Atlernativas, or alternatives in English, is what StoryCorps frequently provides for many of its tens-of-thousands of participants.   Since its founding, StoryCorps has provided an opportunity to have voices heard that might otherwise be missed.

On Saturday, January 8, StoryCorps Atlanta spent the day with the Alterna Community in LaGrange, GA, (just 70 miles southwest of Atlanta) to record the stories of Mexican immigrants and their families.  Many of the individuals who came to share their stories spoke of facing incredible personal odds and overcoming family crisis for the opportunity to work and create family in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

First created almost 25 years ago, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and it’s parent organization, The Names Project, have come to symbolize not only this country’s efforts to find a cure for HIV/AIDS, but also humanity’s tendency to move toward healing and wholeness even in the face of unspeakable tragedy.  The AIDS Memorial Quilt, now made up of more than 40,000 individual panels, is the largest public art project in the world.  And, in the spirit of the centuries-old tradition of quilting, it has brought together rich and poor, black and white, male and female, straight and gay, and every possible human demographic and iteration possible.  In mid-November 2010, StoryCorps Atlanta set up shop at The Names Project/AIDS Memorial Quilt National Headquarters for a day of recording.

Executive Director Julie Rhoad and Director of Communications Janece Shaffer organized a very successful day of on-site recordings.  Ms. Rhoad gave her staff the day off so that the daily grind of the small, not-so-sound-proof office space would not interfere with the recording quality.  When asked why this partnership with StoryCorps was so important to her she said, “… like the stories found on The AIDS Memorial Quilt, the stories StoryCorps has recorded ask us to consider how the truth of a life is reflected in the larger permanent truths of existence that we all share.” Read the rest of this entry »

The week of November 7-13, 2010, was Gay Pride week on the campus of Spelman College – one of Atlanta’s five HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) that comprise the Atlanta University Center (AUC).  And while Spelman sponsors the Pride activities, students from the other four institutions (Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University, Morris Brown College and the Interdenominational Theological Center) are invited to participate.  Spelman openly celebrates the lives and accomplishments of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and questioning (LGBTQIQ) students.

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November 16, 2010 was the one-year anniversary of the first StoryCorps Atlanta broadcast on WABE’s City Café. To mark the occasion, we invited Atlanta Alumni and Community Partners to celebrate our first anniversary. Fittingly, John Lemley, the host of WABE’s City Café, was the MC for the evening.

The evening began with opening remarks by John Weatherford, Chief Operating Officer of WABE, and a special message from Dave Isay, Founder and Executive Director of StoryCorps.

We listened to several StoryCorps Atlanta stories that evening, starting with the very first story that aired a year ago, a conversation between mother and daughter, Joyce and Errin Haines.

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On Saturday, September 25, the StoryCorps Atlanta team packed up its equipment and headed to the heart of downtown Atlanta to the  second annual Neighborhood Summit. The event, a program by the Civic League for Regional Atlanta sponsored by the United Way and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, had the theme “Neighborhood Connections, Regional Voices.”

Throughout the day, Summit attendees sat in on workshops that focused on topics ranging from communities using social media technology to organize themselves, to learning about a new plan that, according to the organization’s website, “will determine how the region accommodates population and economic growth sustainability over the next 30 years.”  Heady stuff to be sure!

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In May, StoryCorps Atlanta Facilitator, Katrina Singh and I spent a day at the Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse. The clubhouse, in Stone Mountain, GA, is a place where people living with the lifelong effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are respected and valued as contributing community members. Members practice life skills such as cooking, counting money and answering the phone.

Members and their caretakers recorded their stories  Although the members can’t remember the details of their accidents, they clearly remembered their lives before the accident.

Husband and wife Bisi and Deborah Alabi immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria. They were on the way back from a family friend’s college graduation, when they skidded on ice.  After the crash,  Deborah, a nurse, could tell that her husband was alive, though badly injured. Now years later, they talked about how happy they are. Bisi can’t work due to his traumatic brain injury, but that seems quite alright with his wife. Before the accident, he worked three jobs as a pharmacist (a day job, a night job and one on the weekends). Now he spends more time at home with his family. Since he volunteers in the kitchen at Side by Side, he’s started helping his wife out in their kitchen (something he never did before the accident). And every day he Skypes with his grandchildren in Las Vegas.

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On October 18, 2010, Atlanta StoryCorps staff as well as radio station WABE (90.1) President & CEO Milton Clipper and COO John Weatherford, were proud recipients of a Proclamation initiated by Councilman Hall.  During the brief ceremony, Mr. Clipper spoke highly of the work that StoryCorps Atlanta has accomplished during its first year and of the strong partnership between the two organizations. StoryCorps Atlanta Site Supervisor, Amanda Plumb, talked about the many community partners cultivated over the past year and our outreach work with homeless and refugee populations, African Americans, Latinos, members of the LGBTQ community and seniors.  With all that, however, she also focused on the work yet to do and the communities yet to be reached, and encouraged the Council Members to invite their constituents to tell their stories.

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Sagal Radio Services is a nonprofit that broadcasts weekly radio programs aimed at immigrant communities.  Their programs, broadcast in 5 different languages, providing information to help newcomers adapt to life in the United States.

Hear Me Today: The Voice of Today’s Teens is a Sagal Radio Services program created by Clarkston high school students who intern with the International Rescue Committee over the summer.

This summer, I visited Sagal Radio Services, where interns, Nawal Abdirahman from Somalia and Ram Koirala and Tara Powdyal from Nepal interviewed me about StoryCorps. After my time in the hot seat, I invited them to return the favor and visit us at the WABE studios to learn how we create StoryCorps. They toured the Atlanta StoryBooth, met WABE on-air personalities, asked questions of the News Director, Michael Fields, and saw how producer, Kate Sweeney edits a story.

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It’s not very often that homeless men and women are given a stage to tell their own stories. But that’s exactly what happened when artist/teacher Polly Garcia approached Atlanta Outreach Project’s about creating Life Without Walls.

Atlanta Outreach Project provides innovative solutions to ending homelessness in collaboration with other agencies. 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.

In honor of Gay Pride Month, Atlanta’s Radial Cafe was abuzz with stories from the LGBTQ community on Wednesday evening, June 23, 2010.  Radial owner Phil Palmer generously hosted Atlanta StoryCorps and over 100 members of Atlanta’s LGBTQ community, their friends, family and colleagues.  Master of ceremonies for the evening was WABE’s own John Lemley, host of City Cafe, which airs on WABE each Tuesday.

Upon entering the event, attendees registered and received a bag of goodies donated by WABE.  They then enjoyed light fare graciously provided by Radial.

Once the program was underway, attendees listened to LGBTQ stories selected from both national and local participants.  All of the local StoryCorps Atlanta alumni whose stories we played were in attendance.

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