AARP Outloud - StoryCorps

AARP and StoryCorps are celebrating the voices of LGBTQ+ people 50 and older by creating an Audio Time Capsule—a living archive of stories, insights, and wisdom.

You’re Invited to Share Your Story.

When you record your story, you celebrate resilience, joy, and the wisdom of life experience. Your words can inspire someone navigating their next chapter – and help future generations understand the paths you’ve walked.

RECORD WITH STORYCORPS

StoryCorps is a national nonprofit that helps everyday Americans record, preserve, and share their stories. Since 2003, StoryCorps has given over half a million Americans the chance to record interviews about their lives. The organization preserves the recordings in its archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. If you consider yourself a part of the LGBTQ+ community, we invite you to choose someone you care about and record an interview together. Participation is free, and you don’t need to be an AARP member.

Ask and answer questions like:

Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did they teach you?

If you could talk to a younger version of yourself, what would you say?

Who do you consider to be your community?

What’s one piece of wisdom life has taught you along the way?

There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to have a StoryCorps conversation, and you can use the free StoryCorps Connect online platform to record in the comfort of your own home. All you need is a strong internet connection, access to a laptop or desktop computer with a microphone, and an open heart.

“A Life Worth Living” — MJ Siede Story

Record Your Interview

How recording works

You’ll use the StoryCorps Virtual Recording Booth (powered by StoryCorps Connect) to record your conversation.

Step 1

Decide if you and your partner want to record in the same room or record from different locations.

Step 2

When you’re ready to record, create a free StoryCorps online account, then you’ll enter the StoryCorps Virtual Recording Booth.

Step 3

Hit “Start Recording Audio“, follow the prompts to introduce yourself, and dig into your conversation!

Step 4

When you’ve finished, you’ll be prompted to save your recording as part of the AARP Collection in the StoryCorps Archive.

Record Your Interview

Recording faq

If you consider yourself a part of the LGBTQ+ community, we invite you to choose someone you care about and record an interview together. Participation is free, and you don’t need to be an AARP member.

Choose someone you care about – a loved one, a friend, a mentor, a neighbor, etc – whose experiences or wisdom you want to document and celebrate.

StoryCorps conversations are meant to be spontaneous, authentic, and unscripted. We’ve developed a list of great questions to inspire your conversation, but ultimately what you talk about during your recording is entirely up to you. Follow your curiosity, and use this as an opportunity to ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask, or document special stories you want to preserve.

When you complete your interview, it will automatically be saved in the StoryCorps archive as part of the AARP Outloud Collection. You’ll have the ability to control the privacy settings for your interview in the archive – with the option to either make your interview public, or to make it accessible only to other StoryCorps online archive users. StoryCorps values participant agency, so you can adjust your privacy settings or delete your recording at any time.

AARP and StoryCorps is creating an Audio Time Capsule—a living archive for the LGBTQ+ community to share stories, insights, and wisdom. It will not be used for any commercial or advertising purposes. StoryCorps values participant agency, so you can adjust your privacy settings or delete your recording at any time. We’re excited to share these projects as they come together! For more information, please contact James Brooks.