Micanopy, Florida is a small town in Alachua County, just outside Gainesville, and is known for being the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of the young adult novel, The Yearling. It is also the current home of Ginny Beam, another woman devoted to her love of storytelling. Ginny was interviewed by her friend, Sally Stein, during StoryCorps Door-to-Door’s visit to the Alachua County Library District in Gainesville.

This trip was a result of the Alachua library’s being awarded the National Medal by the Institute of Museum and Library Services as one of ten outstanding institutions in the country that excel in community service and outreach. Dedicated librarians like as Ginny are the reason libraries like this thrive and remain a hub for all members of the community.

StoryCorps participants Ginny Beam (l) and Sally Stein (r)

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To wrap up Black History Month, Monica Foderingham, Outreach Services Librarian for Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, created the Letters To My Grandchildren Project.  In partnership with Senior Citizen Services of Merto Atlanta and StoryCorps Atlanta, conversations of African Americans who grew up during segregation and the Civil Rights Movement were recorded for posterity.

On February 28, 100 seniors from Auburn Senior Center, Dogwood Senior Center, Northside Shepherd Senior Center, Southeast Center, and New Horizon Senior Center gathered at the central library to hear twelve storytellers share their experiences.

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StoryCorps Door-to-Door gathered interviews for the National Teachers Initiative in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Between encounters with green chili for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Facilitator Mitra Bonshahi and I recorded stories about New Mexicans’ experiences with education in preparation for Albuquerque’s Teacher Town Hall event. For two days, KNME, Albuquerque’s public TV station, played host to a rotating cast of teachers and students. After their StoryCorps interviews, participants also had the opportunity to record video reflections on their interviews with youth radio station Generation Justice.

Michelle Otero (r) and Alan Marks (l)

KNME bustled with the sounds of students reuniting with former teachers, connecting with fellow students, and catching up on assignments and the latest school gossip with teachers they see every day. But Michelle Otero and Alan Marks’ reunion was more relaxed than many of the others I witnessed.

The two have known each other over 20 years, since Michelle was a high school student who Alan helped apply to colleges. As a Latina from an area where most people did not go to college, Michelle assumed her success in high school would have colleges knocking down her door with scholarships. However, this was not the case.

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Storycorps Door-to-Door had the pleasure of visiting the Erie Art Museum, one of the 2011  Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS) National Medal Award winners. In our three days of recording, participant after participant shared stories of how the museum has become a major community hub, and we quickly came to understand why the museum was honored nationally for its “significant and exceptional contributions to their communities.” The museum has a lot more than an award to be proud of, with programming that allows its patrons to truly “be moved.”

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StoryCorps Door-to-Door recently visited North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School on Chicago’s West Side, where, unlike at other local schools, students are not greeted with metal detectors or police. Instead, they’re chased in a playful game of tag, called “running bases.”

“We’re somewhat crazy at our place,” says Administration President and tag instigator John Horan.

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Before there was the written word, there were oral storytellers, and  StoryCorps Atlanta had the pleasure of recording conversations at the National Black Storytelling Conference and Festival held in Atlanta, Georgia.

This recording day was phenomenal.  It was an honor to hear amazing stories by professional storytellers and to hear these professionals share the ordinary stories of their lives, the raw human material that StoryCorps knows all too well that has inspired them to make storytelling a way of life. Below are a few highlights.

Barbara Eady (l) and Jacqueline Boyd (r)

Barbara Eady and Jacqueline Boyd, both from Ohio, discussed how they began storytelling. Barbara shared a poignant story about an elder mother in her church, who knew her as a child and remembered her many years later when Barbara brought her own children to Sunday service.  The elder’s detailed memories of Barbara as a child touched her and has encouraged her work. Today, Barbara is a living vessel of memory and history.

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Tierra S. Jackson and John Horan

Facilitator John White and I visited North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School‘s Collins campus in Chicago, Illinois, to collect stories for StoryCorps’ National Teachers Initiative. The school’s president, John Horan, and alum Tierra S. Jackson joined us for a conversation.

Tierra has an easy smile, and if you struggle with pronouncing her name, she’ll simply say, “Think of a tiara.” If that word has you thinking of royalty and princesses, such a life couldn’t be further from Tierra’s while she was in high school.

During her freshman and sophomore years, Tierra and her younger brother lived with their aunt and cousins in a Chicago homeless shelter. She remembers sharing a large, open area with her relatives and the hour-long bus ride to school each morning. Tierra was often seen running, trying to make it to class on time, and quickly earned the nickname “FloJo.” Now 22 years old, Tierra remembers herself as rebellious and seeing school as a respite from a world without privacy.

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A Thursday morn did Everet Martin

and his wife come in,

to have their story, now recorded

in the Library-

of Congress, that is.We met Everet and Barbara last month in Weippe, Idaho, when they participated in StoryCorps and shared their touching love story.

Have you ever heard of Weippe? Located on the Gold Rush Historic Byway, it’s the place where the Lewis and Clark expedition first met the Nez Percé in September 1806.

The city is remote, with breathtaking mountains surrounding it, and is home to an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Medal awardee: Weippe Public Library and Discovery Center.

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Happy Lunar New Year, from StoryCorps San Francisco!

The team had a table at the Oakland Museum‘s annual Celebration of the Lunar New Year and Other Asian Traditions.  The family event welcomed 2012, the year of the dragon, with a plethora of fun activities and special performances throughout the day. The colorful, lively party included an opening ceremony with a dragon parade, a mochi pounding demonstration, face-painting and calligraphy, and many tasty treats to sample.

At our table, attendees learned more about StoryCorps in the Bay Area by answering two questions on post-its: What is your earliest memory? and What are you most proud of?  We got many wonderful responses from party-goers of all ages!  Check out our pictures from the day’s happenings below.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

Please note: The mochi pounding demonstation video was shot by our own San Francisco staff.

Okay, I must admit that when I think of libraries, the image conjured (as stereotypical and dated as it may be) features cold, fluorescent lighting. Aisles upon aisles of books. The Dewey Decimal System. People hunched over dusty periodicals in an almost religious repose. The Quiet Police, also known as librarians. You get the picture.

So, when StoryCorps Door-to-Door visited our first 2012  Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS) National Medal Award winner, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. branch of the San Jose Public Library, I was both curious and excited to discover just how much the daunting public institution of my youth has evolved.

Located in the heart of downtown San Jose, the library’s facade resembles the other sleek glass and concrete office towers, but once inside it reveals it’s true identity: a community hub, campus hangout and epicenter for learning. One look out of an east wing window reveals sweeping mountain vistas, an old bell tower, and San Jose State University academic buildings, a landscape dotted with palm trees.  Immediately impressed, I looked forward to meeting some of the folks who made this place special.

Fortunately, library administrators Jane Light and Ned Himmel set the record straight. The first sign that this wasn’t the library of my past came when Jane quoted Keith Richards: “The public library is the great equalizer.” Very cool.

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