“You have the best job in the world!”
After two years on the road with StoryCorps, 20 cities visited, and more than 800 interviews recorded, I’ve heard that statement many times. I’ve heard it from all kinds of people in all kinds of places, and no matter how tired or cranky or overwhelmed by the events of the day, I always agreed with whoever made that declaration.
Being a Mobile Facilitator for StoryCorps means many things: lots of travel, lots of explaining, and LOTS of listening. I had an inkling of what I was in for when I started with StoryCorps in the summer 2008. However, I decided early on to be open to what would be a very surprising journey.
I was surprised by how many dinner invitations my co-workers and I received in every city. I ate more homemade pie in the six weeks I was in Buffalo, N.Y., then I had eaten in my previous 33 years on the planet. I also found that my life is way more interesting when I listen to people who are much older and much younger than me. I listened to a second grader talk about the meaning of life, and learned how to do the Electric Slide from a 90-year-old retired educator.
I was surprised at how nervous many people were about talking when they first came into the MobileBooth. Then, once the conversation started, I was surprised at how generous my participants were with the intimate details of their lives, their hopes and fears, their greatest losses and their greatest loves.
I was surprised by how many of my participants’ conversations are archived in my memory as well as the Library of Congress. Recording one story of a husband and wife in Salt Lake City, UT, reminded me of an equally hilarious couple I met in Roanoke, VA. Hearing one participant’s childhood recollection of being called home for dinner at dusk brought back another man’s vivid description of seeing a starry night for the first time after seven years of imprisonment.
With all due respect to all those people who told me time and again how great my job is, the truth is, despite all the very hard work of listening, the past two years never once felt like a job.
And for that, I have them to thank.
