_{Fellow Facilitator Kate Brown with participants at a recent Memory Loss Initiative recording day}

As a Facilitator, I have been present for a number of conversations with people experiencing memory loss as part of the StoryCorps Memory Loss Initiative. Sometimes these conversations are an opportunity for the person with memory loss to share his or her stories, but it is not always so straightforward. In one conversation, a son and his father sat with their sensational mother and wife, whose stroke had left her unable to speak more than a few words. She listened to her husband recount their four year courtship through letters while he served in World War II.

Her son also remembered her devotion to her children and the love for theater she instilled in him. She was quiet and unresponsive during the interview but dazzled everyone near the end with a smile and the words, “Them were the days.” While her voice barely registers on the recording, she is present in the voices of loved ones as they narrate her story. Read the rest of this entry »

When Minnie sat down and I began to adjust the microphone, she emphatically told me, “Just don’t make me sing.” At first I didn’t understand, but as Minnie and her daughter Nanette began their conversation, I soon learned why Minnie no longer sings. In public, at least.

_{Minnie Virgilio (R) and her daughter, Nanette Virgilio (L)}

Last week, Facilitator Anna Walters, Memory Loss Initiative Coordinator Perri Chinalai, and I packed up our rental car (very early in the morning!) and traveled to Nanuet, New York for a day of recording with the Alzheimer’s Association Hudson Valley/Rockland/Westchester, NY Chapter. StoryCorps was able to visit Nanuet through the Memory Loss Initiative, a special initiative to record the stories of people living with Alzheimer’s and other illnesses that cause short and long term memory loss.

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Last week, Facilitator Rose Gorman and I visited the American Farm Bureau conference in Indianapolis, Indiana to record interviews and give a presentation about StoryCorps.

Most of our participants grew up on farms and are now working in offices for their respective states’ farm bureaus. They described their memories of farm life and how the sense of hard work and family is still with them today. One participant told me he’s never understood why some people can’t manage to get to work by 9am. “9am is the middle of the day!” he said. So it was no surprise that events started early at this conference, and that everyone was milling around well before 8am, having coffee, chatting about the day’s upcoming events.

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On August 5, Anna Walters and I traveled to Menorah Home and Hospital in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn.  I met Ralph Wolfe, a resident who came to talk with his good friend Jane Rosenthal, the Executive Vice President of the Menorah facility. Ralph’s story shed light on what it was like to grow up deaf in the 30s, and how much has changed since then.

At age seven, Ralph lost his hearing to scarlet fever, the same disease that left Helen Keller and Thomas Edison deaf in childhood. Still, Ralph was determined to stay in public school. He taught himself to read lips and was the first hearing-impaired student to graduate with honors from his grade school in Brooklyn. Although Ralph had learned to speak and succeed on his own in school, his deafness was deemed “disruptive” in high school. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Monday, Facilitator Katherine Brook and I traveled to Newton, Massachusetts for a day of interviews with the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund. Above, Katherine interviews Cindy McGinty, who came to record memories of her husband Mike McGinty. Cindy always wanted to get married and have a family, but almost abandoned her search until she met Mike. As Cindy puts it, “we were each other’s miracle.” Cindy is one of many who lost a loved one on September 11, 2001. In an effort to honor their memory, StoryCorps and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum have partnered to record one story for each of the 2,981 victims of the terrorist attacks. Thank you Cindy and many others who shared memories of their family and friends. They are gone, but they are not forgotten.

For more information about the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, click here.

Opened in 1921 by Founder Duncan Phillips, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection is America’s oldest museum of modern art, and during our visit we toured the museum’s extensive collection that is still mostly housed in its founder’s 1897 Georgian Revival home. What makes The Now so special for the museum is that its walls are now the temporary home of African-American artist Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series. Told through vivid patterns and brilliant colors, Lawrence’s series is the first to narrate the 20th-century exodus of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North. The Phillips Collection only owns the odd numbers of Lawrence’s series, but for the first time in years the entire 60-panel series is on view at the museum until October 26, 2008.

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Last week, Facilitator Kate Brown and I traveled to Huntsville, Alabama to record stories with AIDS Action Coalition, an organization that provides health services for HIV-positive patients as well as education and resources for northern Alabama residents. This year, AIDS Action Coalition celebrates its 20th birthday. To mark the occasion, former and current employees, directors, volunteers, and friends interviewed each other about how HIV/AIDS touched their lives.

