Opening Day in Georgetown, Delaware was a squeeze–we welcomed to the East MobileBooth an entire Delaware Tech and Community College ESL class, and we just might have set a MobileBooth occupancy record in the process! While it was their first time in a booth, StoryCorps isn’t new to these students: Del Tech English professor Susan Schranck and staff member Amy Russell use StoryCorps stories like these in their classes to as part of their English language curriculum. Great idea, no? Some students have already come in for StoryCorps interviews, and we’re looking forward to many more as we kick off StoryCorps’ first visit to the First State. More on an action-packed opening day to come…

Jenna and Kemba are now in New Bern, North Carolina and it is HOT! 80 degrees today, to be precise. New Bern is the home of novelist Nicholas Sparks, as well as the inspiration for his romantic classic The Notebook. And I (Jenna) am staying in a home (above) on the Neuse River, with local New Bernian Zelma Peter, that bears an uncanny resemblance to the home that Noah built for Allie in the movie version of The Notebook (one of my personal favorites).

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StoryCorps’ East MobileBooth is now in Beaufort, North Carolina, a quaint, beautiful seaside town. We parked the booth at the harbor, where we can look out the window and see wild horses on a nearby island and dolphins entertaining fishermen (I’m not kidding–it’s actually that idyllic here). We are working with Public Radio East to collect the unique stories of locals. Click here to listen to some of the stories we’ve recorded in Beaufort and at the Camp Lejeune Marine base while we’ve been working with the station.

Ira Lewis, 89 (L), and his daughter Margaret Ann Lewis Rose, 67 (R), were our first Beaufort participants. Ira grew up on Harkers Island, a very small island near Beaufort that only recently had a bridge built connecting it to the mainland. The absence of a bridge kept the island completely isolated for hundreds of years, which explains the roots and remnants of what is known as the “High Tider” accent of the islanders, a beautiful combination of Elizabethan English and a slow Southern drawl. Read the rest of this entry »

Our second week at Camp Lejeune brought in even more amazing interviews from Marines, their families, and their friends. Aaron (L) and Shawna Burciaga (R) came in with their first daughter, three month old Hallie Jean (M). They talked about meeting in high school and then meeting again after they had both been away to college and completed their Mormon missions. It was love at second sight, and they were soon married after a very romantic surprise proposal in Times Square. After six months of marriage, Aaron deployed to Iraq. They are now getting ready to move to Monterey, California, where Aaron will attend military graduate school, and where Hallie Jean will have fun in the California sun.

One of the biggest perks of being a facilitator: we get to hold babies like little Hallie Jean Burciaga!

Aaron then sent in his friend Francisco Castillo (R) and Francisco’s daughter Amanda Castillo (L) in for an interview. Francisco told Amanda stories about his rowdy childhood and his love of exploring the woods, which included a couple of frightening but exhilarating encounters with bears. They also talked about Francisco’s wife, and Amanda’s mother, who is a Marine currently deployed in Iraq. She has been away since September and comes back this Friday, and Francisco has been taking care of their four children, including Amanda, in her absence. Amanda is very excited for her mom to came home because, among other things, she is an excellent cook. Cooking is not Francisco’s specialty, and, Amanda tells him, “I’m sick of eating steaks all the time!”

Speaking of Marines coming home, Camp Lejeune and the area surrounding is decorated with hundreds of signs welcoming Marines back.

Facilitators Jenna Weiss-Berman and Kemba Bloodworth went along with the Mobile Booth on the five hour trek from Charlotte, North Carolina to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

We were greeted by our gracious Marine escorts Corporal Meier and Lieutenant Thomas, who both work in the Public Affairs Office at Camp Lejeune. We parked the booth in front of the base’s own department store, the Marine Corps Exchange.

Corporal Meier and Lieutenant Thomas then took a look around the booth.

Some of our first interview subjects were Marines Nick DiOrio, of Cañon City, Colorado, and Patrick Fleischman, from the Bronx, New York. Both men are combat journalists in the Marines. Nick takes his video camera wherever he goes, and Patrick is a photographer. Patrick knew he wanted to pursue combat journalism, and he told us that he could think of no better way to do that than by actually joining the military and being among the people he wanted to document. Nick recounted his time filming the current war in Afghanistan, where he was exposed to an entirely new, different, and interesting culture and way of life.

Kemba Bloodworth and Jenna Weiss-Berman were welcomed to the Alzheimer’s Association of the Carolinas. The staff provided them with an ideal, quiet place for recording conversations and databasing. Check out our nifty “quiet” signs.

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Facilitators Kemba Bloodworth (L) and Jenna Weiss-Berman (R) rolled into Charlotte, North Carolina, to record the stories of any Charlotteans who would share them with us. We are working with Charlotte’s very helpful and supportive NPR station, WFAE.

