For Old Friends, Hospital Work Brings New Challenges During COVID-19

Josh Belser and Sam Dow have always had a way of looking out for each other. The longtime friends first met in the early 80s, when they were young kids growing up in a suburb outside Tampa, Florida. 

As adults, they each pursued a career in medicine: Josh as a nurse in Syracuse, New York, and Sam as a health technician in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

When COVID-19 hit, they both found their work lives dramatically altered by one of the most deadly global pandemics in a century.

With almost 400 miles between them, Josh and Sam used StoryCorps’ new remote recording platform, StoryCorps Connect, to talk about their decades-long friendship, and how they continue to support each other, especially during this difficult time.

Top photo: Sam Dow at his job in Ann Arbor, Michigan and his friend Josh Belser at work in Syracuse, NY in 2020. Courtesy of Josh Belser.

Second photo: Josh Belser in 1985 with his best friend, Sam Dow, in Brandon, FL where they grew up together. Courtesy of Josh Belser.

Originally aired April 17, 2020, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

“There Was Just Something That Kept Telling Me That You Got To Stick This Out”: Rep. James Clyburn On Success and Failure

Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is the highest-ranking African American person in Congress. He has been credited with changing the political landscape of the United States during the 2020 Democratic primary. 

In 2007, he sat down for a StoryCorps interview with his granddaughter Sydney Reed, to tell her about the life lessons he’d learned from his four decades in politics.

Top photo: James Clyburn and his granddaughter, Sydney Reed, at her college graduation from Mississippi State University in May of 2019. Courtesy of Sydney Reed.

Middle photo: Sydney Reed and James Clyburn at their StoryCorps interview in Columbus, SC on February 9, 2007. Photo by Alexandria Wright.

Originally aired February 1, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition. Rebroadcast March 6, 2020, on the same program.

When You Finally Told Me

On this season of the podcast, we’ve been listening to difficult conversations between loved ones, friends, and sometimes, even strangers. Whether people are sitting down together for the first time or reconnecting, each conversation has run the gamut of human emotion — from joy to despair and everything in between. In this episode, a couple grapples with a horrific memory from the past.Winfred Rembert grew up in the south during the height of the civil rights movement. In the late-60s, he participated in a protest in the town of Americus, Georgia — where racial tensions were especially high — and was arrested as a result.

One day, while Winfred was serving time in the county jail, the deputy sheriff walked into his cell and pulled a gun on him. Fearing for his life, Winfred wrestled the gun out of his hands and managed to escape, but was eventually caught by the police and thrown into the trunk of their car.What happened next is something Winfred kept quiet for a long time. But years later, still suffering from nightmares, he finally told his wife Patsy the truth: that he was one of few people to have ever survived a lynching.

Nearly 50 years later, Winfred and Patsy sat down for StoryCorps to talk about what happened to him. Warning: This story includes racial slurs and a graphic description of violence.

Top photo: Artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Middle photo 1: Winfred and Patsy Rembert in Sycamore, Georgia in 1974, two days before their wedding. Courtesy of the Rembert family.

Middle photo 2: Patsy and Winfred Rembert at their StoryCorps interview in Hamden, Connecticut in April of 2017. By Jacqueline Van Meter for StoryCorps.   

Bottom Photo: Patsy and Winfred Rembert in April of 2017 at their StoryCorps interview in Hamden, Connecticut. By Jud Esty-Kendall for StoryCorps.

Released on February 4, 2020.

Like the music in this episode? Support the artists:

“Heat and Memory” by Jarrett Floyd

“Hollow & ghosts” by Ending Satellites (feat. Francois Creutzer) from the album And So Sing the Black Birds

‘Why do you like space so much?’: A NASA Engineer Talks With His Space-Obsessed Nephew

At StoryCorps, interviews with children can be challenging, but six-year-old Jerry Morrison isn’t your average kid.

Jerry is obsessed with outer space, so of course his favorite person to talk to is his uncle Joey Jefferson, a Mission Operations Engineer at NASA. 

When they get together, their conversations always revolve around one thing…

Top photo: Jerry Morrison and Joey Jefferson at their StoryCorps interview in Culver City, CA on November 14, 2019. Courtesy of the Morrison family.

Bottom photo: Joey Jefferson and Jerry Morrison on Jerry’s first visit to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where Joey works, in 2015. Courtesy of the Morrison family.

Originally aired January 24, 2020 on NPR’s Morning Edition.  

The Boy From Troy: How Dr. King Inspired A Young John Lewis

As a young man, John Lewis was inspired by the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At StoryCorps, Congressman Lewis told his friend Valerie Jackson how he met Dr. King, and went from “the boy from Troy” to a civil rights leader in his own right. 

Top photo: John Lewis and Valerie Jackson at their StoryCorps interview in Atlanta, GA on February 20, 2018. By Daniel Horowitz Garcia for StoryCorps.

Originally aired January 17, 2020, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

‘Sometimes Humanity Is What We Need’: Two Women Reflect On Their Unlikely Friendship

One night, in October 2015, Asma Jama went out for dinner with her family at an Applebee’s restaurant in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Asma, who is Somali American and Muslim, was wearing a hijab, as she always does.

While Asma was talking with her cousin in Swahili, a woman named Jodie Bruchard-Risch, who was seated nearby, told her to speak English or go back to her country. When Asma responded to say that she was a U.S. citizen, the woman smashed a beer mug across Asma’s face. Asma was then rushed to the hospital and required 17 stitches in her face, hands and chest.

