My friend Sam just sent me a link and information about a pretty cool project that’s currently running called StoryCorps. I highly recommend visiting their site, reading up on the project, listening to some of the recordings, and participating if possible. Here’s some of the stories I listened to and enjoyed:
“One day some guy showed up to him and said, 'We're going to make some movie. Can you write a script?'"
Chin-Ju Li tells his daughter Julia about his father, the filmmaker Pingqian Li. (MP3, 1:23 min.)
"All I know is I was given the bag complete, which they had filled with about fifteen pigeons."
Mitchell Agoos remembers protesting the 1955 Carnegie Hall debut of conductor Herbert von Karajan, a former member of the Nazi party. (MP3, 1:24 min.)
"We used to go to the Savoy Ballroom every Saturday and stay there until Monday morning."
Harold Slappy tells his friend Monica about visiting Harlem's Savoy Ballroom as a youth. (MP3, 1:18 min.)
"He looked up at me and said, 'Hamzah,' and then grabbed hold of me and gave me this tight hug and wouldn't let me go."
Homeless New Yorker Larry Chamberlain tells his friend Tobias about his many names. (MP3, 0:30 min.)
"My mother, well, she didn't know how to say 'colander' in English..."
Philomena Luciani interviewed by her granddaughter Alison. (MP3, 0:27 min.)
"I think I might want to be straight, with a nice husband, but of course, I don't have any idea what it's like to have kids cause I am a kid myself."
Kaitlyn Sever interviewed by her mom, Lynne Lande, who is a lesbian. (MP3, 1:57 min.)
"If we're going anywhere, we're going down the aisle, because I'm too tired, too sick, and too sore to do any other damn thing."
Danny and Annie Perasa, married for 26 years, interview each other. (MP3, 1:38 min.)
"Money, money, money, money. Everyone spends money for oneself."
Shirley Sun to her English teacher, Ruthe Karlin. (MP3, 0:34 min.)
"My dad was subversively funny. He had a whole kind of Rolodex of one-liners for every occasion."
Billy Collins interviewed by his friend Nancy Cobb. (MP3, 3:14 min.)
"I said, 'What are you saying? Are you proposing to me tonight, now?'"
Barbara Paer to her daughter Shelley Rubin. (MP3, 1:18 min.)
"Don't ever let anybody tell you they can do something to you. You're free, man. You don't have to take that."
Ralph Tremonte and Donald Weiss, who spent their childhood together in a psychiatric hospital, are reunited after 40 years. (MP3, 1:50 min.)
About Me
- 337is
- I was born in 1970 ("born with the year," my parents used to say; actually I was "born with the decade," I've since realized). I moved to Nashville from Michigan in July 2005. I'm still adjusting to not knowing where anything is (after living in Michigan for my entire life), and am trying to find good ethnic food restaurants. I have more grey hair than you might think, but am now keeping my head pretty much shaved so you can't really tell. I enjoy a wide variety of music and wish I had more friends to play songs for. I have an inquisitive nature (some people would say that I ask too many questions), and have a head full of useless information. I enjoy conversations with unique or intelligent people, but have a very hard time with small talk. My wife laughs at almost all of my jokes, which is why I married her. I’m at least 6’6” tall. I only have one dimple (right cheek).
2 comments:
pretty cool site. I also enjoyed the question generator. I'll have to find a creative use for that.
I haven't been able to check these out myself, but have enjoyed the few you played to me over the phone. We all know how nosey I am anyway and this project definitely plays into that weakness of mine to learn more than I should about people's personal lives. Thank you for sharing this with us all. I look forward to listening to more of them when my computer returns home to roost.
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