At WLRH Studios, the local NPR affiliate, Kate and I listened to and recorded stories about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and the origins of AIDS Action Coalition. In an effort to help friends with HIV, a handful of individuals raised money in a variety of ways. One fundraiser consisted of selling an extensive collection of pornography donated by one person. The interviews gave some participants the opportunity to remember and celebrate the lives of friends and family members who died of AIDS. Thank you to everyone for sharing your memories, stories, and histories with us. Happy birthday AIDS Action Coalition! To the next 20 years of great work in the community!

StoryCorps stayed closer to home last Thursday and visited the Arab American Association of New York in Brooklyn. Under the leadership of Co-founder and Board President Dr. Ahmad Jaber, AAANY actively responds to the the social and economic programming needs of the Arab community in the greater New York City area. AAANY’s clients include Arabs and Arab Americans from the countries of Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Moracco, and Palestine, among others. With youth programs like after-school tutoring, boys basketball, and the Princess Club, the organization’s providing ESL and citizenship classes, and its upcoming Salaam Series Workshops with Brooklyn for Peace, AAANY is poised to remain “the Ellis Island of the Arab Community” while fulfilling its mission threefold: “Our aim is for families to achieve the ultimate goals of independence, productivity, and family stability.”

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On Saturday, June 28, James Havron, Nashville Public Library historian and StoryCorps liaison, hosted a Door-to-Door at City Road Chapel United Methodist Church, in Madison, Tennessee. Michelle Swinehart and Martha O’Brien facilitated. When the door to the recording space closed, participants told stories of meeting in high school band, living on farms, serving in the military, and their exotic travels. Memories of former days came alive.

Our thanks to James Havron for organizing the interviews and especially his support of the Nashville StoryBooth.

On Tuesday, June 24, StoryCorps facilitators Martha O’Brien and Cindy Murphy recorded local stories at the Alzheimer’s Association Mid South Chapter in Nashville, Tennessee as part of StoryCorps’ Memory Loss Initiative.

Each interview consisted of a participant interviewing his or her aging loved one. These storytellers shared a miscellany of compelling and emotive memories, including a childhood spent in China, “Sunday Night Suppers” with family, Gone with the Wind, and the Korean War.

It was a pleasure to be a part of preserving these conversations, all of which will no doubt grow more precious with time.

On Sunday, June 1st. Brooklyn’s Sephardic Community Center invited StoryCorps to interview participants during their “Afternoons Out…Together” celebration. The community center hosts this event as an interactive Sunday for family caregivers and their loved ones. They not only allow guests the option of doing a StoryCorps interview but they also provide a catered feast, activities such as partner yoga, pilates, workshops and sing-a-long entertainment. On this day Michael Roth played piano during the days festivities as staff, especially our host and the Social Services Director, Linda Eber, made sure that all guests had a very special day.

Enjoy the slideshow of the event. Click on an image for more information:

“If you could pick a word to dip in gold and give to every child in foster care, what would it be?”

“Love.”

Last week, Jenna Weiss-Berman and Yuki Aizawa traveled to Northampton, Massachusetts (Jenna’s hometown!) to record the stories of foster children and adults formerly in foster care through our wonderful partner organization, Friends of Children, a child advocacy and support group.

Our storytellers spoke with wisdom beyond their years of the reality of being taken from their families and shuffled between foster homes that are often abusive themselves. One young storyteller described his fear of living under a stranger’s roof to “driving a car and losing control.” By the end of each day their stories left us angered, saddened, and with overwhelming respect for the children who end up paying for their parents’ mistakes. The human capacity for forgiveness never ceases to amaze — after surviving all, these children and adults were still sweet, smiling, and warm.

Thanks to all our participants, the Weiss-Bermans for hosting us, and Jane Lyons for organizing the Door-to-Door!

Last week, Storycorps Facilitators, Mike Rauch and Naomi Greene, attended The Center for Self-Determination International Conference in Detroit, Michigan. Over 900 people attended the conference from various cities and backgrounds, but they shared a common belief, despite their mental and/or physical disabilities, they can be in control of their own lives and live they way they choose.

For some, being self-determined must be learned, but for Maria Marquez-McCrory, standing up for herself comes naturally. Vickie Vining (R), a consultant in the mental health field, interviewed Maria (L) about how she became the fighter that she is.

As early as kindergarten, Maria wanted to be treated like all the other schoolchildren, but because of her physical disability, she was separated from the rest of the school. Once when a fellow schoolmate tried to tease her, Maria flipped him the bird. When she was sent to the principal’s office, she argued that if the other children made fun of her, she had the right to defend herself. Today, Maria’s tactics have changed, but her message has not. As a self-advocate for people with disabilities, she continues to spread the message of equality and self-determination to as many as she can.

_{Ruth (L) and Mary Ellen (R)}

We traveled to Enfield, Connecticut for a two day Door-to-Door with the Enfield Public Library. Enfield may be a small place, but the residents, many of whom are natives, told wonderful stories about their home. Perhaps no other participant remembered the many changes in Enfield like Ruth E. Maylott.

