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Tonight, I'm going to try to make the case

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that inviting a loved one, a friend
or even a stranger

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to record a meaningful interview with you

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just might turn out to be one of the most 
important moments in that person's life,

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and in yours.

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When I was 22 years old,
I was lucky enough to find my calling

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when I fell into making radio stories.

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At almost the exact same time,

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I found out that my dad,
who I was very, very close to, was gay.

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I was taken completely by surprise.

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We were a very tight-knit family,

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and I was crushed.

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At some point, in one
of our strained conversations,

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my dad mentioned the Stonewall riots.

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He told me that one night in 1969,

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a group of young black
and Latino drag queens

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fought back against the police
at a gay bar in Manhattan

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called the Stonewall Inn,

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and how this sparked
the modern gay rights movement.

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It was an amazing story,
and it piqued my interest.

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So I decided to pick up my tape 
recorder and find out more.

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With the help of a young archivist
named Michael Shirker,

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we tracked down all
of the people we could find

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who had been at
the Stonewall Inn that night.

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Recording these interviews,

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I saw how the microphone
gave me the license

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to go places I otherwise
never would have gone

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and talk to people I might not
otherwise ever have spoken to.

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I had the privilege of getting to know

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some of the most amazing,
fierce and courageous human beings

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I had ever met.

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It was the first time
the story of Stonewall

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had been told to a national audience.

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I dedicated the program to my dad,

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it changed my relationship with him,
and it changed my life.

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Over the next 15 years,
I made many more radio documentaries,

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working to shine a light on people
who are rarely heard from in the media.

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Over and over again,

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I'd see how this simple act
of being interviewed

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could mean so much to people,

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particularly those who had been told
that their stories didn't matter.

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I could literally see
people's back straighten

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as they started to speak
into the microphone.

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In 1998, I made a documentary
about the last flophouse hotels

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on the Bowery in Manhattan.

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Guys stayed up in these
cheap hotels for decades.

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They lived in cubicles
the size of prison cells

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covered with chicken wire

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so you couldn't jump
from one room into the next.

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Later, I wrote a book on the men
with the photographer Harvey Wang.

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I remember walking into a flophouse
with an early version of the book

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and showing one of the guys his page.

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He stood there staring at it in silence,

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then he grabbed the book out of my hand

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and started running down
the long, narrow hallway

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holding it over his head

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shouting, "I exist! I exist."

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(Applause)

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In many ways, "I exist" became
the clarion call for StoryCorps,

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this crazy idea that I had
a dozen years ago.

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The thought was to take
documentary work

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and turn it on its head.

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Traditionally, broadcast documentary

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has been about recording interviews
to create a work of art or entertainment

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or education that is seen or heard
by a whole lot of people,

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but I wanted to try something

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where the interview itself
was the purpose of this work,

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and see if we could give many,
many, many people the chance

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to be listened to in this way.

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So in Grand Central Terminal 11 years ago,

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we built a booth where anyone 
can come to honor someone else

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by interviewing them about their life.

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You come to this booth and you're met
by a facilitator who brings you inside.

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You sit across from, say, your grandfather

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for close to an hour
and you listen and you talk.

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Many people think of it as,
if this was to be our last conversation,

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what would I want to ask of
and say to this person

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who means so much to me?

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At the end of the session,
you walk away with a copy of the interview

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and another copy goes
to the American Folklife Center

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at the Library of Congress

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so that your great-great-great-grandkids
can someday get to know your grandfather

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through his voice and story.

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So we open this booth
in one of the busiest places in the world

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and invite people to have this
incredibly intimate conversation

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with another human being.

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I had no idea if it would work,
but from the very beginning, it did.

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People treated the experience
with incredible respect,

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and amazing conversations happened inside.

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I want to play just one animated excerpt

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from an interview recorded
at that original Grand Central Booth.

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This is 12-year-old Joshua Littman
interviewing his mother, Sarah.

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Josh has Asperger's syndrome.

