People watching. It’s fun, entertaining and yet very inconclusive. Ever wonder what it would be like to actually talk to the people you observe and hear their life stories? Sophomore Mariam Gomaa, former daily contributing photographer, does just that. Gomaa, a biological sciences and creative writing major officially started her blog, “Marooned on the Subway” this April and has already had 1,600 page views. So far she has interviewed around 50 people and has big plans for the future. The Current got the inside scoop on how Gomaa and partner Mohanned El-Natour are using her Inspire Media grant to start a social awareness movement right here in Chicago. The Current: How did you get the idea for your blog? Mariam Gomaa: I kind of started it because we would kind of see the same people over and over again. And I’m a fiction writer, so for me, I’m always thinking, “Hmmm I wonder what that person’s story is?” … I’m always very interested in people. The Current: What is the mission of your blog? MG: Well, I guess the biggest thing is to keep people thinking about what it means to be a part of this society … and to realize that everybody has their own story and they are actually very similar to you. The Current: Are people usually willing to talk to you? MG: Yeah. I actually only had one instance where someone said no, and that lady actually ended up emailing me [and said,] “I want to share something with you now.” So it was really cool to hear someone be willing to talk about themselves, to overcome that fear in themselves … Most people are actually really willing. I think part of it is that we’re really friendly … This is a social media project. We want you to think about other people and how you can contribute to society. The Current: What is the weirdest or funniest experience you have had? MG: Every single one of my experiences has been fairly unique. One of the really interesting ones was … There was this man sitting on the very corner of the train, the spot by the conductors. He was sitting right there in that little nook and he was counting $4 bills over and over again, and I was like, “Woah, he’s so weird.” I started to make judgments about him, and I was like, “What if he’s like really sketchy? I don’t know if I should talk to him.” And then I went and talked to him, and he was just so happy that someone came up to talk to him. He was a construction worker. He was like, I love music – I play the saxophone. He writes his own music, and I was like, “Woah I was just sitting there making all these judgments … but he ended up being such an interesting person.” It definitely made me think about the way I perceive people. The Current: How long do you plan on blogging? MG: As long as I can. I’m hoping that in the summer it will become more frequent [and] busy because I’ll be more free and traveling more. But yeah, I actually want it to go on for a while. There are actually a lot of really cool, similar projects going on. A lot of them are mostly in New York, as far as I’ve seen … It’s cool that other people are kind of having similar ideas about how we should reach out, so I’m thinking of potentially expanding it and going out anywhere on the street instead of just the train. I hope it becomes a thing where people like are suddenly looking out for that girl that interviews people on the train, but people definitely get excited about it and tell their friends, “Oh, somebody stopped me today and wanted to hear my life!” And that’s always a cool thing. –Alyssa Clough