When I’m driving around running errands, I usually have NPR on the radio, unless I’m listening to Spawned, of course. The stories that almost always end up with me in tears, searching for a Kleenex in the console, are the reports from StoryCorps which present such beautiful, slice-of-life human interest segments, reminding us that even ordinary, everyday lives — like mine — can be really special. So I think it’s really cool that StoryCorps wants us all to get in on the storytelling too, with The Great Thanksgiving Listen project.
Related: A photo app that preserve more than snapshots, it preserves your family stories.
Because StoryCorps specifically wants to capture all those great stories from adults over 65, while you have the family gathered together over turkey and football, set aside some time to sit down with the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles in your group and interview them.
All you need is the free StoryCorps app downloaded to your phone. The app has built-in prompts and questions so you can get those memories rolling.
You can also skip the questions and just capture any favorite family story. What I wouldn’t give to have my grandmother telling us for the hundredth time about the night she hid in the trunk of the car and spied on her sister while she was on a date; or what it was life was like for my grandfather, who worked in Los Alamos during the time of the Manhattan Project.
Not to get too sentimental on you all, but life is short. We always love great apps designed to capture special family memories. But in this case, when you publish yours to the StoryCorps site (which is so easy with the app) we’ll all get to hear them. Which is pretty awesome.
