Minutes of ESCOTA General Meetings

Minutes from the Thursday, October 13, 2011 General Membership Meeting

Date of Meeting: 2011-10-13 02:59 PM
Presentation: StoryCorps: Building a Legacy by Recording, Preserving, and Sharing Life Stories
Speaker: Chelsea Miller & Perri Chinalai

Presentation:

ESCOTA Presentation
10/13/11

1. Intro
2. Icebreaker
a. Audience members share something about themselves that no one would know from just looking at them.
b. We like to start presentations off with this exercise because it really demonstrates how everyone is unique and has something special to share, and that’s what StoryCorps is all about.
3. Introduction to StoryCorps
a. Has anyone heard of StoryCorps before? Share.
b. StoryCorps is an independent, national, non-profit, oral history project. Our mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.
c. StoryCorps interviews take place between two people who know and care about one another. They provide participants with 40 uninterrupted minutes to talk about whatever they want. A trained facilitator operates all of the technical aspects of the interview process so that the participants may focus solely on sharing a conversation.
d. With participants’ permission, StoryCorps interviews are archived at the Library of Congress in the American Folklife Center.
i. This means that generations down the line will be able to listen to stories of their loved ones.
e. Since 2003, StoryCorps has recorded over 38,000 interviews. Every Friday morning NPR plays segments of these interviews during their Morning Edition show, and you can also listen to them on the StoryCorps website.
4. Introduce Danny & Annie, Play Clip
a. The best way to understand StoryCorps is to actually hear an interview. We’re no w going to listen to part of a conversation between two of StoryCorps' first participants: Danny Perasa and his wife, Annie.
b. Recorded in NYC, about their first date more than 25 years ago
c. Why it’s so popular: two ordinary people celebrate one another, relationships can be transformed by the simple act of listening, everyone has a story to tell
5. More about StoryCorps –ways we collect stories
a. StoryCorps records stories in a variety of ways to ensure that more people have access to the project.
b. StoryBooth – booth in Lower Manhattan’s Foley Square near City Hall, one in ATL and San Francisco, private, intimate recording space, participants receive CD immediately after the interview
c. MobileBooth – an airstream trailer outfitted with a recording studio that travels the country year-round collecting stories. Typically, the MobileBooth partners with local organizations and groups to reach out to the widest range of people in each community it visits.
d. Door to Door – SC will bring portable equipment to your location and trained facilitators from StoryCorps will record up to six 40-minute interviews per day. In the past, D2D services have been used to celebrate anniversaries and milestones, add a personal voice to fundraising or marketing materials, and provide meaningful experiences to the community
e. StoryKits – StoryKits are available for rent for families and individuals to record their stories. A StoryKit comes with the professional digital recorder, headphones, microphones, and a user guide. With StoryKits, families and individuals are able to record important conversations in their own homes on their own time.
f. Do-It-yourself guide & National Day of Listening – Created a Do-It-Yourself guide to accompany The National Day of Listening which is the day after Thanksgiving, provides step-by-step instructions and tips on how to record a conversation on your own
g. We’ll now listen to a clip that was recorded through our MobileBooth:

LEGATHOSY CLIP

Juliet Jegasothy, who is originally from Sri Lanka, tells her friend Sheena Jacob about adjusting to life in the United States. (Recorded in Pittsburg, PA)

Initiatives/Engagement Projects – try to record stories so the archive collection is representative of society today
i. Historias – records the stories of Latinos
ii. Griot – captures the stories of African-Americans; these stories are archived at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in addition to the Library of Congress
iii. September 11th – to honor and remember those who were affected by the events on September 11th; in partnership with 9/11 Memorial Museum
iv. NTI – celebrate the profound impact of great educators
* We’re now going to discuss two Initiatives in greater detail because they’re especially relevant to the work you do:
v. The Memory Loss Initiative (MLI)

-Since 2006, StoryCorps’ Memory Loss Initiative has supported and encouraged people with various forms of memory loss to share their stories with loved ones and future generations.

-To date, the Memory Loss Initiative collected more than 1,800 interviews with 180 partner organizations from around the country.