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As you may know, kids with Asperger's
are incredibly smart

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but have a tough time socially.

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They usually have obsessions.

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In Josh's case, it's with animals,

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so this is Josh talking with his mom Sarah

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at Grand Central nine years ago.

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(Video) Josh Littman:
From a scale of one to 10,

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do you think your life would be
different without animals?

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Sarah Littman: I think it would be
an eight without animals,

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because they add so much pleasure to life.

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JL: How else do you think your life
would be different without them?

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SL: I could do without things
like cockroaches and snakes.

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JL: Well, I'm okay with snakes
as long as they're not venomous

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or constrict you or anything.

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SL: Yeah, I'm not a big snake person --

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JL: But cockroach is just
the insect we love to hate.

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SL: Yeah, it really is.

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JL: Have you ever thought
you couldn't cope with having a child?

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SL: I remember when you were a baby,
you had really bad colic,

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so you would just cry and cry.

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JL: What's colic?
SL: It's when you get this stomach ache

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and all you do is scream
for, like, four hours.

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JL: Even louder than Amy does?

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SL: You were pretty loud,
but Amy's was more high-pitched.

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JL: I think it feels like everyone
seems to like Amy more,

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like she's the perfect little angel.

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SL: Well, I can understand
why you think that people like Amy more,

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and I'm not saying it's because
of your Asperger's syndrome,

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but being friendly comes easily to Amy,

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whereas I think for you
it's more difficult,

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but the people who take the time
to get to know you love you so much.

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JL: Like Ben or Eric or Carlos?
SL: Yeah --

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JL: Like I have better quality friends
but less quantity? (Laughter)

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SL: I wouldn't judge
the quality, but I think --

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JL: I mean, first it was like, Amy
loved Claudia, then she hated Claudia,

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she loved Claudia, then she hated Claudia.

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SL: Part of that's a girl thing, honey.

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The important thing for you
is that you have a few very good friends,

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and really that's what you need in life.

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JL: Did I turn out to be the son
you wanted when I was born?

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Did I meet your expectations?

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SL: You've exceeded
my expectations, sweetie,

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because, sure, you have these fantasies
of what your child's going to be like,

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but you have made me grow
so much as a parent, because you think --

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JL: Well, I was the one
who made you a parent.

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SL: You were the one who made me a parent.
That's a good point. (Laughter)

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But also because you think differently

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from what they tell you
in the parenting books,

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I really had to learn to think
outside of the box with you,

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and it's made me much more creative
as a parent and as a person,

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and I'll always thank you for that.

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JL: And that helped when Amy was born?

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SL: And that helped when Amy was born,
but you are so incredibly special to me

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and I'm so lucky to have you as my son.

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(Applause)

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David Isay: After this story
ran on public radio,

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Josh received hundreds of letters

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telling him what an amazing kid he was.

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His mom, Sarah, bound them
together in a book,

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and when Josh got picked on at school,
they would read the letters together.

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I just want to acknowledge
that two of my heroes

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are here with us tonight.

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Sarah Littman and her son Josh,
who is now an honors student in college.

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(Applause)

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You know, a lot of people talk about
crying when they hear StoryCorps stories,

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and it's not because they're sad.

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Most of them aren't.

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I think it's because you're hearing
something authentic and pure

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at this moment,
when sometimes it's hard to tell

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what's real and what's an advertisement.

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It's kind of the anti-reality TV.

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Nobody comes to StoryCorps to get rich.

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Nobody comes to get famous.

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It's simply an act of generosity and love.

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So many of these are just everyday people

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talking about lives lived with kindness,
courage, decency and dignity,

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and when you hear that kind of story,

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it can sometimes feel
like you're walking on holy ground.

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So this experiment 
in Grand Central worked,

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and we expanded across the country.

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Today, more than 100,000 people
in all 50 states

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in thousands of cities
and towns across America

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have recorded StoryCorps interviews.

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It's now the largest single collection
of human voices ever gathered.

