Journal 3 Wil

So far the reading has been interesting every single person interviewed has had completely different experiences that have shaped their lives.  I think the strength of this book is that Isay was able to get everything down about the people and his experience meeting them.  The interviews really helped to describe the kind of people they are and it is easily shown like how some interviews are just dialogues between Isay and the subject, while others like shields actually show what it was that they were doing.  I think that the weakness of this style is that some of the interviews are so short and they only interview the subject and not necessarily the people around them who are also influenced by these people.
The profile that I chose is Tommie Bass.  I am curious as to how he studied the different herbs, did he read about them in books or did he know people who would teach him about the plants?  He stated that he isn't a doctor but he knew a lot about many herbs and their effects on people.  I think the main idea of Bass's profile is that he was a self taught man who liked to help people with his trade.  When he talked about curing the little girl and the man offered him $5 to find the herbs she needed he said "Man, you mean to tell me that you think I'd charge you five dollars to get something to cure your little girl?" (Isay 65)  this to me says that he does it purely to help people rather than to make money from it.  The language used in this that stands out to me is near the end of the interview "They wanted to know how I diagnose cases, so I told'em that I didn't diagnose no cases."  (Isay 67) This line sounded like he was just confirming that he is a bit of a hillbilly speaking in improper grammar but that doesn't mean he doesn't know what he is doing.