-Memory Loss Initiative stories were recorded using the Door-to-Door model

-These recordings demonstrated an extremely positive impact on participants. We’re now going to listen to a segment from one of them:



NEWMAN CLIP

Audrey Newman talks with her mother, Florence who has Alzheimer's, about her father, Joe Newman. (Recorded in partnership with the Gurwin Jewish Fay J. Linder Residences in Commack, NY).
-Organizations wanted to record more stories, so we created Commemorate
- The Commemorate Toolkit offers memory loss care facilities across the country a new individualized reminiscence program they can add to their existing roster of person-centered care activities. It can be downloaded on our website.

6. Segue – there’s an obvious, deep connection and need for those with serious illness and for those providing care to tell and share stories. StoryCorps Legacy was created for those reasons, based on a lot of our experiences through the Memory Loss Initiative.
a. Share quote from Dr. Ira Byock, Director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth Medical Hitchcock and advisory board member for StoryCorps Legacy:
i. “Stories are the only satisfying way I know of exploring the paradox that people become stronger and more whole as physical weakness becomes overwhelming and life itself wanes.”

7. About Legacy
a. Mission: The mission of StoryCorps Legacy is to encourage and support the act of reminiscence, and to preserve and share the stories of people with life-threatening conditions and their families.
i. In order to reach participants, we partner with organizations that specifically care for people with life-threatening conditions. These include nursing homes, hospitals, palliative care units, hospices, and disease-specific centers
b. Not a clinical therapeutic intervention or formal life review, but therapeutic in its own way
c. Act of storytelling, even for just 40 minutes, is important and provides a sense of well-being
d. Legacy launched in July 2010, and we worked with 6 organizations (3 local and 3 national) in our pilot year
i. We called it our Pilot Year because we were truly learning the best ways of facilitating and conducting these interviews.
e. Through a grant, we have a limited number of partnerships available this year
f. Legacy is different from some of our other service models at StoryCorps because we train members of the partner organization to be the facilitators, and, after extensive training, put the equipment and process in their hands
i. We understand that our participants are being cared for in their own homes, which is why we had to alter our service to better suit their needs…we took aspects from the Door-to-Door service as well as other parts of StoryCorps make the interview recording process available to those who are managing a life-threatening condition
g. Partnerships – Follow along with our Partnership Step-by-step guide
i. Orientation – provide a Partner Manual with extensive information about StoryCorps Legacy and the interview process, goals: educate everyone at the organization about StoryCorps Legacy, teach people how to identify and recruit participants, as well as prepare them for their interview
ii. Training – 2 weeks later, on site training with Partner Organization Facilitators practice facilitating first interviews with Legacy Staff available
iii. Recording Months – Partner organization keeps the StoryKit for 3 months and records stories with participants, Legacy staff available by phone for help
iv. Processing – 3-5 weeks after the recordings are returned to StoryCorps, Legacy staff will send CD conversations directly to the participants; also, a copy of all the recordings will be given to the partner organization to serve as a community archive
h. Legacy Update – Alexis
To date we’ve recorded over 100 interviews. These interviews are used in a variety of ways by both participants and organizations, and evaluation has demonstrated a very positive impact on participants and partner organization staff and volunteer teams.

i. Play Danny & Annie Part II
i. Danny was a huge fan of StoryCorps, brought in lots of friends for interviews
ii. Danny was diagnosed with a fast-spreading terminal cancer a couple of years ago. Although his cancer was particularly painful, Danny wanted to talk one more time about his love for Annie. So StoryCorps went to Danny and Annie, to record them in their home in Bayridge, Brooklyn. Danny spoke lying down on a couch. Beside him in a chair was his wife Annie.
iii. PLAY CLIP
iv. A week after we recorded this interview it was broadcast on NPR, that afternoon Danny passed away. When we posted the news on the web, thousands of letters poured in from listeners across the country. Annie carried a stack of them at Danny’s funeral and reads one each day in place of her love letters from Danny.
8. Conclusion:
a. Hopefully these clips today have demonstrated the power of stories and how important it is for us to share stories with each other.
b. We hope you’ll get involved in StoryCorps in the way most relevant to your work.
c. We brought some basic information for you and we’d love to have your contact info or business card so we can stay in touch.
9. Questions?

Next Meeting:

Date:
Location:
Presentation:
Speaker:

[ Top of Page ]
[ Back to the main listing of Minutes ]