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(Applause)

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We've hired and trained
hundreds of facilitators

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to help guide people
through the experience.

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Most serve a year or two with StoryCorps

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traveling the country,
gathering the wisdom of humanity.

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They call it bearing witness,

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and if you ask them,

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all of the facilitators will tell you
that the most important thing

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they've learned from being present
during these interviews

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is that people are basically good.

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And I think for the first years
of StoryCorps, you could argue

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that there was some kind
of a selection bias happening,

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but after tens of thousands of interviews
with every kind of person

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in every part of the country --

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rich, poor, five years old to 105,

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80 different languages,
across the political spectrum --

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you have to think that maybe these guys
are actually onto something.

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I've also learned so much
from these interviews.

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I've learned about the poetry
and the wisdom and the grace

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that can be found in the words
of people all around us

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when we simply take the time to listen,

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like this interview

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between a betting clerk in Brooklyn
named Danny Perasa

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who brought his wife Annie to StoryCorps
to talk about his love for her.

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(Audio) Danny Perasa: You see,
the thing of it is,

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I always feel guilty when I say
"I love you" to you.

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And I say it so often.
I say it to remind you

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that as dumpy as I am,
it's coming from me.

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It's like hearing a beautiful song
from a busted old radio,

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and it's nice of you to keep
the radio around the house.

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Annie Perasa: If I don't have a note
on the kitchen table,

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I think there's something wrong.

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You write a love letter
to me every morning.

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DP: Well, the only thing
that could possibly be wrong

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is I couldn't find a silly pen.

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AP: To my princess:

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The weather outside today
is extremely rainy.

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I'll call you at 11:20 in the morning.

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DP: It's a romantic weather report.

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AP: And I love you.
I love you. I love you.

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DP: When a guy is happily married,
no matter what happens at work,

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no matter what happens
in the rest of the day,

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there's a shelter when you get home,

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there's a knowledge knowing
that you can hug somebody

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without them throwing you downstairs
and saying, "Get your hands off me."

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Being married is like having
a color television set.

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You never want to go back
to black and white.

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(Laughter)

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DI: Danny was about five feet tall

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with crossed eyes
and one single snaggletooth,

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but Danny Perasa had
more romance in his little pinky

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than all of Hollywood's
leading men put together.

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What else have I learned?

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I've learned about the almost
unimaginable capacity

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for the human spirit to forgive.

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I've learned about resilience
and I've learned about strength.

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Like an interview with Oshea Israel
and Mary Johnson.

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When Oshea was a teenager,
he murdered Mary's only son,

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Laramiun Byrd, in a gang fight.

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A dozen years later, Mary went to prison

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00:11:40,786 --> 00:11:43,526
to meet Oshea and find out
who this person was

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who had taken her son's life.

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Slowly and remarkably,
they became friends,

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and when he was finally released
from the penitentiary,

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Oshea actually moved in next door to Mary.

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This is just a short excerpt
of a conversation they had

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soon after Oshea was freed.

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(Video) Mary Johnson: My natural son
is no longer here.

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I didn't see him graduate,
and now you're going to college.

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I'll have the opportunity
to see you graduate.

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I didn't see him get married.

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Hopefully one day, I'll be able
to experience that with you.

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Oshea Israel: Just to hear you
say those things and to be

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in my life in the manner
in which you are is my motivation.

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It motivates me to make sure
that I stay on the right path.

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You still believe in me,

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and the fact that you can do it
despite how much pain I caused you,

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it's amazing.

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MJ: I know it's not an easy thing
to be able to share our story together,

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even with us sitting here
looking at each other right now.

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I know it's not an easy thing,
so I admire that you can do this.

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OI: I love you, lady.
MJ: I love you too, son.

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00:13:00,156 --> 00:13:06,372
(Applause)

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DI: And I've been reminded countless times
of the courage and goodness of people,

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and how the arc of history
truly does bend towards justice.

