Monday, March 17, 2008

StoryCorps

This weekend I took the ferry to Cedar Island, then drove to Beaufort where I met Karen Willis Amspacher. Karen had invited me to Beaufort to participate in StoryCorps. Many of our readers will know about StoryCorps from National Public Radio. For those who are unfamiliar with this project I quote from their web site, http://www.storycorps.net/:

"StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.

"By recording the stories of our lives with the people we care about, we experience our history, hopes, and humanity. Since 2003, tens of thousands of everyday people have interviewed family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to take home and share, and is archived for generations to come at the Library of Congress. Millions listen to our award-winning broadcasts on public radio and the Internet. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, creating a growing portrait of who we really are as Americans."

It was an honor to be part of this project. Kimba & Jenna, both from New York City, had brought the mobile recording studio to the waterfront at Beaufort, and Karen had scheduled several sessions for friends in eastern NC. I made two 40 minute recordings, sharing family and island stories and history.

If a mobile unit visits your area, please consider joining the thousands of other Americans who have given voice to their unique and personal stories.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is a fun island crossword puzzle. You can view it here.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:21 PM

    That's great. keep us posted as to when your recordings will be available.

    Is Karen from the Outer Banks?


    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know how the recordings are made available. They are archived in the Library of Congress, so I suppose you can access them there. They also give each participant one copy of the recording. If I knew how to upload them to the internet I might do that, but I've never uploaded audio files.

    Karen is from Marshallberg, NC. Don't know if she was born in that town, but she is originally from somewhere in coastal eastern NC.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3:57 AM

    What a cool project! I'm really glad you participated and shared some Ocracoke history! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:23 PM

    Philip,
    Do you have an update on the recordings? I have looked but cannot find anything.
    Sarah

    ReplyDelete