Opening day brought in a wonderful array of southern charmers, including Alys Honey (L), 94, and her great great grand nephew, Michael Stuart (R), 11. Alys talked to Michael about how much the world has changed since she was his age. “You live in a world that I could have never dreamed of as a child,” Alys told Michael. Read the rest of this entry »

Jae Nale (R), an Orlando resident, always knew she wanted a baby, and she was determined that coming out as a lesbian wouldn’t change her chances of having one. Jae was artificially inseminated in the early 1980s, which was almost unheard of among lesbians in the south. She came in with her daughter, Stacy Nale (L), a psychologist, to talk about Stacy’s often difficult experiences being raised in rural Mississippi by a lesbian mother. Stacy then told her own coming out story. Both women have worked hard to change people’s conceptions of lesbians, and, in Jae’s words, “they can only stereotype us if they don’t know who we really are.” Read the rest of this entry »

Want to break a world record? No better place than with Orlando’s History Center!

On Saturday, January 26, over 1 700 yo-yo enthusiasts (and the yet-to-be initiated) gathered in downtown Orlando’s Heritage Square. Undeterred by the overcast sky, people came out en masse to support the Guiness World Record-breaking attempt at the local Orange County Regional History Center. Yo-yo-ing, a long-loved sleight of wrist activity, is just one event as part of its latest exhibit, “Kid Stuff: Great Toys from our Childhood,” running through April 13, 2008.

Oh, and here’s what a real Orlando gator looks like!

If you feel like wrasslin’ with a gator, here’s exhibit A (and don’t forget to wear a hat!):

Soo Na and Jenna finally had the chance to try some real Florida oranges… er, clementines. We saw a big tree full of orange fruit and busted into a lovely Florida backyard (with the home owners’ permission, of course), and savored the flavors of the world’s most celebrated citrus fruits.

YUM!

YUMMIER!

Facilitators Jenna Weiss-Berman and Soo Na Pak recorded MobileBooth East’s first field recording for 2008 at Zora’s Place.

Zora’s Place, named after writer Zora Neale Hurston, is located in Eatonville, Florida, the nation’s oldest all-black incorporated municipality, founded in 1887 by a community of formerly enslaved Africans, who dreamed of raising their families off of plantations, in a community of their own choosing - and succeeded.

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(L-R: James Ransom; Dave Isay; Cherie Johnson)

So spoke Cherie Johnson about Sunday school teacher, Miss Divine. StoryCorps alumni and special guests, cousins Cherie Johnson and James Ransom, drove from Tampa, Florida, to join Dave Isay during yesterday’s book signing at the Orlando Public Library.

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(Eliza Bettinger, Mobile Booth Senior Coordinator at StoryCorps, standing with José A. Fajardo, President and CEO of WMFE.)

MobileBooth East began its first stop of 2008 with opening day in Orlando, Florida. After kicking off with breakfast provided by Orlando’s very own Z-Café, located inside of the Orlando Public Library, Cornerstone Society members of WMFE heard a presentation from MobileBooth Senior Coordinator Eliza Bettinger. A sincere thank you to the members of WMFE who helped make StoryCorps’ stop in Orlando, Florida, possible!

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Facilitators Soo Na Pak and Jenna Weiss-Berman recently rolled into Orlando, Florida with StoryCorps’ MobileBooth East, where they were shocked and awed when they looked at the thermometer on their rear-view mirror (see for yourself below!).

They parked the booth in front of the Orlando Public Library in downtown Orlando, where StoryCorps will be recording stories with local NPR station WMFE for the entire month of January.

^{Hang glidin’ Paul Shaffer.}

Paul Shaffer came to the MobileBooth to talk about life before his work in programming and computers. He was excited to have his interview archived at the Library of Congress as a way of passing on his legacy to future generations.

At age 17, Paul was the youngest private pilot in the nation and was flying before he could drive. He later became an avid hang glider, and was one of the first people ever to use a powered hang glider. Unfortunately, Paul was never able to realize his dreams of making a career out of the hobby by advertising and doing special promotions for malls and other businesses. However, about once year, he still takes to the sky for an adventure on his hang glider.

Paul kindly invited Mike and Yuki to visit him at the University of Pennsylvania where he is curator of the ENIAC, first unveiled in 1946 and argued by some to be the first computer.

^{Yuki Aizawa and Paul Shaffer holding a piece of history.}

_{Spencer Wright (L) and "Max The Barber" (R)}.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is one of StoryCorps’ many outreach partners. Two Big Brothers, Arthur J. "Maxamillion" Wells III and Spencer Wright, came to talk when our booth was in Philadelphia. Max is a barber, Spencer a recruiter for Big Brother Big Sister. Ironically though, Max was the one who originally recruited Spencer.

