Atlanta Outreach Project provides innovative solutions to ending homelessness in collaboration with other agencies. It’s Life Without Walls project was a 10-week writing and theater workshop designed to teach and improve writing and artistic skills. In the workshops, individuals who are or have been homeless were guided through an artistic process in which they created poems and scenes based on their own stories. As part of the process, they used a StoryKit to interview each other and tell their stories.

Their hard work was on display this past weekend, as they performed Life Without Walls to packed audiences at the Little 5 Points Community Center. The members of the ensemble, Murray, Scotty, Tracy and William, each directed an act based on their life and then told their story, often incorporating poetry.  After the performance, the audience had an opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts about the performance.

StoryCorps Atlanta is proud to have played a small part in this process. And long after the applause has faded from the performance, their stories will live on in the StoryCorps archives at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian for African American History and Culture.

After seeing the studios, the girls learned about StoryCorps and the National Day of Listening. They listened to StoryCorps clips and talked about the importance of listening as an act of love. The girls decided who in their in their family they’d like to interview for the National Day of Listening, the day after Thanksgiving. By interviewing a family member, the girls will earn the Her Story patch. “We really learned to listen to each other,” says Angelina Capponi.

To practice for their National Day of Listening interviews, the girls came up with a list of questions they wanted to ask Sarah Harris, their troop leader and sat her down for a StoryCorps interview. “We got to learn more about someone we love–our Girl Scout Leader,” says Carly Krauth.

They asked about when she was younger:

• Where did you grow up?
• Have you ever lived in other countries?
• Where is your favorite place that you have lived?
• Will you say something in French?
• What did you like to do in your spare time?
• Did you ever swim in a lake?
• Where is your favorite place to swim?

Being a Girl Scout Troop Leader:

• Why did you want to be a troop leader?
• How did you learn all this cool stuff?
• Tell us about when you were a Girl Scout.
• What does the Girl Scout Promise mean to you?
• What are your favorite Girl Scout cookies?

And some tough questions:

• What has been the biggest mistake in your life?
• What has been the most fun?

“Now we know how to interview our families for the National Day of Listening,” said Annalie Harris. The Brownies left the station prepared for the National Day of Listening and ready to earn their Her Story patch.

You can download a Do-It-Yourself Guide for the National Day of Listening at www.nationaldayoflistening.org.

Everyone at StoryCorps is excited to have a StoryBooth in the South, especially the Atlanta team: Lillie Love, Anthony Knight, Lola Ibitoye, Katrina Singh, and me! We are thrilled to be recording and preserving the stories of the South for our nation and future generations to hear. And we are very grateful to 90.1 WABE for hosting us for our first year in Atlanta.

Anthony, Lola, Lillie, Katrina, Amanda

We spent two weeks training and learning the ins and outs of StoryCorps. We learned how to record stories and archive them for the Library of Congress.

Katrina, Lillie, Lola and Anthony practice recording

Last week, we hosted a Friends and Family Week to practice our facilitation skills. I had a great time facilitating a conversation between two of my new friends, Alex West and Chris Appleton, best friends and co-founders of Wonderroot. Chris and Alex grew up together in Atlanta. When they were in college, they started planning to create a community arts organization in Atlanta with their friend Whit. Now their vision has come to life – the Wonderroot community arts space in Reynoldstown has now become a staple in the Atlanta activist and art scenes. Chris and Alex also talked about the people who inspired them, their visions for Atlanta, and the pranks they play on each other. We hope to partner with Wonderroot throughout the year.

Chris Appleton and Alex West

We will be recording on Thursdays and Saturdays at our booth, located in Studio 3 at 90.1 WABE. We will also be working with community organizations to do recordings out in the field each month.

To record an interview with a loved one at our Atlanta StoryBooth, make a reservation online or call 800-850-4406. (If there are no available appointment times, please sign up for our wait-list!) Then, prepare for your interview by reading what to expect, and create a list of great questions using our Question Generator.

Stay tuned to 90.1 WABE to hear stories recorded locally in Atlanta. You can also hear the weekly StoryCorps broadcast every Friday morning on NPR’s Morning Edition.

We look forward to recording your stories, Atlanta!