WEBVTT 00:00:00.996 --> 00:00:02.993 Tonight, I'm going to try to make the case 00:00:02.993 --> 00:00:05.849 that inviting a loved one, a friend, 00:00:05.849 --> 00:00:07.613 or even a stranger 00:00:07.613 --> 00:00:10.260 to record a meaningful interview with you 00:00:10.260 --> 00:00:12.884 just might turn out be one of the most important moments 00:00:12.884 --> 00:00:15.136 in that person's life, 00:00:15.136 --> 00:00:17.481 and in yours. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:17.481 --> 00:00:20.825 When I was 22 years old, I was lucky enough to find my calling 00:00:20.825 --> 00:00:23.565 when I fell into making radio stories. 00:00:23.565 --> 00:00:25.719 At almost the exact same time, 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:30.688 I found out that my dad, who I was very, very close to, was gay. 00:00:30.688 --> 00:00:32.990 I was taken completely by surprise. 00:00:32.990 --> 00:00:35.498 We were a very tight-knit family, 00:00:35.498 --> 00:00:37.889 and I was crushed. 00:00:37.889 --> 00:00:40.234 At some point, in one of our strained conversations, 00:00:40.234 --> 00:00:42.904 my dad mentioned the Stonewall riots. 00:00:42.904 --> 00:00:46.178 He told me that one night in 1969, 00:00:46.178 --> 00:00:48.883 a group of young black and Latino drag queens 00:00:48.883 --> 00:00:52.529 fought back against the police at a gay bar in Manhattan 00:00:52.529 --> 00:00:54.549 called the Stonewall Inn, 00:00:54.549 --> 00:00:58.078 and how this sparked the modern gay rights movement. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:58.078 --> 00:00:59.657 It was an amazing story, 00:00:59.657 --> 00:01:01.816 and it piqued my interest. 00:01:01.816 --> 00:01:04.068 So I decided to pick up my tape recorder 00:01:04.068 --> 00:01:06.205 and find out more. 00:01:06.205 --> 00:01:09.804 With the help of a young archivist named Michael Shirker, 00:01:09.804 --> 00:01:12.381 we tracked down all of the people we could find 00:01:12.381 --> 00:01:15.817 who had been at the Stonewall Inn that night. 00:01:15.817 --> 00:01:17.814 Recording these interviews, 00:01:17.814 --> 00:01:20.043 I saw how the microphone gave me the license 00:01:20.043 --> 00:01:22.779 to go places I otherwise never would have gone 00:01:22.779 --> 00:01:26.912 and talk to people I might not otherwise ever have spoken to. 00:01:26.912 --> 00:01:28.654 I had the privilege of getting to know 00:01:28.654 --> 00:01:32.648 some of the most amazing, fierce, and courage human beings 00:01:32.648 --> 00:01:34.830 I had ever met. 00:01:34.830 --> 00:01:36.664 It was the first time the story of Stonewall 00:01:36.664 --> 00:01:38.986 had been told to a national audience. 00:01:38.986 --> 00:01:41.239 I dedicated the program to my dad, 00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:43.955 it changed my relationship with him, 00:01:43.955 --> 00:01:48.181 and it changed my life. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:48.181 --> 00:01:51.617 Over the next 15 years, I made many more radio documentaries, 00:01:51.617 --> 00:01:55.681 working to shine a light on people who are rarely heard from in the media. 00:01:55.681 --> 00:01:57.260 Over and over again, 00:01:57.260 --> 00:01:59.860 I'd see how this simple act of being interviewed 00:01:59.860 --> 00:02:02.020 could mean so much to people, 00:02:02.020 --> 00:02:05.711 particularly those who had been told that their stories didn't matter. 00:02:05.711 --> 00:02:08.080 I could literally see peoples' back straighten 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:10.866 as they started to speak into the microphone. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:10.866 --> 00:02:15.371 In 1998, I made a documentary about the last flophouse hotels 00:02:15.371 --> 00:02:17.762 on the Bowery in Manhattan. 00:02:17.762 --> 00:02:20.432 Guys stayed up in these cheap hotels for decades. 00:02:20.432 --> 00:02:22.824 They lived in cubicles the size of prison cells 00:02:22.824 --> 00:02:24.774 covered with chicken wire so you couldn't jump 00:02:24.774 --> 00:02:27.468 from one room into the next. 00:02:27.468 --> 00:02:31.067 Later, I wrote a book on the men with the photographer Harvey Wang. 00:02:31.067 --> 00:02:33.481 I remember walking into a flophouse 00:02:33.481 --> 00:02:35.432 with an early version of the book 00:02:35.432 --> 00:02:38.079 and showing one of the guys his page. 00:02:38.079 --> 00:02:40.354 He stood there staring at it in silence, 00:02:40.354 --> 00:02:42.653 then he grabbed the book out of my hand 00:02:42.653 --> 00:02:46.136 and started running down the long narrow hallway 00:02:46.136 --> 00:02:47.645 holding it over his head 00:02:47.645 --> 00:02:52.010 shouting, "I exist! I exist." 