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As the seasons change, so do things at StoryCorps! It's my pleasure to introduce myself as the new Alumni Coordinator and one of the newest additions to the StoryCorps Team. Matt Herman, whom you all know as your Alumni Coordinator, has moved into a new and exciting position as one of our Door-to-Door Facilitators, and he will be documenting stories all across the country. I just moved from Portland, Oregon, to the beautiful fall colors of New York, and I am so happy to be working with the StoryCorps Alumni community to preserve the stories that have warmed my heart for years. Like many of you, I have been a fan of StoryCorps since the first time I listened. StoryCorps instantly makes me feel like I am with millions of people experiencing (your) interesting, moving, and humorous stories, whether it is on the StoryCorps website, through podcasts, or in the book Listening Is an Act of Love. I also enjoy reading recent blog posts written by StoryCorps Facilitators in Gainesville, San Francisco, and Tulsa! And, of course, I look forward to hearing the StoryCorps broadcast every Friday morning. This month we are highlighting the November 7 broadcast of Studs Terkel's interview, which I have shared below. As we gather with friends and family over the holiday season, we can share our StoryCorps experiences in a new way by participating in the first annual National Day of Listening. Join the community of people nationwide on November 28, the day after Thanksgiving, by honoring a loved one by conducting an interview about his or her life. The National Day of Listening website and video walks you through instructions on how you can participate. Check your mailbox in the next few weeks for a letter from StoryCorps founder Dave Isay on more ways you can get involved with and support StoryCorps through this season of giving and change. In the coming months, please feel free to contact me with StoryCorps questions, share your experiences, and let me know how you would like to become more involved with StoryCorps.
Warmly,
Listening Is an Act of Love Book Tour In October, we published the paperback edition of our New York Times best seller Listening Is an Act of Love. This month StoryCorps founder Dave Isay has been jetting from town to town reading from the StoryCorps book. This year Dave has already made stops from Boulder, Colorado, to Miami, Florida, to share amazing stories, to sign books, and to meet StoryCorps Alums young and old. 
Dave Isay signs books at If you can't make it to an event, you can buy a book to support StoryCorps. One hundred percent of the royalties will go toward our mission to honor and celebrate one another's lives through listening. Listening Is an Act of Love makes a great gift for the holidays! 
Listening Is an Act of Love now in paperback! Studs Terkel, friend of StoryCorps This month, StoryCorps remembers the late Studs Terkel, legendary oral historian and our friend, mentor, and hero. He will be terribly missed, but his work and his spirit will burn brightly for generations to come. Studs was a wonderful inspiration to StoryCorps. He was there when we cut the ribbon on the Grand Central Station Booth in 2003. In 2006 we dedicated our MobileBooth East to Studs. In 2005 Studs shared some of his story with us, and just in case you missed the broadcast, I've shared it below.
Studs made it his life's work to record oral histories of ordinary Americans. We will miss this witty, prolific, and poetic man. His legacy lives on.
Studs Terkel, the late oral historian, from a 2005 interview recorded when a StoryCorps mobile booth visited his home.  Listen...
Listen to Stories
National Day of Listening You should have received an email from Dave earlier this week announcing the exciting launch of the National Day of Listening and demonstrating how Alumni can get involved in establishing this new holiday tradition. On the day after Thanksgiving, we are encouraging people to set aside an hour to record a Do-It-Yourself interview with a grandparent, a sibling, a friend, or a familiar face in the neighborhood and to preserve that conversation for years to come. Much of this will look very familiar to you Alums, but we wanted to give everyone across the nation some of the basic tools to approximate the special experience you had at StoryCorps in their own homes—though unlike your interviews, these National Day of Listening recordings will not be archived at the Library of Congress.
You can help StoryCorps spread this holiday tradition by participating yourselves and forwarding an email to your friends and family with the www.nationaldayoflistening.org website link.
As you celebrate the holidays this year, take a moment to share stories and record a Do-It-Yourself interview. Then, tell us about it! We are so excited to hear about Alumni experiences with National Day of Listening interviews. Please tell us about your National Day of Listening experience here. Interview Tip: Not sure what to ask during your interview? Use our Question Generator. Or include our Question of the Month in your interview: What was your favorite Thanksgiving? Alumni Talk Back! A number of StoryCorps Alums have shared their answers to our Question of the Month feature. So this month we thought we'd share one of our favorite examples. Here is Arleen Koosmann Hollenhorst's response to last month's question: What traditions have been passed down in your family?.
(Note: Arleen sent this response to her son Andy, who had emailed her the Question of the Month.)
"Hi Andy, My tradition has to do with sewing! Story has it that my great-grandmother sewed for the Kaiser in Germany. My grandmother came to this country when she was 3 and she sewed a beautiful seam. I have a doll blanket and a number of doll clothes she sewed for me by hand. She sewed many full size quilts all by hand. My aunts sewed beautifully as well--that's my dad's side. I think mom sewed a lot of shoe leather because her dad was a shoemaker in Austria, the US and Canada. Mom was a master recycler and she spent the snowed-in winters at the sewing machine, sewing clothes, and rugs and quilts and anything she could make out of something else. The sewing machine was near the window in the dining room and we all spent the winter days in that room working on projects. By the time we were in 2nd grade, our grade school teacher and mom had us knitting rugs out of rags. Most fun was ripping the rags! My brother could knit and sew as well. Blizzard days were always special, but that's another story! My sister Carol and I took sewing to the highest level in our countyÕs 4-H. Everything had to be PERFECT! How the garment looked on the outside was only half of it! Every inside seam was inspected for proper sewing techniques. Carol and I had TONS of fun sewing for our children, then treasuring each outfit and handing it back and forth according to the size of our kids. In 1986, Carol was in a life-altering car accident. I was unable to sit down at the sewing machine for more than a year. It brought me so much sadness and it just didn't feel right to be there if Carol couldn't be there. Now I feel like I am sitting with all my grandmothers, my mom and my sister when I sew.
Thanks for asking, Andy!"
Sponsors and Partners State Farm Insurance is a proud national sponsor of StoryCorps. Additional major funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.   
StoryCorps is also made possible by generous support from the Annenberg Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, Ford Foundation, Kaplen Foundation, and Open Society Institute. 
StoryCorps' podcasts are supported by the Fetzer Institute as part of its Campaign for Love and Forgiveness. 
StoryCorps is a project of Sound Portraits Productions in partnership with NPR and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.  
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 Check Your Mailbox
In the next couple of weeks, you'll be receiving a letter from Dave Isay summarizing the past year of StoryCorps. He'll also give you options for continuing to support StoryCorps with an end-of-the-year contribution. It's so easy to make a tax-deductible contribution to StoryCorps. You can mail us a check, make an online donation, or even set up a monthly, quarterly, or annual donation with your credit card! If you have any questions about making a contribution to support StoryCorps, please feel free to contact me. Question of the Month  We have a feature on our website that encourages you to listen to your friends, family, and loved ones by simply asking a question. Each month we'll suggest a question that you can ask your friends and family.
This month's question is: What was your favorite Thanksgiving? Give it a shot: Send an email. Ask a question. Listen to what comes back. This month, we are pleased to share what came back from one of our alums who answered last month's question.
Talk Back! |
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