Indy Correspondent podcast #1: Dan interviews his daughter Naomi

This afternoon my daughter and I sat down together to talk about her upcoming senior year at Carmel High School, her work for the Carmel High School yearbook including the photos she took at Carmel Pride (below), her skepticism about her dad’s cooking, and her Netflix favorites, among other topics. The transcript of our interview, which has been edited for clarity, is below.

Above: A self-portrait in pen and ink by Naomi Grossman

Wed, 6/30 1:29PM • 10:33

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

black hole, naomi, year, activities, podcast, eaten, little bit, camera, fun, school, netflix, photography, performing arts center, grossman, today, friends, soup, chart, rattlesnake, correspondent

DAN GROSSMAN: Hi, this is Dan Grossman. This is the Indy Correspendent podcast where we talk about everything, nothing, and everything in between. And today I am with my daughter. Naomi Grossman, who is looking at me suspiciously right now. And I have some questions to ask her. This is our first blog. This is our first blog ever, this our first podcast ever I should say. And so we're just gonna go ahead and do this thing. So Naomi, tell me a little bit about yourself.

NAOMI GROSSMAN: Okay. I am very involved with the yearbook staff at the high school.

DAN GROSSMAN: Carmel Elementary [corrects himself, laughing} Carmel High School. Time goes by so fast.

NAOMI: At the high school, not the elementary school. For sophomore year I was a photographer, then last year I was a photographer and an editor, and then this year I'll be a photographer and one of the editors-in-chief. So I try to take as many opportunities to work on my camera skills as possible.

DAN: Your work really never ends because of the summer activities, because this year will be in next year's yearbook correct?

NAOMI: That's true.

DAN: And one of those activities was Carmel Pride. Can you tell me a little bit about that and what you were doing there?

NAOMI: It was really cool considering it was made up by like a group of students. The story goes that two students from my high school I had the idea of making a Pride Festival over tacos, and then they just did it they planned the entire pride celebration in a month and it was really, really well done.  It was really exciting to see a lot of students from my school like celebrate themselves and [I took a lot of photos] and it's just a really good time.

DAN: And this took place at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, correct?

NAOMI: Yep, where the farmers market usually is in Carmel,

DAN: And this is for everybody who does not know, the Center is found at the intersection of 126 St., and Range Line, more or less, in that general vicinity. Well, tell me a little bit about your time in school during COVID. What was that like for you?

NAOMI: Oh so fun, best school year ever. [Laughing ironically] Couldn't be any better than it was. Well, usually, my parents know this but I usually really like school, like I genuinely really like school, I look forward to it and all that, but this year.  Mm-mn. No, this year all the like fun activities that people would look forward to, we're just taking out school is literally just lectures. It was really hard to make friends this year with the limited time I saw them, and ... I couldn't even be close to them so I was six feet apart from people at all times, which also makes it a little hard to make friends. It also makes it hard to make friends when half of your grade — you don't see them. There's some people in my grade I haven't seen in like a year and a half now, which sucks but. Yay COVID!

DAN: Yay, so. Well, moving on. What are your hopes for next year, school ... Obviously you want the yearbook to go well but what are you looking forward to?

NAOMI: Well, I'm excited to not have cohorts [where students go to school two or three days a week and spend the rest of their time online] because I think I might start sobbing, if that's the situation. I'm excited to have more opportunities to be with people and to make friends.  I made way more friends this summer than I have the entire school year. If that says anything. I'm excited to take photography class; I dropped choir so I could take art classes. Although I'll miss choir. I think this will be a good experience for me as a growing artist. I'm also going to take ceramics class because ceramics is really fun. I took it in seventh grade. It was just really relaxing time. What else?

DAN: What art activities were you doing today before I interrupted you and grabbed you and threw you in front of this podcast?

NAOMI: Well, today, I made a chart about different camera settings, because I'm trying to learn manual settings, and I wanted to make a poster. So I made a poster, and about camera settings, and then I did a drawing. I'm not done with it yet. Um, yeah, that's what I did today.

Above: photos by Naomi Grossman at Carmel Pride at the Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, June 27

DAN: Great, what do you like to do on your off days?

NAOMI: Usually I my alarm goes off at seven every day, because if I sleep until eight I get into like a dream cycle and then I just feel sleepy when I wake up. So wake up at seven. And then I usually start drawing or something. I have a hard time just focusing on drawing so I usually like to watch Netflix, while I'm drawing, or I'll try to make a necklace or I'll design something like on Illustrator or InDesign or I'll practice photography or I'll try to learn piano, Or try to make something out of clay. Oh and water my plants. I also do a lot of bike rides I really like bike rides. I bake sometimes I'm pretty good at baking cookies. [Editor’s note: Naomi also works part-time at the snack bar in the waterpark at the Monon Community Center.]

DAN: Well, you mentioned Netflix and two things we watched together. We really, we really liked the one on black holes [Black Holes, The Edge of All We Know] and also one called Tiny Creatures. Tell me about Tiny Creatures, what did you like about that?

NAOMI: I thought it was very unrealistic that the camera quality is really good [laughing]

DAN: And what was it about what what what is it, what did the camera follow?

NAOMI: It was about this kangaroo rat that nearly got eaten by a rattlesnake they nearly got eaten by tarantula they nearly got shot in a can by a cowboy they nearly got ran over by a cowboy on a motorcycle and then nearly got eaten by a scorpion and then nearly got eaten by a hawk then nearly got eaten by the rattlesnake again.

DAN: Yeah, I thought that was really cool. Yeah, you're right. The photography was great. The plausibility was not quite up there but maybe, maybe the next episode will, like, do it for us in that department, probably … I was just intrigued by how vast the distances are, and there's one chart that they had in there and what, what, what did that chart consist of?

NAOMI: Well, it was like a grid, and then like one grid square was the earth, and then it just like zoomed out and I just like showed how insanely big the universe is and how insanely small we are. I already knew this because I took astronomy, but I was just like ... wack.

DAN: Yeah and the, the image that they got of the M87 black hole which is [2.4 billion times] the mass of the Sun. And it's so far away, it would take, what 50 million years to get there, travelling thing at lightspeed. Something to that effect. And it's just the most mind boggling thing.

NAOMI: Maybe we are in a black hole. We don't know.

DAN: And maybe every atom that composes our body is another universe. Who knows?

NAOMI: Oh, that hurts my brain.

DAN: Okay. Well, I think we've got enough for today. What did you think of our first podcast?

NAOMI: My soup is getting cold,

DAN: And what kind of soup, did you make?

NAOMI: I had three packets in a day. It's good.

DAN: And why do you get soup from the store when I can make the soup?

NAOMI: You're gonna make miso soup for me?

DAN: I can make any kind of soup for you.

NAOMI: Alright, go buy some seaweed, some tofu. Have fun, get the spices right.

DAN: You don't think I get them right do you?

NAOMI: You'll probably add Siracha sauce or vinegar chips.

DAN: I haven't added vinegar chips to anything I've made in months.  But you won't let me forget will you?

NAOMI: No, I'm traumatized.

DAN: All right, well, that is our very first podcast for any correspondent. Thank you Naomi Grossman for your participation.

NAOMI: Anytime.