Ruth spoke to her very good friend, Mary Ellen, who brought a toy phone to represent the many telephone conversations the two have shared. Ruth remembers the Cottage Green, the area of Enfield in which she has spent almost all her life. Ruth described her diverse neighborhood with yummy smells emanating from Italian, English, and Irish households and the Cottage Green wedding traditions in which all the neighborhood women could get a sneak peek of the bride’s wedding day attire. Even today, all you need to say is, “She’s from the green,” and an Enfield resident knows exactly what you mean.

On Monday, May 19, StoryCorps visited with and collected stories from residents of Menorah Home and Hospital. Menorah is a rehab and care facility that sits on 10 oceanfront acres in Brooklyn’s Manhattan Beach. Nancy Sondag, director of therapeutic recreation for Menorah, coordinated our visit and participated in interviewing residents. During the day residents enjoy gazing out onto the gardens and ocean views, participating in creative projects such as ceramic, sculpting and painting, visiting with family and friends and, taking in some of the special events and performances that happen throughout the day. While we were there, magician Rene Gonzalez performed for residents in the grand auditorium.

Enjoy the slide show. Click on a photo for more information.

StoryCorps facilitators Cindy Murphy and Kate Wingate traveled to Portland, Oregon this week to conduct two days of Door-to-Door interviews in partnership with the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Cancer Institute. Ten years after the introduction of Gleevec, a drug used to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), OHSU sponsored StoryCorps’ visit in coordination with their GIST patient awareness week. As OHSU is a major center for the development of Gleevec, Kate and Cindy had the opportunity to record not only the stories of GIST and CML survivors, but also of the doctors and researchers who helped make their survival possible.

On April 16, 2008 StoryCorps facilitators Mike Rauch and Brianna Hyneman visited Clove Lakes Health & Rehabilitation Center, a short and long term nursing and rehabilitation center in Staten Island, New York.

Clove Lakes Social Service Secretary, Meaghan McKeon hosted us for the day as residents added their stories to the archive of New York oral history. Many of the participants that we listened to were raised in the Staten Island area during the depression. They talked about the solidarity of their communities, the families they raised and, their work from eighty years of crochet beading in the garment district to being a gunner in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Clove Lakes honors their residents’ stories and preserves some of the community they all share. On the day we visited, Staten Island’s and Clove Lakes’ oldest resident, Winifred Flynn, celebrated her 104th birthday with a large reception in the grand entrance.

Enjoy the slideshow. Click an image for more information.

…an interdisciplinary college preparatory boarding school located on 1,200 acres of Wisconsin woodland boasting 22 miles of trails and eight lakes. Founded by James R. Lowenstine, The Conserve School in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin offers its students an integrated educational program that explores the wonders of nature using the sciences, literature and the arts.

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Kemba Bloodworth and Jenna Weiss-Berman finished their ten week North Carolina tour in the lovely Outer Banks with some recordings for the StoryCorps’ Memory Loss Initiative. The recordings took place at the Gem Center in Nags Head, North Carolina, a wonderful day program for people in various stages of memory loss. Above, StoryCorps Memory Loss Initiative Coordinator Mitra Bonshahi (L front) and facilitator Kemba Bloodworth (R front) eat lunch with the program’s participants.

Among the interview participants were Jerry and Jane Smallwood, who met in high school but didn’t marry until many years later. In fact, after Jerry left for the Navy, they both married other people. But through the years they couldn’t stop thinking of one another, and they were finally reunited. Jerry was injured many years ago when the plane he was piloting crashed, which was most likely the cause of his memory loss and Aphasia, but he hasn’t let his ailments stop him from taking walks on the beautiful beaches of the Outer Banks with the love of his life, Jane.

Facilitators Quentin Weld and Naomi Greene packed their warm winter clothing and headed to Eau Claire, WI last week for a Memory Loss Initiative Door-to-Door. Naomi and Quentin spent two days at the L.E. Phillips Senior Center conducting interviews with some of Eau Claire’s natives.

_{Paula Gibson (L) and Facilitator Naomi Greene (R) in front of legendary lumberjack, Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe.}

Eau Claire, which means “clear water” in French, lives up to it name with lovely views of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers. However, the city’s people make Eau Claire a special place. Our participants recounted their favorite memories growing up on their family’s farm. We loved hearing stories about tilling the soil, raising runt pigs and even making ‘white lightning’ for the field hands. A special thanks to our host, Paula Gibson, of Harbor House, for bringing StoryCorps to Eau Claire to capture these memories.