FYS: Storytelling, Identity, and Social Change - StoryCorps lyrics

"Our stories, the stories of regular, everyday people are the most important stories of all." This is the premise of StoryCorps, according to founder Dave Isay. In an interview with PBS Isay says he wanted to provide people from all kinds of backgrounds with the opportunity to tell their stories and not be forgotten. This organization was modeled after the slave narratives collected by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and was also inspired by the famous oral historian Studs Terkel who was present at the opening of the project. How does StoryCorps operate? Any two people who want to do an interview, family members, friends, or even just acquaintances, go to a sound-proof recording studio called a "Storybooth" and do a forty minute interview. At the end of the interview two discs are burned. One is for the pair who completed the interview and the other is archived in the Library Of Congress at the American Folklife Center. Featured stories are also broadcast weekly on NPR. StoryCorps has collected more than 40,000 interviews with 90,000 participants. These stories are about anything and everything. From a woman talking about her career as a subway conductor, to a man recounting his story as the lone survivor in a shipwreck, to three brothers dealing with growing up blind together. All of them are unique and bring something different to the table. Through sharing these stories, the storytellers often feel relieved and empowered, now knowing that their lives matter and won't be forgotten through StoryCorps. "When we both spoke out about this it was like someone pressed play on my life" "Nobody ever knew. It was decades of keeping it in and never telling anyone [...] now i'm not ashamed of what happened to me anymore." Quotes like these show us how important it is for the storyteller to share his or her story. But StoryCorps' main goal is to impact the listener. In collecting these stories and creating this archive StoryCorps reminds us how all of us are connected through our life experiences. When moved by one of these stories we create an emotional connection that bonds our lives to the lives of the thousands of other people who were also able to relate to the story. Story Corps also shows us that every life matters. The stories of everyday people are just as special and need to be heard as much as anyone else's. Overall, StoryCorps teaches us the tremendous value of telling our stories and listening to what others have to say. While doing all this, they are also creating an archive of stories that can be listened to by future generations, giving knowledge to listeners and providing storytellers with the a**urance that their lives are extraordinary and will be remembered. "If we take the time to listen, we can find wisdom wonder, and poetry in the lives and stories all around us" - David Isay