20 Years Later A Couple Reflects On A Tender Moment Captured In The StoryCorps Booth
We’re celebrating our 20th anniversary by revisiting classic StoryCorps conversations from our first two decades – like this one between Debora Brakarz and Mike Wolmetz.
Mike Wolmetz and Debora Brakarz at their wedding celebration in Long Island, NY, on June 19, 2005. Courtesy of Debora and Mike.
Debora was 26 at the time and Mike was 25. They had only been dating for three months when they came to the StoryCorps recording booth in New York’s Grand Central Terminal.
The family at Butler’s Orchard in Germantown, Maryland, on August 8, 2012. Courtesy of Debora and Mike.
Nearly 20 years later, they returned to share an update about love, marriage, and parenthood.
The family during Halloween 2019 (Mike as the anonymous CIA whistleblower, Debora as Sarah Good (one of the first 3 women to be accused in the Salem Witch Trials), Luca as Spiderman Miles Morales, and Iago as DJ Marshmello). Courtesy of Debora and Mike.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired February 14, 2004, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.
In the Midst of a Shooting, Two Strangers Play an Important Role in Each Other’s Lives
In April of 2022, a gunman wearing a gas mask dropped smoke grenades on the floor of a New York City subway car and opened fire on the passengers, resulting in the injury of 29 people. As the car pulled into the next station, passengers fled, and chaos ensued.
Mayra Kalisch and Eric Acevedo, strangers who had never met despite living two blocks from each other, were there to witness the aftermath.
What happened in the next few minutes forged a special bond between them, but also sent them down different paths in the months that followed.
Top photo: Mayra Kalisch and Eric Acevedo at their StoryCorps interview in New York City on May 11, 2023. Courtesy of Brett Tubin.
Middle photo: Mayra Kalisch and Eric Acevedo pose at the 45th Street Station in Brooklyn, New York where they first met in 2022. Courtesy of Eric Acevedo.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired August 25th, 2023 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“On August 19, 1958, I Was Seven.” An Oklahoma City Woman Remembers Being a Child Activist
The sit-in movement was a cornerstone of the Civil Rights era, and perhaps best known for the Greensboro Four—a group of college students who sat in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in North Carolina in 1960. Rooted in nonviolence, sit-ins became a far-reaching advocacy strategy that spanned lunch counters, department stores, courtrooms, and the White House.
Linda Benson, Ayanna Najuma, and Carolyn House (seated on the floor, left to right), staging a sit-in at Bishop’s Restaurant in Oklahoma City on May 31, 1963. Also pictured: Maurice Coffey, and Dwayne Cosby. Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society, John Melton Collection.
But while the Greensboro protest sparked the movement, one of the first sit-ins happened two years earlier at Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City.
Church leaders and activists gathered in front of the Municipal Building in Oklahoma City in December 1960, with a sign reading, ‘I’m Doing My Christmas Shopping at Katz This Year.’ Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society, John Melton Collection
It was staged by children, and among them was 7-year-old Ayanna Najuma. At StoryCorps, she remembered how it started with a NAACP Youth Council trip.
Top Photo: Ayanna Najuma (center) and other NAACP Youth Council staging a sit-in at Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City on August 19, 1958. Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society, John Melton Collection.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired August 18, 2023, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“Motherhood Is Not A Solo Journey:” A Daughter Reflects On Her Childhood
Luz Kenyon grew up in Mexico City, Mexico and in the mid 1980s she took a trip to New York City to celebrate her friend’s college graduation. She had no idea she would fall in love with a Jamaican traffic agent on the corner of 42nd street, and never go home.
She came to StoryCorps with her daughter, Anna Paloma Williams, to talk about this unexpected start to their family, and how she navigated raising mixed kids in America.
Top Photo: Anna Paloma Williams and Luz Kenyon at their StoryCorps interview in Columbus, GA on October 30, 2021. By Sarah Padgett for StoryCorps.
Middle Photo: Abuela Lucha, Luz Kenyon and Anna Paloma Williams in Stone Mountain, GA, in the early 1990s. Photo courtesy of the Kenyon family.
Bottom Photo: Luz Kenyon with Anna Paloma Williams and family celebrating abuela Lucha’s 90th birthday in Mexico City in April 2022. She passed away in December 2022. Photo courtesy of the Kenyon family.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired Aug. 4, 2023, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Helping The Dogs Of Chernobyl
When the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, exploded in 1986, dozens died, and hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from a 1,000 square mile radius.
But people’s pets were impacted as well. Dogs, cats, and other domestic animals were killed or abandoned, and for more than 30 years those that survived have continued to reproduce in this radioactive forest.
Stephen Quandt, an animal welfare worker in New York City, came to StoryCorps to talk about a humanitarian trip he took to Ukraine in 2019, and how the work he does ties back to his childhood.
Top Photo: Stephen Quandt at the Clean Futures Fund clinic in Slavutych, Ukraine—a city built for those evacuated after the nuclear power plant disaster—in June of 2019. Photo courtesy of Stephen Quandt.