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Like the story of Alexis Martinez,
who was born Arthur Martinez

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00:13:21,069 --> 00:13:23,693
in the Harold Ickes projects in Chicago.

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In the interview, she talks
with her daughter Lesley

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00:13:26,526 --> 00:13:28,894
about joining a gang as a young man,

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00:13:28,894 --> 00:13:33,724
and later in life transitioning
into the woman she was always meant to be.

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00:13:33,724 --> 00:13:36,223
This is Alexis and her daughter Lesley.

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(Audio) Alexis Martinez: One of the most
difficult things for me was

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I was always afraid that
I wouldn't be allowed

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to be in my granddaughters' lives,

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and you blew that completely
out of the water,

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you and your husband.

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One of the fruits of that is,
in my relationship with my granddaughters,

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00:13:52,369 --> 00:13:55,946
they fight with each other sometimes
over whether I'm he or she.

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00:13:55,946 --> 00:13:58,433
Lesley Martinez: But they're free
to talk about it.

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00:13:58,433 --> 00:14:01,489
AM: They're free to talk about it,
but that, to me, is a miracle.

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00:14:01,489 --> 00:14:04,791
LM: You don't have to apologize.
You don't have to tiptoe.

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00:14:04,791 --> 00:14:09,372
We're not going to cut you off,
and that's something I've always

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00:14:09,372 --> 00:14:12,337
wanted you to just know,
that you're loved.

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00:14:12,337 --> 00:14:14,682
AM: You know, I live this every day now.

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00:14:14,682 --> 00:14:19,806
I walk down the streets as a woman,
and I really am at peace with who I am.

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00:14:19,806 --> 00:14:22,460
I mean, I wish I had a softer voice maybe,

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00:14:22,460 --> 00:14:28,332
but now I walk in love
and I try to live that way every day.

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00:14:31,562 --> 00:14:34,906
DI: Now I walk in love.

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00:14:34,906 --> 00:14:37,808
I'm going to tell you
a secret about StoryCorps.

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00:14:37,808 --> 00:14:41,193
It takes some courage
to have these conversations.

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00:14:41,193 --> 00:14:43,584
StoryCorps speaks to our mortality.

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00:14:43,584 --> 00:14:47,601
Participants know this recording
will be heard long after they're gone.

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00:14:47,601 --> 00:14:50,285
There's a hospice doctor named Ira Byock

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00:14:50,285 --> 00:14:52,829
who has worked closely with us
on recording interviews

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00:14:52,829 --> 00:14:54,286
with people who are dying.

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00:14:54,286 --> 00:14:57,051
He wrote a book called
"The Four Things That Matter Most"

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about the four things you want to say
to the most important people in your life

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before they or you die:

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00:15:03,924 --> 00:15:06,455
thank you, I love you,

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00:15:06,455 --> 00:15:09,682
forgive me, I forgive you.

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00:15:09,682 --> 00:15:13,212
They're just about the most powerful words
we can say to one another,

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00:15:13,212 --> 00:15:16,718
and often that's what happens
in a StoryCorps booth.

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00:15:16,718 --> 00:15:20,095
It's a chance to have a sense of closure
with someone you care about --

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00:15:20,095 --> 00:15:22,917
no regrets, nothing left unsaid.

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00:15:22,917 --> 00:15:26,354
And it's hard and it takes courage,

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00:15:26,354 --> 00:15:29,579
but that's why we're alive, right?

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So, the TED Prize.

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00:15:33,802 --> 00:15:36,779
When I first heard from TED
and Chris a few months ago

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00:15:36,779 --> 00:15:40,615
about the possibility of the Prize,
I was completely floored.

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00:15:40,615 --> 00:15:44,186
They asked me to come up
with a very brief wish for humanity,

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no more than 50 words.

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00:15:45,950 --> 00:15:48,694
So I thought about it,
I wrote my 50 words,

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00:15:48,694 --> 00:15:53,381
and a few weeks later,
Chris called and said, "Go for it."

