that kind of thing. But my brothers listened to rock'n'roll. And they listened to 50s and 60s rock'n'roll, and that was more the music I was interested in. Myself personally, my favorite was uh the like- Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doobie Brothers, the Eagles, 60s and 70s rock and roll was definitely my style of music. Although, I did like; I had that western influence from my dad, and listened to Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves that sort of thing, sang a lot of their songs. We were a very uhm musical family, everybody sang. Some of my brothers; liked playing guitars; my mother grew up being in a family band, that sort of thing.
EF:So about- so- did you notice any themes going on in the music? Did you think- maybe that-
JS:Sure, in the rock'n'roll music definitely. Uhm there was a lot of songs written about Vietnam. And there was a lot of songs written about the war period. You know there was also songs about sex, love, rock'n'roll, drugs, that sort of thing too. Yeah.
EF:So other than music, do you remember uhm any memorable films or books that you really enjoyed at the time?
JS:I remember uhm- I'm an avid reader but I'm more of a fiction reader. I wasn't into biographies or anthologies or that kind of thing. But some of the movies I remember is like; and they were more from the 70s probably, again as a child when we got taken to the drive in it was to watch a western usually. We didn't see- and on television it- mostly westerns that sort of thing usually. But, when I got to be you know driving age, and going to the movies with friends' kind of age, I remember seeing different movies about the Vietnam War. One of the ones that stuck with me; I'm trying to think of the name of it. It was Robert De Niro. Oh gosh honey I had it on the tip of my tongue and now I can't think of it. Can we get back to that one? I'll-
JS:Yeah. And yeah, I saw a lot; of course, a lot of World War II movies. My dad was an avid World War II movie watcher because he served in World War II. So, war movies I guess would be the ones that- and how factual they were I don't know. But those were the ones that stuck with me, more than-than anything else I can think of. The Deer Hunter, that's the Robert De Niro movie.
JS:Uhm, was one of the ones that really stuck with me, and it was based on some guys in Vietnam being captured and tortured by the Vietnamese. That kind of thing.
EF:And did any of those films that you mentioned uhm change your perspective on the world? Or-
JS:It, Yes! It made me realize; some of those films made me realize the Vietnamese people's side of things, and that the war wasn't all one sided. It opened my mind about both sides of the conflict so to speak. So yeah, in that respect I guess it did because I originally started out blaming them for everything; and then as I saw more news programs, more historical film footage of the you know Vietnam War as I became a teenager in the 70s, that was more eye opening to me. That there wasn't, there's not just one side to any story. I guess.
EF:Yeah absolutely. Uhm- so then, can you tell me a little bit about your early 20s? Uhm maybe-
JS:So, I was married I got married just before I turned 20. And when I got married, I took on a child; my first husband had a child from a previous marriage that he had custody of, so I became a wife and a mother instantly. Just a couple weeks before I turned 20. So, my 20s were spent being a housewife and a mom with a kid. I did like my mother, I did part time work here and there as needed but mostly I was a housewife and a mom, and my concerns were you know, of course keeping-keeping our financials together, raising a child, you know trying to raise a child right. And my- we lived basically in southern Idaho for I would say the first year or year and a half of our marriage, and then we moved to Washington after that, and I've been here in Washington ever since.
EF:So, um, what would you say as you've kind of experienced the 60s on, what do you think has changed the most in your opinion since the 1960s?
JS:I would say our children, and the way they have been- the freedoms that they have, the lack of responsibility that they have. Which has not been a good thing in my opinion. The rules and laws that were made that prevent a parent from parenting their children, necessarily the right way. And I'm not an advocate of abuse by any means, but I do think that children need to have stronger disciplines than they have today and less uhm. I think children have too much electronic time, and not enough family time, outdoor time, and I-and I think that kids aren't made to- we were made to- if we wanted something we had to work for it.
You know, even clothing. If-if, my parents only have so much money for clothing so if I wanted that fancier pair of shoes, or that dress that was in style, I had to go babysitting and earn. You know starting at 13 I babysat and spent my babysitting money to help buy the school clothes that I wanted rather than what just what we could afford. And, if I wanted a car, we had to buy our own car. My parents might loan us the money to-to get us started with the down payment, but we were expected to pay that back. Kids now, everything is handed to them. They're given a car, they're given everything, and they don't know what it's like to struggle and work for things; and I think that's been the ruination of our younger generation.
EF:Have you noticed any things that have kind of stayed the same? Maybe?
JS:I mean, somewhat. Again there's- the divorce rates are way, way higher. There's a lot more single parent families. Where- in the 60s, when I was growing up, there was- 90% of the time there was two parents. There was very few single mothers, and I don't remember any single fathers, so to speak. That's a lot more common now.
But I mean there's still a nuclear family just not as prevalent. I think the single parenting out there is larger than the nuclear family anymore. Or, if it's a nuclear family it's a second marriage to- you know, stepparents and that kind of thing, a lot more so than when I was growing up. Uhm, people still you know have faith. People still have families that they love, and they love their children, and they try to raise them, but there's uhm yeah. I don't know there's not a lot that has stayed the same you know. Other than the earths still turning and that kind of thing. The seasons have changed, the weather patterns have changed; life is a whole lot different than it was yeah, sixty years ago or whatever.
EF:So, have you personally; as you've grown up, kind of changed your mind on any big issues since the 1960s?
JS:Yes. Well yes, I'm a lot more liberal than I probably was. Again, in the 60s I was pretty much a child, so I didn't have any opinions about things other than "I wanna go out and play", or "I wanna do what I wanna do". As a child does. But, from the-from the 70s I guess is where I could speak from, more than the 60s. I'm a lot more liberal and open minded than I used to be. I'm a lot more accepting of life; like sexual orientation and peoples... space, and people's right to their own opinions, and-and that thing. I'm not as rigid as I was as a younger person. I've gotten more flexible, and thoughtful in my old age.
EF:Mhm, yeah! Well, thank you so much for your time.
EF:Did you have anything else that you maybe wanted to add before we stopped the recording?
JS:Not that I can think of. Everything I- do you have any questions about anything I said?