00:02:52.010 --> 00:02:56.863 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:56.863 --> 00:03:00.694 In many ways, "I exist" became the clarion call for StoryCorps, 00:03:00.694 --> 00:03:04.270 this crazy idea that I had a dozen years ago. 00:03:04.270 --> 00:03:06.499 The thought was to take documentary work 00:03:06.499 --> 00:03:08.356 and turn it on its head. 00:03:08.356 --> 00:03:10.610 Traditionally, broadcast documentary 00:03:10.610 --> 00:03:14.696 has been about recording interviews to create a work of art or entertainment 00:03:14.696 --> 00:03:17.134 or education that is seen or heard by a whole lot of people, 00:03:17.134 --> 00:03:21.755 but I wanted to try something where the interview itself 00:03:21.755 --> 00:03:23.473 was the purpose of this work, 00:03:23.473 --> 00:03:26.445 and see if we could give many, many, many people the chance 00:03:26.445 --> 00:03:29.069 to be listened to in this way. 00:03:29.069 --> 00:03:32.119 So in Grand Central Terminal 11 years ago, 00:03:32.119 --> 00:03:33.652 we built a booth 00:03:33.652 --> 00:03:36.020 where anyone can come to honor someone else 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:39.503 by interviewing them about their life. 00:03:39.503 --> 00:03:43.334 You come to this booth and you're met by a facilitator who brings you inside. 00:03:43.334 --> 00:03:45.911 You sit across from, say, your grandfather 00:03:45.911 --> 00:03:48.953 for close to an hour and you listen and you talk. 00:03:48.953 --> 00:03:52.645 Many people think of it as, if this was to be our last conversation, 00:03:52.645 --> 00:03:55.640 what would I want to ask of and say to this person 00:03:55.640 --> 00:03:57.916 who means so much to me? 00:03:57.916 --> 00:03:59.251 At the end of the session, 00:03:59.251 --> 00:04:01.433 you walk away with a copy of the interview 00:04:01.433 --> 00:04:05.961 and another copy goes to the American Folklife Center 00:04:05.961 --> 00:04:07.812 at the Library of Congress 00:04:07.812 --> 00:04:09.995 so that your great-great-great-grandkids can someday get to know your grandfather 00:04:09.995 --> 00:04:12.828 through his voice and story. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:12.828 --> 00:04:16.705 So we open this booth in one of the busiest places in the world 00:04:16.705 --> 00:04:20.188 and invite people to have this incredibly intimate conversation 00:04:20.188 --> 00:04:21.419 with another human being. 00:04:21.419 --> 00:04:26.225 I had no idea if it would work, but from the very beginning, it did. 00:04:26.225 --> 00:04:29.104 People treated the experience with incredible respect, 00:04:29.104 --> 00:04:32.471 and amazing conversations happened inside. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:32.471 --> 00:04:35.002 I want to play just one animated excerpt 00:04:35.002 --> 00:04:38.763 from an interview recorded at that original Grand Central Booth. 00:04:38.763 --> 00:04:43.291 This is 12-year old Joshua Littman interviewing his mother, Sarah. 00:04:43.291 --> 00:04:45.497 Josh has Asperger's syndrome. 00:04:45.497 --> 00:04:48.562 As you may know, kids with Asperger's are incredibly smart 00:04:48.562 --> 00:04:50.721 but have a tough time socially. 00:04:50.721 --> 00:04:52.370 They usually have obsessions. 00:04:52.370 --> 00:04:54.576 In Josh's case, it's with animals, 00:04:54.576 --> 00:04:57.199 so this is Josh talking with his mom Sarah 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:01.379 at Grand Central nine years ago. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:01.379 --> 00:05:03.956 (Video) Josh Littman: From a scale of one to 10, do you think your life 00:05:03.956 --> 00:05:05.848 would be different without animals? 00:05:05.848 --> 00:05:08.565 Sarah Littman: I think it would be an eight without animals, 00:05:08.565 --> 00:05:11.629 because they add so much pleasure to life. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:11.629 --> 00:05:13.928 JL: How else do you think your life would be different without them? NOTE Paragraph 00:05:13.928 --> 00:05:16.697 SL: I could do without things like cockroaches and snakes. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:16.697 --> 00:05:19.368 JL: Well, I'm okay with snakes as long as they're not venomous 00:05:19.368 --> 00:05:21.109 or constrict you or anything. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:21.109 --> 00:05:22.618 SL: Yeah, I'm not a big snake person, but— NOTE Paragraph 00:05:22.618 --> 00:05:25.288 JL: Cockroaches is just the insect we love to hate. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:25.288 --> 00:05:26.821 SL: Yeah, it really is. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:26.821 --> 00:05:29.955 JL: Have you ever thought you couldn't cope with having a child? NOTE Paragraph 00:05:29.955 --> 00:05:33.345 SL: I remember when you were a baby, you had really bad colic, 00:05:33.345 --> 00:05:34.948 so you would just cry and cry. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:34.948 --> 00:05:38.105 JL: What's colic? SL: It's when you get this stomachache 00:05:38.105 --> 00:05:40.590 and all you do is scream for, like, four hours. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:40.590 --> 00:05:42.563 JL: Even louder than Amy does? NOTE Paragraph 00:05:42.563 --> 00:05:45.907 SL: You were pretty loud, but Amy's was more high-pitched. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:45.907 --> 00:05:49.111 JL: I think it feels like everyone seems to like Amy more. 00:05:49.111 --> 00:05:51.781 Like, she's, like, the perfect little angel. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:51.781 --> 00:05:55.914 SL: Well, I can understand why you think that people like Amy more, 00:05:55.914 --> 00:05:58.283 and I'm not saying it's because of your Asperger's syndrome, 00:05:58.283 --> 00:06:01.487 but being friendly comes easily to Amy, 00:06:01.487 --> 00:06:03.902 whereas I think for you it's more difficult, 00:06:03.902 --> 00:06:07.942 but the people who take the time to get to know you love you so much. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:07.942 --> 00:06:10.357 JL: Like, Ben or Eric or Carlos? SL: Yeah— NOTE Paragraph 00:06:10.357 --> 00:06:14.838 JL: Like I have better quality friends but less quantity? NOTE Paragraph 00:06:14.838 --> 00:06:17.879 SL: I wouldn't judge the quality, but I think— 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:20.547 JL: I mean, like, first it was, like, Amy loved Claudia, Then she hated Claudia. 00:06:20.547 --> 00:06:22.474 She loved Claudia, then she hated Claudia. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:22.474 --> 00:06:24.262 SL: Part of that's a girl thing, honey. 00:06:24.262 --> 00:06:27.884 The important thing for you is that you have a few very good friends, 00:06:27.884 --> 00:06:30.160 and really that's what you need in life. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:34.409 JL: Did I turn out to be the son you wanted when I was born? 00:06:34.409 --> 00:06:37.311 Did I meet your expectations? NOTE Paragraph 00:06:37.311 --> 00:06:40.074 SL: You've exceeded my expectations, sweetie, 00:06:40.074 --> 00:06:44.834 because sure you have these fantasies of what your child's going to be like, 00:06:44.834 --> 00:06:49.257 but you have made me grow so much as a parent, because you think— NOTE Paragraph 00:06:49.257 --> 00:06:51.068 JL: Well, I was the one who made you a parent. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:51.068 --> 00:06:53.645 SL: You were the one who made me a parent. That's a good point. 00:06:53.645 --> 00:06:55.619 But also because you think differently 00:06:55.619 --> 00:06:59.102 from what they tell you in the parenting books, 00:06:59.102 --> 00:07:02.562 I really had to learn to think outside of the box with you, 00:07:02.562 --> 00:07:07.368 and it's made me much more creative as a parent and as a person, 00:07:07.368 --> 00:07:09.086 and I'll always thank you for that. