No matter how long a person has lived in Madison, it is common for UW-Madison students to see the same nameless faces passing by them almost daily. They become a part of a routine, and seeing familiar faces can be comforting to students-but faces don't explain a person's life story.
Perhaps the thought never occurred to students to sit down and listen to what the anonymous faces have to say about who they are and how their experiences shaped their lives. The opportunity to do this is coming for residents in the Madison area.
StoryCorps, a non-profit organization, is coming to UW-Madison for the majority of June to record the oral histories of individuals in Madison.
\StoryCorps is a really neat opportunity for the people of Madison to record their history as part of a national project,"" said Bonniejean Hutchinson, the Audience Services Manager for Wisconsin Public Broadcasting, located in Vilas Hall.
StoryCorps is a project designed to encourage people to record other people's stories-meaning people recite their personal stories as another person records the tales the other person tells.
The organization is modeled after the Works Progress Administration, a product of the New Deal that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started in the early 1930s, following the Great Depression. Through interviews and recorded oral histories with American citizens, the WPA recorded tragedies and triumphs of people rebuilding their lives.
StoryCorps sets out to do the same thing. It wants to record history through the stories of individuals across the country. It has recorded oral histories for the Library of Congress and is potentially the largest-ever oral history project undertaken. The organization wants people to interview their family members, friends-even the street entertainers on State Street-and anyone else who has a story that should be recorded. StoryCorps captures the stories that create a bond between people.
""Listening is an act of love,"" StoryCorps employee Eliza Bettinger said.
This is an experience that not only enables people to walk away with a copy of an interview, but in many cases to leave with a deeper connection and understanding with the person they interviewed, according to Bettinger.
Working mostly off of grants, sponsors and donations, the organization set up its first StoryBooth in October 2003 in Grand Central Station in New York City.
The StoryBooth is soundproof, has quality-recording equipment and a facilitator joins the interviewer and interviewee to help the conversation in case it dwindles.
""The interview can be one-sided, one person asking all the questions, or mutual,"" Hutchinson said.
The interview is a maximum of 40 minutes and is recorded and put onto a compact disk. There are three total copies produced; one is given to the group doing the interview, while the other two go to StoryCorps and the Library of Congress. The suggested donation is $10 per interview, even though it can cost $140 to record.
StoryCorps also gives a voice to people who in any other circumstance would not have their stories carry on to posterity. Everyone's story is important to this organization, not just the people in history textbooks.
""StoryCorps is looking for participants from all walks of life,"" Hutchinson said.
StoryCorps will be in Madison and conducting interviews in its mobile booth on Library Mall from June 9 to June 20.
For more information on StoryCorps and its national tour, go to www.storycorps.net.