Maxamillion’s Gentlemen’s Quarter Barber Parlor is a barber shop that is truly for gentlemen– no cellphones and no cursing please. On the walls, there are pictures of clients from celebrities like comedian Steve Harvey to Max’s Little Brother, Aaquil. But it’s not just a barber shop. Max thinks of the shop as a community networking hub, and is something of an unofficial spokesman for Big Brother Big Sister. After many years of hearing about the program from Max, Spencer finally decided to try it out. He ended up liking it so much that he took a job with the organization!

Facilitator Mike Rauch visited Max for a cut. Sorry, no pictures of the results, but suffice it to say that Mike’s beard is looking the best it ever has. Thanks Max!

_{In the barber shop. Future Big Brother?}

_{South Street pioneers Isaiah and Julia Zagar.}

Isaiah and Julia Zagar came to the StoryCorps booth and talked about how they got married and started in their lives’ work. The couple first met as young artists living on the Lower East Side of New York City. Three months later, they were married and living together. "That gave me a year before I would have to be arrested and put in jail," said Isaiah, who was denied status as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War.

In their first year as a married couple, Julia and Isaiah joined the PeaceCorps. They were sent to Peru where they met artists and craftspeople who they helped to set up systems through which to sell their work. By the time the Zagars moved back to the United States, Isaiah’s conscientious objector status had been approved and the pair moved into a building on the then rundown South Street in Philadelphia, PA. "It was the only place that would take us," said Isaiah.

Isaiah and Julia lived in the top half of the building and opened the Eye’s Gallery in the bottom half. The shop was stocked with textiles, ceramics, and woodcarvings that they had collected while living abroad. For his part, Isaiah began creating mosaic murals using discarded materials, especially glass, from abandoned warehouses in the neighborhood. Forty years later, the shop has expanded to three floors and now carries crafts and folk art from all over the world, while Isaiah has truly transformed South Street into an outdoor museum. StoryCorps facilitators Mike and Yuki visited Isaiah at his studio and toured his "Magic Garden", an art environment he began in 1994.

_{Former location of punk rock shop, Zipperhead.}

In the 1960’s, it was proposed that Philadelphia’s South Street be replaced by the "Crosstown Expressway", to create a connection between I-76 and I-95. The expressway would have cut through Philadelphia, separating Center City and South Philly. However, amidst turbulent times in the city, a group of artists and entrepreneurs had begun to transform the rundown street into a culturally vibrant community. They dug their heels in and successfully managed to defeat the proposal. The "South Street Renaissance" had begun.

South Street became known as a bohemian hot-spot, and, among other things, was notable in the punk rock scene. Zipperhead, a store selling punk rock clothing and accessories is still operating today on 4th Street, just around the corner from it’s original South Street location. The reputation of South Street spread and it has since become a popular destination, especially among tourists. Unfortunately, with the popularity of South Street came rising real estate values and consequently a disintegration of the neighborhood as it had been known.

The Zagars

Of the many shops, galleries, and restaurants like The Crooked Mirror Coffee Shop, the Gazoo, Yas Restaurant, The Works Craft Gallery, and The Painted Bride Art Center that once called South Street home, only a few remain. Today, on South Street you’ll find more chain stores than chain-wearing punk rockers, but there are still some special people and places that will give you a taste of 1960’s and 70’s South Street. Julia and Isaiah Zagar are two such people. Since 1969, the couple have been running The Eye’s Gallery at 402 South Street. Meanwhile, Isaiah has been busy turning the streets of Philadelphia into a mosaic museum.

StoryCorps facilitators Mike Rauch and Yuki Aizawa recently visited The Eye’s Gallery, former home of the Zagar’s and one of Isaiah’s ongoing mosaic installations. The shop, offering crafts, folk art, and unique clothing from around the world, is part museum, part gallery, part toy store, and packed with treasures in every corner.

After leaving the shop, Mike and Yuki visited Isaiah’s "Magic Garden", one of about 30 sites around the South Street area that feature Mr. Zagar’s mosaic murals. Unfortunately, it was closing time and they could only peer through the fence for a glimpse of an artwork 13 years in the making. Check back for pictures from a return visit to the Magic Garden and details on the Zagar’s StoryCorps interview!

_{Fence surrounding Philadelphia’s Magic Garden.}

Facilitator Mike Rauch outside the East Booth, now parked on 6th Street, right in front of our partner station, WHYY. The booth’s current home is just across the street from the National Constitution Center and a few blocks from The Liberty Bell and Congress Hall, where U.S. Congress met from 1790-1800.

Below: A marker on 6th street describes what once stood in this spot over 150 years ago.