Jodie Bruchard-Risch pleaded guilty to felony assault charges and served time in jail for the crime. Jodie’s sister, Dawn Sahr, spoke out publicly against the attack and reached out to Asma.

In 2016, Asma and Dawn met for the first time at their StoryCorps interview. Since then, they’ve remained friends and recently came back for a second recording to tell us how they’re doing now.

They were also featured on the StoryCorps podcast, where you can hear more. 

Top photo: Dawn Sahr with Asma Jama in 2016, when they met for the first time at their StoryCorps interview in Minneapolis, MN. By Roselyn Almonte for StoryCorps.

Originally aired December 27, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

How His Family Farm Helped This Birder Learn To Fly

As a zoologist and ornithologist, Drew Lanham spends many of his days in the company of birds. It’s the way he’s always wanted it to be, ever since growing up on his family farm in South Carolina. 

At StoryCorps, he spoke with his friend John Lane about the childhood that helped his career take flight.

Top photo: Drew Lanham (right) and John Lane at their StoryCorps interview in Clemson, SC on December 9, 2019.  By Eric Rodgers for StoryCorps.

Originally aired December 20, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

The Great Listen

This week, as people all over the country are coming together for Thanksgiving, we’re taking a break from this season’s theme — difficult conversations (knowing you might already have enough of those on your holiday plate) — to bring you something a little different.

In 2015, StoryCorps launched The Great Thanksgiving Listen, a national initiative that encourages young people — and people of all ages — to create an oral history of the United States by recording an interview with an elder, mentor, friend, or someone they admire.

In this episode of the StoryCorps Podcast, an excerpt from our new Thanksgiving special with NPR. Hosted by Audie Cornish, with commentary from Dave Isay, it’s full of stories from and about the people who inspire us most.

We’ll hear from Blanca Alvarez, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1972. More than 30 years later, she came to StoryCorps with her daughter Connie to talk about that time in her life.

Later, Dr. Carla Hayden uses the StoryCorps App to record the voices of the Baltimore community after the death of Freddie Gray in 2015. 

Another conversation comes from Aidan Sykes, who visited the StoryCorps MobileBooth in Jackson, Mississippi, when he was just 9 years old, to interview his father, Albert. He had a lot of questions.

Tune in to hear several other stories that speak to the power and importance of listening, especially during the holidays.

Top photo: Artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Participant photo 1: Dr. Carla Hayden at her StoryCorps interview on October 03, 2018 in Washington, D.C.

Participant photo 2: Albert Sykes and Aidan Sykes at their StoryCorps interview on February 20, 2015 in Jackson, Mississippi. By Vanessa Gonzalez-Block and Danielle Andersen. 

Released on November 26, 2019.

Like the music in this episode? Support the artists:

“Heat and Memory” by Jarrett Floyd, 2019

The Dark Before Dawn

People often come to StoryCorps to interview someone they already know and love. But in this episode of the podcast, we’ll hear from two women who began the recording process as strangers and left as friends.

In October 2015, Asma was out for dinner at an Applebee’s in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Asma, who is Somali American and Muslim, was wearing a hijab and speaking Swahili with her family when a woman seated at a nearby table started harassing her for not speaking English. The verbal assault quickly turned to violence when the woman struck Asma across the face with a beer mug.

After, Asma received tons of support from friends and family but she also received support from someone she wasn’t expecting: Dawn Sahr, the sister of her attacker.

Asma and Dawn met in person for the first time when they sat down together for StoryCorps. They then recorded another interview years later to talk about the wounds that linger, and the friendship they’ve formed since.

Top photo: Artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Bottom photo: Dawn Sahr and Asma Jama in Minneapolis, Minnesota at their StoryCorps recording in December of 2016. By Roselyn Almonte.

Released on November 19, 2019.

Like the music in this episode? Support the artists:

“Heat and Memory” by Jarrett Floyd

“Cast in Wicker” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Aeronaut

“Grey Grey Joe” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album TinyTiny Trio

“Surly Bonds” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Aeronaut

This podcast is brought to you by supporters of StoryCorps, an independently funded nonprofit organization, and is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

“I Still Wake Up Screaming”: Memories From One of the Only Known Survivors of a Lynching

The StoryCorps archive is the largest collection of human voices ever gathered, preserving United States history as told through the voices of everyday people in this country. The recordings run the gamut of human emotion, from joy to despair and everything in between.

Winfred Rembert, 73, added his rare perspective to the archive in 2017, when he sat down for a conversation with his wife, Patsy, to talk about his experience as one of the only people ever known to have survived a lynching.

When he was a teenager in the mid-1960s, Winfred participated in a Civil Rights protest in the town of Americus, Georgia. In the aftermath, he was arrested and served time in jail.

One day, after Winfred made a commotion in his cell, the deputy sheriff walked in and pulled a gun on him. Winfred then managed to take the gun away and lock the deputy sheriff in the cell before escaping.

More than five decades later, Winfred sat down for StoryCorps with his wife, Patsy, to remember what happened next.

Warning: This story includes racial slurs and a graphic description of racial violence.

Top photo: Patsy and Winfred Rembert at their StoryCorps interview in Hamden, CT in April of 2017. By Jud Esty-Kendall for StoryCorps.

Middle photo: Patsy and Winfred Rembert in April of 2017 at their StoryCorps interview in Hamden, CT. By Jacqueline Van Meter for StoryCorps.

Originally aired November 15, 2019 on NPR’s Morning Edition.