This is an excerpt of the transcription of the interview with María, a friend of mine who kindly agreed to take part in this project. I chose to post the piece of the interview when we were talking about 11-M, the terrorist attacks, that were directed by an al-Qaeda inspired terrorist cell that happened on the commuter train system of Madrid. I found this fact particularly interesting because I lived it as a fresh news and ten years after I found it on a textbook of history. And it’s really fascinating seeing an event fixed in your memory becoming history.
S: ‘We are here to talk about the events that took place in Madrid on the 11th March 2004. Can you please state your name, your place and date of birth?’
M:’My name is María Herrera Cárdenas. I was born in Jaén on the 29th of May- ehm- 1994.’
S:’ How old were you when the attacks happened?’
M: ‘I was ten years old by that time.’
S: ‘ What were you doing when you received the news (of the attacks)’
M: ‘I think I was in the living room with my parents and then -ehm- we got- em- this news on TV and basically- ehm- we knew that there were terrorists’ attacks that were committed by this terrorist organisation. It was not the first time they hit a hot target.’
S: ‘How did this make you feel at the moment?’
M: I rember it was -ehm- kind of complicated because I was a kid, a small child, but at the same time what is happening in your country, you feel it very close to you and also on the news there were these stories about people of my age who were killed or injured and -ehm- I precisely remember the case of a girl who was, I think sixteen, and she was eventually alive but her parents died and her leg was completely removed and she was, she was basically telling her story, and I remember that it was quite touching.
The other attacks happened a few years ago in other location and this was pressing time reality again.
S: ‘Ok.- ehm- How do you think it impacted society?’
M: ‘I think this attack impacted society in a way that … You could see that it could happen here and it could happen to you, and not just to people who live in Madrid, but to people who were travelling because it was the public train system, the public system everyone was taking basically. It was quite alarming in the sense that it was something that could happen to everyone and it could happen to you?
Research blog for Creative Practice 