Sujaya Chandran's Oral history project

   Interview with Professor Bridget Fischer.

           Bridget Fisher was born in San Diego and moved around the country before settling down in California. She has one younger brother and moved 13 times while at school.During her early days, she was a shy person, scared of standing in front of people and speaking, but art was something she enjoyed.  Her parents told her it would be hard to make a living as an artist and they thought teaching would be a a good fit. As a child, Professor Fischer pretended she was a teacher, teaching her stuffed toys using her black board.  At Community college, she had a mentor, who gave her the opportunity to give a guest lecture on oil painting. It was here that she realized that talking about something she enjoyed or loved, wasn't as scary as she had thought. She taught some classes at graduate school and the more she did it the more she fell in love with it and thus knew it was her ‘calling’ to be an Artist/Teacher.
       
             Professor Fischer joined Skyline College in the summer of 1992 as adjunct faculty. The first class she ever taught at Skyline was Art Appreciation and became a full time Professor in 1999.  She has since taught all of the Art History courses offered, was Coordinator of the Art Gallery for 9 years, and has taught, Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Watercolor and Printmaking.  She was the first instructor in the district to teach Art History courses online and has been the Distance Education Faculty Coordinator for the last 5 years in addition to her teaching duties.

             When we were assigned this project, I chose to interview Professor Fischer as she is someone who I have great respect and admiration for. Professor Fischer came out as a teenager, before the country was as tolerant and accepting as it is now towards homosexuality. I wanted to learn about her experiences and life. What began as a chance meeting in the cafeteria, has developed to her being someone I can go to for advice, information and just for a chat. She is a person who has been communicative, understanding and accommodating since I got to meet her and it gives me great pleasure in being able to share her life experiences, confidence and strength with other students.

Segment 1 : Can you tell me a little about yourself and your family background?

 

Segment 2 : Can you tell me about your parents?

Segment 3 : Did you have a strong religious upbringing?

Segment 4 : Did your family have any opinions about homosexuality? Was it something discussed at home?

Segment 5 :So your parents didn’t know any other gay people? They made their feelings about the subject known?

Segment 6 :When did you realize you were gay? And what were your feelings about it?

Segment 7 :Did you not feel the need to acknowledge being gay because there was no need to?

Segment 8 :How did you feel about coming out? Was it something you were comfortable doing?

Segment 9 :When did you come out? And what was your family’s reaction?

Segment 10 :Was it easy coming out because your mother asked you directly rather than you having to initiate a dialogue?

Segment 11 :Did your mother ever doubt your sexuality? Did she express that in hindsight she knew?

Segment 12 :Were your family ostracized in any way? Did they experience any negative behavior at work, church etc?

Segment 13 :Did you face any obstacles after coming out? Did people treat you differently?

Segment 14 :Do you feel your relationships with people have changed?Are you still in touch with friends you had before coming out?

Segment 15 :Can you think of anyone who has impacted you negatively or made you feel uncomfortable about being gay?

Segment 16 :Have you ever regretted coming out?

Segment 17 :Did you ever have regrets about coming out because if affected your parents in some way?

Segment 18 :When you came out, marriage was not a possibility. Today if your mother was still here, would you fulfill that dream for her?

Segment 19 :Does your niece ask about you getting married or having kids?

Professor Fischer completed her AA at West Valley college, then transferred to San Jose State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts  in Painting and drawing.After taking a year to develop a portfolio to apply to graduate school she applied to San Jose State University for their M.F.A. Program but realized that staying in the Bay area was too expensive.  Professor Fischer was set on joining a sculpture program that had a bronze casting foundry and ended up getting a full scholarship to University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.  After a semester, the person she went to go work with, left to become the Art Department Chair at the University of Arizona. Professor Fischer was able to follow her and got teaching assistantships there.  She went from  teaching a 9 student graduate program at Notre Dame to a 90 student program at University of Arizona.  She gained an M.F.A. in sculpture and ran the foundry for Bronze casting and taught, while completing course work and presenting a final exhibition at the University Museum in order to graduate in 1989.

Conclusion : This interview was far more informative and insightful than I could have imagined. Professor Fisher was generous enough to allow me a no holds barred interview and she answered each question with enough detail to let me picture every situation she was describing. What was most impressive about Professor Fisher, is how at no point, did she ever feel ashamed or embarrassed about being true to herself. It is truly inspiring to see how she maneuvered life through a time when being homosexual was not well accepted in society and the concept of same sex couples was not very common. It is applaudable that Professor Fischer pursued her goals and achieved her dreams educationally as well as in her life. Bridget Fischer is an inspiration to all women out there, be it as a role model in coming out, educational goals or simply how to be a good person.