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:09.086 --> 00:07:10.386 JL: And that helped when Amy was born? NOTE Paragraph 00:07:10.386 --> 00:07:15.170 SL: And that helped when Amy was born, but you are just so incredibly special to me 00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:19.163 and I'm so lucky to have you as my son. 00:07:19.163 --> 00:07:27.220 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:27.220 --> 00:07:29.287 David Isay: After this story ran on public radio, 00:07:29.287 --> 00:07:31.051 Josh received hundreds of letters 00:07:31.051 --> 00:07:33.373 telling him what an amazing kid he was. 00:07:33.373 --> 00:07:35.602 His mom, Sarah, bound them together in a book, 00:07:35.602 --> 00:07:39.828 and when Josh got picked on at school, they would read the letters together. 00:07:39.828 --> 00:07:41.825 I just want to acknowledge that two of my heroes 00:07:41.825 --> 00:07:43.218 are here with us tonight. 00:07:43.218 --> 00:07:46.724 Sarah Littman and her son Josh, who is now an honors student in college. 00:07:51.559 --> 00:07:51.809 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:52.356 --> 00:07:55.688 You know, a lot of people talk about crying when they hear StoryCorps stories, 00:07:55.688 --> 00:07:57.638 and it's not because they're sad. 00:07:57.638 --> 00:07:58.962 Most of them aren't. 00:07:58.962 --> 00:08:02.015 I think it's because you're hearing something authentic and pure 00:08:02.015 --> 00:08:04.406 at this moment, when sometimes it's hard to tell 00:08:04.406 --> 00:08:07.402 what's real and what's an advertisement. 00:08:07.402 --> 00:08:09.793 It's kind of the anti-reality TV. 00:08:09.793 --> 00:08:11.906 Nobody comes to StoryCorps to get rich. 00:08:11.906 --> 00:08:13.787 Nobody comes to get famous. 00:08:13.787 --> 00:08:16.991 It's simply an act of generosity and love. 00:08:16.991 --> 00:08:19.243 So many of these are just everyday people 00:08:19.243 --> 00:08:24.375 talking about lives lived with kindness, courage, decency, and dignity, 00:08:24.375 --> 00:08:26.372 and when you hear that kind of story, 00:08:26.372 --> 00:08:31.085 it can sometimes feel like you're walking on holy ground. 00:08:31.085 --> 00:08:33.430 So this experiment in Grand Central worked, NOTE Paragraph 00:08:33.430 --> 00:08:33.680 and we expanded it across the country. 00:08:35.798 --> 00:08:38.863 Today, more than 100,000 people in all 50 states 00:08:38.863 --> 00:08:41.719 in thousands of cities and towns across America 00:08:41.719 --> 00:08:44.064 have recorded StoryCorps interviews. 00:08:44.064 --> 00:08:48.987 It's now the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered. 00:08:48.987 --> 00:08:54.815 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:54.815 --> 00:08:57.253 We've hired and trained hundreds of facilitators 00:08:57.253 --> 00:08:59.969 to help guide people through the experience. 00:08:59.969 --> 00:09:02.384 Most serve a year or two with StoryCorps 00:09:02.384 --> 00:09:05.821 traveling the country, gathering the wisdom of humanity. 00:09:05.821 --> 00:09:07.980 They call it bearing witness, 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:09.385 and if you ask them, 00:09:09.385 --> 00:09:12.659 all of the facilitators will tell you that the most important thing 00:09:12.659 --> 00:09:15.527 they've learned from being present during these interviews 00:09:15.527 --> 00:09:18.963 is that people are basically good. 00:09:18.963 --> 00:09:21.471 And I think for the first years of StoryCorps, you could argue 00:09:21.471 --> 00:09:24.257 that there was some kind of a selection bias happening, 00:09:24.257 --> 00:09:26.463 but after tens of thousands of interviews with every kind of person 00:09:26.463 --> 00:09:29.482 in every part of the country 00:09:29.482 --> 00:09:32.918 -- rich, poor, five years old to 105, 00:09:32.918 --> 00:09:35.983 80 different languages, across the political spectrum -- 00:09:35.983 --> 00:09:41.277 you have to think that maybe these guys are actually on to something. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:41.277 --> 00:09:44.568 I've also learned so much from these interviews. 00:09:44.568 --> 00:09:47.772 I've learned about the poetry and the wisdom and the grace 00:09:47.772 --> 00:09:50.512 that can be found in the words of people all around us 00:09:50.512 --> 00:09:53.809 when we simply take the time to listen, 00:09:53.809 --> 00:09:55.922 like this interview 00:09:55.922 --> 00:10:00.380 between a betting clerk in Brooklyn named Danny Perasa 00:10:00.380 --> 00:10:03.027 who brought his wife Annie to StoryCorps 00:10:03.027 --> 00:10:05.512 to talk about his love for her. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:05.512 --> 00:10:08.414 (Audio) Danny Perasa: You see, the thing of it is, 00:10:08.414 --> 00:10:10.260 I always feel guilty when I say "I love you" to you. 00:10:10.968 --> 00:10:14.358 And I say it so often. I say it to remind you 00:10:14.358 --> 00:10:17.214 that don't be as I am, it's coming from me. 00:10:17.214 --> 00:10:21.208 It's like hearing a beautiful song from a busted old radio, 00:10:21.208 --> 00:10:23.855 and it's nice of you to keep the radio around the house. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:23.855 --> 00:10:26.061 Annie Perasa: If I don't have a note on the kitchen table, 00:10:26.061 --> 00:10:27.268 I think there's something wrong. 00:10:27.268 --> 00:10:28.552 You write a love letter to me every morning. 00:10:28.552 --> 00:10:30.061 DP: Well, the only thing that could possibly be wrong 00:10:30.061 --> 00:10:32.104 is I couldn't find a silly pen. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:32.104 --> 00:10:33.451 AP: To my princess: 00:10:33.451 --> 00:10:36.818 the weather outside today is extremely rainy. 00:10:36.818 --> 00:10:39.001 I'll call you at 11:20 in the morning. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:39.001 --> 00:10:40.487 DP: It's a romantic weather report. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:40.487 --> 00:10:43.737 AP: And I love you. I love you. I love you. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:43.737 --> 00:10:46.686 DP: When a guy is happily married, no matter what happens at work, 00:10:46.686 --> 00:10:48.753 no matter what happens in the rest of the day, 00:10:48.753 --> 00:10:50.424 there's a shelter when you get home, 00:10:50.424 --> 00:10:52.607 there's a knowledge knowing that you can hug somebody 00:10:52.607 --> 00:10:55.834 without them throwing you downstairs and saying, "Get your hands off me." 00:10:55.834 --> 00:10:59.271 Being married is like having a color television set. 00:10:59.271 --> 00:11:01.128 You never want to go back to black and white. 00:11:01.128 --> 00:11:04.820 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:04.820 --> 00:11:06.956 DI: Danny was about five feet tall 00:11:06.956 --> 00:11:10.369 with crossed eyes and one single snaggled tooth, 00:11:10.369 --> 00:11:14.061 but Danny Perasa had more romance in his little pinky 00:11:14.061 --> 00:11:17.474 than all of Hollywood's leading men put together. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:17.474 --> 00:11:19.077 What else have I learned? 00:11:19.077 --> 00:11:21.979 I've learned about the almost unimaginable capacity 00:11:21.979 --> 00:11:24.162 for the human spirit to forgive. 00:11:24.162 --> 00:11:27.807 I've learned about resilience and I've learned about strength. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:27.807 --> 00:11:31.150 Like an interview with Oshea Israel and Mary Johnson. 00:11:31.150 --> 00:11:35.701 When Oshea was a teenager, he murdered Mary's only son, 00:11:35.701 --> 00:11:38.186 Laramiun Byrd, in a gang fight. 00:11:38.186 --> 00:11:40.786 A dozen years later, Mary went to prison 00:11:40.786 --> 00:11:43.526 to meet Oshea and find out who this person was 00:11:43.526 --> 00:11:46.475 who had taken her son's life. 00:11:46.475 --> 00:11:49.261 Slowly and remarkably, they became friends, 00:11:49.261 --> 00:11:51.955 and when he was finally released from the penitentiary, 00:11:51.955 --> 00:11:55.321 Oshea actually moved in next door to Mary. 00:11:55.321 --> 00:11:58.526 This is just a short excerpt of a conversation they had 00:11:58.526 --> 00:12:02.079 soon after Oshea was freed. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:02.079 --> 00:12:05.051 (Video) Mary Johnson: My natural son is no longer here. 00:12:05.051 --> 00:12:08.835 I didn't see him graduate, and now you're going to college. 00:12:08.835 --> 00:12:12.132 I'll have an opportunity to see you graduate. 00:12:12.132 --> 00:12:14.593 I didn't see him get married. 00:12:14.593 --> 00:12:18.912 Hopefully one day, I'll be able to experience that with you. 00:12:18.912 --> 00:12:21.489 Oshea Israel: Just to hear you say those things and to be 00:12:21.489 --> 00:12:23.579 in my life in the manner in which you are is my motivation. 00:12:23.579 --> 00:12:29.036 It motivates me to make sure that I stay on the right path. 00:12:29.036 --> 00:12:31.543 You still believe in me, 00:12:31.543 --> 00:12:35.119 and the fact that you can do it despite how much pain I caused you, 00:12:35.119 --> 00:12:37.209 it's amazing. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:37.209 --> 00:12:43.106 MJ: I know it's not an easy thing to be able to share our story together, 00:12:43.106 --> 00:12:45.869 even with us sitting here looking at each other right now. 00:12:45.869 --> 00:12:48.214 I know it's not an easy thing, 00:12:48.214 --> 00:12:51.976 so I admire that you can do this. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:51.976 --> 00:12:56.666 OI: I love you, lady. MJ: I love you too, son. 00:12:56.666 --> 00:13:06.372 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:13:06.372 --> 00:13:11.526 DI: And I've been reminded countless times of the courage and goodness of people, 00:13:11.526 --> 00:13:16.588 and how the arc of history truly does bend towards justice. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:16.588 --> 00:13:21.069 Like the story of Alexis Martinez, who was born Arthur Martinez 00:13:21.069 --> 00:13:23.693 in the Harold Ickes projects in Chicago. 00:13:23.693 --> 00:13:26.526 In the interview, she talks with her daughter Lesley 00:13:26.526 --> 00:13:28.894 about joining a gang as a young man, 00:13:28.894 --> 00:13:33.724 and later in life transitioning into the woman she was always meant to be. 00:13:33.724 --> 00:13:37.323 This is Alexis and her daughter Lesley. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:37.323 --> 00:13:39.482 (Audio) Alexis Martinez: One of the most difficult things for me was 00:13:39.482 --> 00:13:42.408 I was always afraid that I wouldn't be allowed 00:13:42.408 --> 00:13:45.287 to be in my granddaughter's lives, 00:13:45.287 --> 00:13:47.585 and you blew that completely out of the water, 00:13:47.585 --> 00:13:48.909 you and your husband. 00:13:48.909 --> 00:13:52.369 One of the fruits of that is my relationship with my granddaughters. 00:13:52.369 --> 00:13:56.316 They fight with each other sometimes over whether I'm he or she. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:56.316 --> 00:13:58.313 Lesley Martinez: But they're free to talk about it. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:58.313 --> 00:14:00.309 AM: They're free to talk about it, but that, to me, is a miracle. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:04.791 LM: You don't have to apologize. You don't have to tiptoe. 00:14:04.791 --> 00:14:07.322 We're not going to cut you off, and that's something I've always 00:14:07.322 --> 00:14:12.337 wanted to just know, that you're loved. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:12.337 --> 00:14:14.682 AM: You know, I live this every day now. 00:14:14.682 --> 00:14:17.097 I walk down the streets as a woman, 00:14:17.097 --> 00:14:19.976 and I really am at peace with who I am. 00:14:19.976 --> 00:14:22.460 I mean, I wish I had a softer voice maybe, 00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:31.562 but now I walk in love and I try to live that way every day. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:31.562 --> 00:14:34.906 DI: Now I walk in love. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:34.906 --> 00:14:37.808 I'm going to tell you a secret about StoryCorps. 00:14:37.808 --> 00:14:41.193 It takes some courage to have these conversations. 00:14:41.193 --> 00:14:43.584 StoryCorps speaks to our mortality. 00:14:43.584 --> 00:14:47.601 Participants know this recording will be heard long after they're gone. 00:14:47.601 --> 00:14:50.805 There's a hospice doctor named Ira Byock 00:14:50.805 --> 00:14:52.849 who has worked closely with us on recording interviews 00:14:52.849 --> 00:14:54.706 with people who are dying. 00:14:54.706 --> 00:14:57.051 He wrote a book called "The Four Things That Matter Most" 00:14:57.051 --> 00:15:00.302 about the four things you want to say to the most important people in your life 00:15:00.302 --> 00:15:03.924 before they or you die: 00:15:03.924 --> 00:15:06.455 thank you, I love you, 00:15:06.455 --> 00:15:09.682 forgive me, I forgive you. 00:15:09.682 --> 00:15:13.212 They're just about the most powerful words we can to one another, 00:15:13.212 --> 00:15:16.718 and often that's what happens in a StoryCorps booth. 