The first few weeks in Gainesville have been eventful! We had a great opening day on the University of Florida campus that was the subject of quite a bit of coverage from the local press. Opening day was followed by the Gator Growl and the thorough trouncing of the Kentucky Wildcats by the Florida Gators (Kentucky 5, Florida 63! CHOMP!). After a week of fun on campus MobileEast moved to the Alachua County Public Library on October 31, just in time for Halloween. Thanks to the Alachua County Commissioners, the holiday is now also known as “StoryCorps WUFT-FM Day.”

Alachua County Commissioner Cynthia Moore Chestnut did the honors by announcing the official proclamation before stepping into the booth with her son Christopher.

“From the moment it begins beating until the moment it stops, the human heart works tirelessly. In an average lifetime, the heart beats more than two and a half billion times, without ever pausing to rest.“ -The Human Heart

“What did it feel like touching death?” Alisa Guthrie asks her husband, Dr. Christopher Cogle.

During his medical fellowship, Chris remembers walking quickly with other fellows from a lecture hall to the hospital. Chris had a pacemaker. “Being shocked by a pacemaker feels like Mike Tyson or Mohommad Ali coming up to you and punching you in the chest. It’s so powerful it drops you to your knees. It could happen at any time.”

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One of the greatest rewards for me as a StoryCorps Facilitator has been the opportunity to soak up the wisdom and insight shared between the four walls of our StoryBooths. While sitting in the corner, taking notes, running the recording equipment, and listening closely, I hear stories that help me better understand my own life, and prepare me for experiences that are still aheadó marriage, parenthood, serious illness, or even the death of a family member. So, it was a delight to be a fly on the wall when Natalia Karplus, who is expecting twins, brought her mother Elena to ask her questions about parenting and motherhood.

Elena’s savoir faire and love as a mother were made evident through stories from her four pregnancies, memories of raising three girls and a boy, and this bit of wisdom, “Sometimes you’re so task oriented with a baby that you forget that they just like to be talked to.”

“I feel so lucky to be going through this, and have you to talk to about it,” said Natalia through her end-of-interview tears. To which her mother responded, “It’s going to be empowering. It will make you feel like you can do anything in the worldó and you can.”

Larry Kilgore has two passions: Horses and Dick Bardon Pawn Shop. The pawn shop was in Larry’s family since 1906. He closed its doors in 1986, 80 years later.

Larry’s uncle, Dick Bardon, came from St. Louis to Tulsa in 1904 driving a covered wagon that he won with gambling money. When gambling became illegal, he opened the doors to a pawn shop. Bardon was well known for his philanthropy, handing an $80,000 check to the struggling Board of Education and saying, “I have no intention of living in a town that can’t pay its teachers.”

Larry took over the pawn shop in 1967, leaving the cash registers from his Uncle Dick’s ownership on display. Read the rest of this entry »

Sara and I just missed the off-ramp. As we discuss how that could have happened and take an unexpected detour, I feel the excitement welling up inside. We start heading up an inclined expressway. At its precipice, we are greeted by the bright lights of our new destination. My cell phone rings. It’s Alex.

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When Ben Greene described his wife, Deborah, as “the stunningly beautiful but somewhat irascible redhead,” it was clear that true love was flowing within the room, throughout the C.E. building of the Ukpeagvik Presbyterian Church, and in all of Barrow.

The Greenes not only have a profound love for each other, but also for the wilderness, which is why they choose to make their home in Alaska. They were living in Anchorage when Ben got the opportunity to move to Barrow and work for the North Slope Borough Planning Department, an opportunity so unusual there was no way he could turn it down.

“After all,” says Ben, “how many people do you know are given the opportunity to live amongst an Inupiat whaling community 300 miles north of the Arctic circle? You get to see a very unique slice of life and you get to participate.” Ben and Deborah have been in Barrow since May.

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In April 2008, Mary McVicker Scroggs arrived at the Pere Marquette Hotel in Peoria, Illinois. The occasion was one of celebration. Mary was being honored by the American Red Cross for her work with drunk drivers and was presented with the Heartland Hero award for citizenship. It was both a triumphant and eerie moment for Mary. The emotions were mixed. It had been four years since her last visit to the Pere Marquette; four years since the day she had unsuccessfully attempted suicide.

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Our San Francisco StoryBooth is now official. On Sunday, October 26, StoryCorps founder Dave Isay traveled out west to officially launch our StoryBooth at the Contemporary Jewish Museum and to read from his book, Listening is an Act of Love. Special thanks for all their help to Connie Wolf and Lisa Chanoff from the Museum, and to Matt Martin from partner station KALW (whose adorable daughter Reba definitely stole the show).

As we continue listening to incredible stories here in the Bay Area, our thoughts are turned to master oral historian Studs Terkel, who passed away earlier this week. For more on Studs, see here, here, and listen here. We will miss him greatly.

Ten-year-old Ida Cortez is special. Just recently relocated to San Francisco after surviving Hurricane Katrina, Ida is in a new school, on a new coast, and making new friends. Ida’s mother Kim Wargo brought her in for an interview to talk about leaving New Orleans and to share her experience living with and learning through dyslexia.

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Nancy Wright and JD Wright came into the booth to talk about Nancy’s mother, Frances Guy Ericksen, known to JD and his siblings as Gaga. An extravagantly generous tipper and the inspiration for the “Frances Ericksen Memorial Tip,” she passed away in January of 2008 but left behind a loving family and many, many stories of her life, her love and her faith. Frances was raised in the church. Her father was a Methodist minister and enlisted Frances’ help as an organ player at funerals when she was a young girl. As a mother Frances tried to share her devout religious beliefs with Nancy, but as Nancy grew older and took a different spiritual path their differences began to take their toll. Nancy recalls one argument that became a turning point in her relationship with Frances.

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