Participate in the National Day of Listening, November 28, 2008

National Day of Listening via kwout

Friday, November 28, 2008 is the first ever National Day of Listening!  This event is sponsored by StoryCorps.  StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit that has helped more than 40,000 Americans record their stories.  As one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, their mission to help people honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.

What is this national day of listening all about?  Here is how StoryCorps describes it:

This Thanksgiving, StoryCorps asks you to start a new holiday tradition—set aside one hour on Friday, November 28th, to record a conversation with someone important to you. You can interview anyone you choose: an older relative, a friend, a teacher, or a familiar face from the neighborhood.

You can preserve the interview using recording equipment readily available in most homes, such as tape recorders, computers, video cameras or a pen and paper. Our free Do-It-Yourself Guide is easy to use and will prepare you and your interview partner to record a memorable conversation, no matter which method of recording you prefer.

We hope that you’ll make a yearly tradition of listening to and preserving a loved one’s story. The stories you collect will surely become treasured keepsakes, growing more valuable with each passing generation.

I would like to encourage you to participate in this National Day of Listening—at your age, it seemed as though I had forever to spend with my family members, but now that I am adult, I realize how fleeting time is.  So many times I wish that I had videoed or recorded the stories of my beloved late grandmothers who had so many memorable experiences to share.  If you can’t participate on November 28, 2008, consider participating on a day that works for you during this upcoming holiday season—the gift of a living memory is priceless.

Read more about how others are planning on to celebrate this National Day of Listening by visiting my links at http://delicious.com/theunquietlibrary/nationaldayoflistening .