00:15:16.718 --> 00:15:20.015 It's a chance to have a sense of closure with someone you care about, 00:15:20.015 --> 00:15:22.917 no regrets, nothing left unsaid, 00:15:22.917 --> 00:15:26.354 and it's hard and it takes courage, 00:15:26.354 --> 00:15:31.299 but that's why we're alive, right? NOTE Paragraph 00:15:31.299 --> 00:15:34.202 So, the TED Prize. 00:15:34.202 --> 00:15:36.779 When I first heard from TED and Chris a few months ago 00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:38.613 about the possibility of the prize, 00:15:38.613 --> 00:15:40.865 I was completely floored. 00:15:40.865 --> 00:15:44.186 They asked me to come up with a very brief wish for humanity, 00:15:44.186 --> 00:15:45.950 no more than 50 words. 00:15:45.950 --> 00:15:47.924 So I thought about it, I wrote my 50 words, 00:15:47.924 --> 00:15:52.011 and a few weeks later, Chris called and said, "Go for it." NOTE Paragraph 00:15:52.011 --> 00:15:56.329 So here is my wish: 00:15:56.329 --> 00:15:59.278 that you will help us 00:15:59.278 --> 00:16:02.018 take everything we've learned through StoryCorps 00:16:02.018 --> 00:16:04.781 and bring it to the world 00:16:04.781 --> 00:16:08.798 so that anyone anywhere can easily record a meaningful interview 00:16:08.798 --> 00:16:10.415 with another human being 00:16:10.415 --> 00:16:13.897 which will then be archived for history. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:13.897 --> 00:16:18.913 How are we going to do that? With this. 00:16:18.913 --> 00:16:22.071 We're fast moving into a future where everyone in the world 00:16:22.071 --> 00:16:24.114 will have access to one of these, 00:16:24.114 --> 00:16:27.945 and it has powers I never could have imagined 11 years ago 00:16:27.945 --> 00:16:29.895 when I started StoryCorps. 00:16:29.895 --> 00:16:31.358 It has a microphone, 00:16:31.358 --> 00:16:33.669 it can tell you how to do things, 00:16:33.669 --> 00:16:36.200 and I can send audio files. 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:38.522 Those are the key ingredients. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:38.522 --> 00:16:41.726 So the first part of the wish is already underway. 00:16:41.726 --> 00:16:43.305 Over the past couple of months, 00:16:43.305 --> 00:16:46.300 the team at StoryCorps has been working furiously 00:16:46.300 --> 00:16:49.760 to create an app that will bring StoryCorps out of our booths 00:16:49.760 --> 00:16:55.193 so that it can be experienced by anyone, anywhere, anytime. 00:16:55.193 --> 00:16:58.874 Remember, StoryCorps has always been two people and a facilitator 00:16:58.874 --> 00:17:01.149 helping them record their conversation, 00:17:01.149 --> 00:17:03.239 which is preserved forever, 00:17:03.239 --> 00:17:04.887 but at this very moment, 00:17:04.887 --> 00:17:08.533 we're releasing a public beta version of the StoryCorps app. 00:17:08.533 --> 00:17:11.110 The app is a digital facilitator that walks you through 00:17:11.110 --> 00:17:14.105 the StoryCorps interview process, 00:17:14.105 --> 00:17:15.777 helps you pick questions, 00:17:15.777 --> 00:17:17.867 and gives you all the tips you need 00:17:17.867 --> 00:17:20.676 to record a meaningful StoryCorps interview, 00:17:20.676 --> 00:17:23.857 and then with one tap upload it to our archive 00:17:23.857 --> 00:17:26.458 at the Library of Congress. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:26.458 --> 00:17:29.337 That's the easy part, the technology. 00:17:29.337 --> 00:17:31.715 The real challenge is up to you: 00:17:31.715 --> 00:17:34.913 to take this tool and figure out how we can use it 00:17:34.913 --> 00:17:37.908 all across America and around the world, 00:17:37.908 --> 00:17:41.182 so that instead of recording thousands of StoryCorps interviews a year, 00:17:41.182 --> 00:17:45.942 we could potentially record tens of thousands 00:17:45.942 --> 00:17:48.148 or hundreds of thousands 00:17:48.148 --> 00:17:49.355 or maybe even more. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:49.355 --> 00:17:53.093 Imagine, for example, a national homework assignment 00:17:53.093 --> 00:17:57.087 where every high school student studying U.S. history across the country 00:17:57.087 --> 00:17:59.989 records an interview with an elder over Thanksgiving, 00:17:59.989 --> 00:18:02.892 so that in one single weekend 00:18:02.892 --> 00:18:07.977 an entire generation of American lives and experiences are captured. 