The Great Listen
When you gather with family and friends over a holiday meal in the coming weeks, talk may turn to shared memories and family stories. Connections you make over a meal, not the centerpiece or the stuffing, make your holidays special. Storytelling (and capturing those special stories) can help you preserve family history, but they also give us an opportunity to gather the voices and wisdom of our elders and give the gift of listening and of being heard.
Listening is an act of love and respect. Listening to someone reminds them that their lives matter. It reminds us all of what matters the most.
The Great Thanksgiving Listen was developed for high school students to interview an elder during holiday gatherings and contribute their voices to the Library of Congress, but anyone with a smartphone and an interest in storytelling can participate. People of all ages can download the free StoryCorps App and use it to create their own unique oral history with an elder or loved one in their life, and help transform the holidays into a time of intergenerational sharing.
This week, download and print the official 2019 Great Thanksgiving Listen placemat. You’ll have a sampler platter of Great Questions closer than the salt shaker. Use them as icebreakers around the table. Then, after the meal, find a quiet place and record your interview with the free StoryCorps App.
Here’s how to get started to participate in the Great Thanksgiving Listen:
Download the free StoryCorps App for your iPhone or Android. Make sure to create a login so you can access your interviews later within the StoryCorps Archive.
Select an interview partner and prepare questions for your interview. You’ll find suggestions to get the conversation going in the app or from this Great Questions list. The list suggests questions related to family history, school and growing up, relationships, work, military service, and more.
Have a conversation. Find a quiet place, sit close together, and start your conversation! Just follow the prompts in the app to begin recording.
Select the privacy setting. You can choose to publish your interview or keep your interview private.
If you choose to upload your interview, follow tips to create a title and summary, and use descriptive keywords and this year’s keyword TheGreatListen2019. While you’re at it, share a selfie from your interview, and make sure to tag @StoryCorps #TheGreatListen! All interviews uploaded to the platform will be archived with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to be preserved for future generations to discover.
So… Listen. Honor. Share. Participate in the Great Listen 2019 and help create a culture of listening that echoes across the nation.