Middle Photo: One of an estimated 250 stray dogs living in the forests of Chernobyl, Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Stephen Quandt.
Bottom Photo: Pripyat Amusement Park in Pripyat, Ukraine. Photo by Stephen Quandt.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired July 28, 2023, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“He Was There In The Way He Could Be”: A Father Comes To Terms With His Own Dad
Tom Badgett grew up in small-town Tennessee during the 1950s. His father, Jim Patton Badgett was the president of a local bank and pillar of the community.
Tom’s father, James P. Badgett, in his late 50s. Photo courtesy of Tom Badgett.
Despite having a job where he had to be engaging and a good communicator, he was distant at home, which made Tom think hard about what kind of a parent he wanted to be.
He came to StoryCorps with his daughter, Jordan Perelle, to reflect on his complicated relationship with his dad.
Top Photo: Jordan Perelle and Tom Badgett at their StoryCorps interview in Knoxville, Tennessee on October 11, 2010. By Virginia Lora for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired July 7, 2023, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
A Life In The Rodeo: A Bull Riding Champion Looks Back
It was a summer day in 1968 when a traveling carnival pitched its tent just outside South Central, Los Angeles. Then 11-year-old Charlie Sampson visited with his Boy Scout troop. He remembers the monkeys, bears and snakes. But it was the pony ride that really caught his attention.
“I gave the man a quarter to ride the ponies. Went around five times and that was the beginning of a lifestyle that I never dreamed of,” he said.
Charlie would later take a job cleaning horse stables in exchange for riding lessons. Eventually, a group of older cowboys took him under their wing and showed him how to rope and ride bulls. Years later, in 1982, Charlie became the first Black man to win the Professional Bull Riding World Championship.
Charlie Sampson riding a bull in 1984. Bern Gregory, courtesy of the Dickinson Research Center at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. 1999.025.2422.33.
He came to StoryCorps with his son, Daniel Sampson, to talk about life as a father and a traveling cowboy.
Top Photo: Charlie Sampson and his son Daniel Sampson at their StoryCorps interview in Denver, Colorado on May 30, 2023. By Tamekia Jackson for StoryCorps.
“You Are Seriously Fearless”: A Niece Thanks Her Favorite Aunt For Her Wisdom and Friendship
Menaja Obinali was born in 1948 and grew up in Franklin, a small Louisiana town. She was one of eleven children, and loved dancing, reading and making art as a teenager. One day an unexpected event shifted the course of Menaja’s life.
Undaunted, Menaja went on to get a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, and later moved to Dallas to get a master’s degree in theology. That’s when she moved in with her sister Connie and 5-year-old niece, Jarie.
Jarie, who still lives in Dallas, interviewed Menaja for StoryCorps when the Mobile Tour passed through in 2014.
Photo: Jarie Bradley and Menaja Obinali at their first StoryCorps interview in Dallas, Texas on December 13, 2014. By Callie Thuma for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired June 23, 2023, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“She Always Gave.” Remembering Shoshone Elder Lillian Pabawena Pubigee
Gwen Timbimboo Davis is a member of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. But she didn’t grow up on a reservation. In the 1950s, her family was part of the Indian Relocation program, where the US government sought to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream society by placing them in bigger cities across the country.
Gwen’s family migrated from city to city across the Wasatch Front region in Utah. They had a brief stint in Washakie, another in Layton, and ultimately settled in Brigham City.
But Gwen continued to visit the tribe’s reservations for powwows, funerals, or basketball games, and during the summers she’d visit her grandparents. The time she spent with her maternal grandmother, Lillian Pabawena Pubigee, stands out the most.
Gwen came to StoryCorps with her daughter, Heather Timbimboo Jorgensen, to talk about those trips, and to honor the memory of Lillian.
Top Photo: Gwen Timbimboo Davis at her StoryCorps interview in Brigham City, Utah on August 9, 2007. By Rachel Falcone for StoryCorps.
Middle Photo: Gwen Timbimboo Davis (second from left to right) with the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation’s language preservation group at their tribal office in Ogden, Utah in May 2023. Photo courtesy of Heather Timbimboo Jorgensen.
Bottom Photo: Heather Timbimboo Jorgensen in Ogden, Utah in December 2021. Photo courtesy of Heather Timbimboo Jorgensen.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired June 09, 2023, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“I Knew At That Moment That I Was Hooked:” Reflections On Love And Support
Julianne Larsen was diagnosed with schizophrenia in her early twenties, and she lived for a long time feeling alone in her struggle.
Until one evening, in 2008, when she walked into a support group for people living with mental illness in Logan, Utah. She laid eyes on Mar Fenix Nauta, who had been attending these meetings to manage her bipolar disorder and PTSD.
They came to StoryCorps in May 2023 to remember that night.
Photo: Julianne Larsen and Mar Fenix Nauta at their StoryCorps interview in Logan, Utah on May 3, 2023. By Delilah Righter for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired June 2, 2023, on NPR’s Morning Edition.