00:18:07.977 --> 00:18:14.292 (Applause) 00:18:14.292 --> 00:18:19.354 Or imagine mothers on opposite sides of conflict somewhere in the world 00:18:19.354 --> 00:18:22.976 sitting down not to talk about that conflict 00:18:22.976 --> 00:18:25.173 but to find out who they are as people, 00:18:25.173 --> 00:18:26.288 and in doing so, begin to build bonds of trust; 00:18:26.288 --> 00:18:32.014 or that someday it becomes a tradition all over the world 00:18:32.014 --> 00:18:34.522 that people are honored with a StoryCorps interview 00:18:34.522 --> 00:18:36.765 on their 75th birthday; 00:18:36.765 --> 00:18:39.041 or that people in your community 00:18:39.041 --> 00:18:44.195 go into retirement homes or hospitals or homeless shelters or even prisons 00:18:44.195 --> 00:18:47.725 armed with this app to honor the people least heard in our society 00:18:47.725 --> 00:18:50.711 and ask them who they are, what they've learned in life, 00:18:50.711 --> 00:18:53.172 and how they want to be remembered. 00:18:53.172 --> 00:19:01.067 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:19:01.067 --> 00:19:04.224 Ten years ago, I recorded a StoryCorps interview with my dad 00:19:04.224 --> 00:19:09.019 who was a psychiatrist, then became a well known gay activist. 00:19:09.019 --> 00:19:12.456 This is the picture of us at that interview. 00:19:12.456 --> 00:19:15.637 I never thought about that recording until a couple of years ago, 00:19:15.637 --> 00:19:18.632 when my dad, who seemed to be in perfect health 00:19:18.632 --> 00:19:21.233 and was still seeing patients 40 hours a week, 00:19:21.233 --> 00:19:23.996 was diagnosed with cancer. 00:19:23.996 --> 00:19:27.386 He passed away very suddenly a few days later. 00:19:27.386 --> 00:19:29.661 It was June 28, 2012, 00:19:29.661 --> 00:19:34.041 the anniversary of the Stonewall riots. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:34.041 --> 00:19:37.268 I listened to that interview for the first time at three in the morning 00:19:37.268 --> 00:19:39.126 on the day that he died. 00:19:39.126 --> 00:19:41.123 I have a couple of young kids at home, 00:19:41.123 --> 00:19:44.582 and I knew that they only way they were going to get to know this person 00:19:44.582 --> 00:19:47.461 who was such a towering figure in my life 00:19:47.461 --> 00:19:49.598 would be through that session. 00:19:49.598 --> 00:19:53.173 I thought I couldn't believe in StoryCorps any more deeply than I did, 00:19:53.173 --> 00:19:54.961 but it was at that moment 00:19:54.961 --> 00:19:57.910 that I fully and viscerally grasped the importance of making these recordings. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:57.910 --> 00:20:02.623 Every day, people come up to me and say, "I wish I had interviewed 00:20:02.623 --> 00:20:05.154 my father or my grandmother or my brother, 00:20:05.154 --> 00:20:08.382 but I waited too long. 00:20:08.382 --> 00:20:11.168 Now, no one has to wait anymore. 00:20:11.168 --> 00:20:12.468 At this moment, 00:20:12.468 --> 00:20:16.230 when so much of how we communicate is fleeting and inconsequential, 00:20:16.230 --> 00:20:20.897 join us in creating this digital archive of conversations that are enduring 00:20:20.897 --> 00:20:22.894 and important. 00:20:22.894 --> 00:20:25.564 Help us create this gift to our children, 00:20:25.564 --> 00:20:29.952 this testament to who we are as human beings. 00:20:29.952 --> 00:20:33.528 I hope you'll help us make this wish come true. 00:20:33.528 --> 00:20:35.989 Interview a family member, a friend, 00:20:35.989 --> 00:20:38.079 or even a stranger. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:44.069 Together, we can create an archive of the wisdom of humanity, 00:20:44.069 --> 00:20:46.043 and maybe in doing so, 00:20:46.043 --> 00:20:49.665 we'll learn to listen a little more and shout a little less. 00:20:49.665 --> 00:20:54.193 Maybe these conversations will remind us what's really important. 00:20:54.193 --> 00:20:56.956 And maybe, just maybe, 00:20:56.956 --> 00:20:59.742 it will help us recognize that simple truth 00:20:59.742 --> 00:21:03.689 that every life, every single life, 00:21:03.689 --> 00:21:06.894 matters equally and infinitely. 00:21:06.894 --> 00:21:11.375 Thank you very much. 00:21:11.375 --> 00:21:12.605 (Applause) 00:21:12.605 --> 00:21:15.113 Thank you. Thank you. 00:21:15.113 --> 00:21:17.389 (Applause) 00:21:17.389 --> 00:21:19.571 Thank you. 00:21:19.571 --> 00:21:24.935 (Applause)