On their way to a picnic beneath the famous D.C. cherry blossoms, immigration lawyer Miriam Riedmiller stopped by the booth with her mother, Avelina Bustamante, and her "favorite intern," Elizabeth Olsen. Hats on, the ladies talked about the Filipino customs they maintain at the office–including sitting down to eat traditional food at lunch time and Mrs. Bustamante having her own office in her daughter’s practice. When Mrs. Bustamante is not helping clients, she glues beads on everything in sight- not even the umbrellas are safe.

In the words of Sir Francis Bacon, “Knowledge is power,” and what better place to find such knowledge than on the 530 miles of bookshelves lining the Library of Congress.

The MobileBooth sits quietly in front of the Jefferson Building of the library, where 10,000 StoryCorps recordings are housed at the American Folklife Center. Facilitators Nick Pumilia and Sarah Geis were so taken by the largest library in the world that they took a time-out from recording oral histories to read up on “Folklife and Fieldwork” in both English and Spanish.

And we found that knowledge and power unite when facilitator Mitra Bonshahi interviewed Congressman Earl Blumenauer about his love of the library, especially the Members of Congress Reading Room. In the members’ room, the Congressman is able to loosen his bow tie and absorb the beauty of the seven panels lining the ceiling, each representing a phase of achievement in humanity.

What more can we say then to look back once again to wise words of Francis Bacon, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” We’ll eat to that, Sir Bacon!

Anticipating trouble on the Hill, facilitator Mitra Bonshahi joins the tour in Washington, DC, to lend a hand. The facilitators proposed that all StoryCorps interviews be conducted without actually recording anything, or taking notes, but were advised to return to the regular format. When asked to explain their involvement in the project, they pled the fifth.

StoryCorps leaves the nation’s capital and embarks on a second year of touring the country. Next stop for this mobile booth: Pittsburgh, PA.

Joseph Galindo and France Sundt after their StoryCorps interview.

Suzanne Joi and Toby Blome are amongst a group of mothers who have joined the organization Code Pink and converged on the nation’s capital for the month of May. They are here to protest the current war in Iraq. They came to our booth accompanied by a handful of fellow protestors. Eventually, they settled into our recording studio and shared their thoughts and feelings about the country. They also talked about the activities they have been engaging in during their stay in the capital.

Ryan Peavyhouse (above left) flew all the way from Atlanta for the day to have us record his grandfather’s storytelling. David Groy recounted many of his grandson’s favorite stories about serving in France during World War 2.

General Donald Scott (below left) asked his wife Betty to talk about what it was like for her to raise their boys whilst he was away fighting in Vietnam. William Taylor’s hopes to continue a military career were dashed when he contracted polio. He cherishes his memories of working in the military, on the Manhattan project in particular, but he also appreciates that the path he was forced to take allowed him to stay closer to his family.

Racquel Kelly says it helps her to talk about the morning of September 11th, 2001. She was sitting at her desk, in the Pentagon, when a plane crashed into the side of the building. Racquel says she is a different person now. Coping with her survival is not always easy but her son and the love she feels for him remains her main source of strength as it was when she was physically recovering from the injuries she sustained during the attack.

When Connie Carter first came to work at the Library of Congress in 1965, librarians wore white gloves. Although much has changed since then, Connie’s love for the institution has endured. Connie hopes to continue working as a reference librarian until 2020 and plans to come back for a StoryCorps interview to celebrate her retirement then! In fact, Connie has already returned to our StoryBooth: She surprised facilitators Justina Mejias and Nadja Middleton with a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Thanks Connie!

Melvin Watt is one of a number of Representatives to Congress that decided to visit our StoryBooth. He talked to his cousin Geneva Melissa Williamson about his childhood and his trajectory from schoolboy to attorney to politician. The two cousins also talked extensively about their family’s traditional reunions where relatives have been swapping stories for generations and oral history is eagerly embraced by the youngest family members.

StoryCorps returns to the nation’s capital after one year of touring the country. For the record, Justina Mejias takes a picture of her reflection and that of her co-facilitator Nadja Middleton! Their image is reflected on StoryCorps’ airstream trailer parked in front of the Library of Congress (also in the picture). The Library’s American Folklife Center is archiving the stories facilitators have been collecting around the country. Below, Nadja listens to Marcia K. Segal, the Center’s processing archivist, explain how StoryCorps recordings are processed. By the end of the year, the Library plans to make available to the public a portion of the 7000 interviews StoryCorps has collected thus far.

Big Launch

The whole StoryCorps gang from New York came down to DC to our big

launch party. Here?s Matt, the mobile booth manager getting down slo-mo.

? Nora Levine

Washington D.C. is Paradise to me!

We’re here! We’ve done it! We pulled up to Constitution Ave. at 6:30

pm, passed through a gigantic crane sized x-ray machine, and ascended

Capitol hill. Tomorrow we launch our mobile tour from the steps of the

Library of Congress. - Brett Myers

Marion and Dave

StoryCorps fearless leaders, Marion Kahan and David Isay, stand by as we pull the two Mobile Booths into the Library of Congress Plaza.

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Second Day on the Road

We left New York yesterday en route to College Park, Maryland. This is the view from our hotel room this morning.