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00:15:53,381 --> 00:15:56,329
So here is my wish:

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00:15:56,329 --> 00:15:59,278
that you will help us

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00:15:59,278 --> 00:16:02,018
take everything we've learned
through StoryCorps

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00:16:02,018 --> 00:16:04,781
and bring it to the world

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00:16:04,781 --> 00:16:08,798
so that anyone anywhere
can easily record a meaningful interview

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00:16:08,798 --> 00:16:13,715
with another human being
which will then be archived for history.

317
00:16:13,715 --> 00:16:18,393
How are we going to do that? With this.

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00:16:18,393 --> 00:16:22,071
We're fast moving into a future
where everyone in the world

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00:16:22,071 --> 00:16:24,114
will have access to one of these,

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00:16:24,114 --> 00:16:27,945
and it has powers I never
could have imagined 11 years ago

321
00:16:27,945 --> 00:16:29,895
when I started StoryCorps.

322
00:16:29,895 --> 00:16:31,358
It has a microphone,

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00:16:31,358 --> 00:16:33,669
it can tell you how to do things,

324
00:16:33,669 --> 00:16:36,200
and it can send audio files.

325
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,522
Those are the key ingredients.

326
00:16:38,522 --> 00:16:41,726
So the first part of the wish
is already underway.

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00:16:41,726 --> 00:16:43,305
Over the past couple of months,

328
00:16:43,305 --> 00:16:46,300
the team at StoryCorps
has been working furiously

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00:16:46,300 --> 00:16:49,760
to create an app that will bring
StoryCorps out of our booths

330
00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:55,193
so that it can be experienced
by anyone, anywhere, anytime.

331
00:16:55,193 --> 00:16:58,874
Remember, StoryCorps has always
been two people and a facilitator

332
00:16:58,874 --> 00:17:02,839
helping them record their conversation,
which is preserved forever,

333
00:17:02,839 --> 00:17:04,887
but at this very moment,

334
00:17:04,887 --> 00:17:08,533
we're releasing a public beta version
of the StoryCorps app.

335
00:17:08,533 --> 00:17:11,720
The app is a digital facilitator
that walks you through

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00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,105
the StoryCorps interview process,

337
00:17:14,105 --> 00:17:15,777
helps you pick questions,

338
00:17:15,777 --> 00:17:17,867
and gives you all the tips you need

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00:17:17,867 --> 00:17:20,676
to record a meaningful
StoryCorps interview,

340
00:17:20,676 --> 00:17:26,197
and then with one tap upload it 
to our archive at the Library of Congress.

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00:17:26,197 --> 00:17:29,337
That's the easy part, the technology.

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00:17:29,337 --> 00:17:31,715
The real challenge is up to you:

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00:17:31,715 --> 00:17:34,913
to take this tool and figure out
how we can use it

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00:17:34,913 --> 00:17:37,878
all across America and around the world,

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00:17:37,878 --> 00:17:41,462
so that instead of recording
thousands of StoryCorps interviews a year,

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00:17:41,462 --> 00:17:44,232
we could potentially record
tens of thousands

347
00:17:44,232 --> 00:17:46,188
or hundreds of thousands

348
00:17:46,188 --> 00:17:48,185
or maybe even more.

349
00:17:49,355 --> 00:17:53,093
Imagine, for example,
a national homework assignment

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00:17:53,093 --> 00:17:57,087
where every high school student
studying U.S. history across the country

351
00:17:57,087 --> 00:17:59,989
records an interview
with an elder over Thanksgiving,

352
00:17:59,989 --> 00:18:02,892
so that in one single weekend

353
00:18:02,892 --> 00:18:07,977
an entire generation of American lives
and experiences are captured.

354
00:18:07,977 --> 00:18:13,512
(Applause)

355
00:18:15,812 --> 00:18:19,354
Or imagine mothers on opposite
sides of a conflict somewhere in the world

356
00:18:19,354 --> 00:18:22,976
sitting down not to talk
about that conflict

357
00:18:22,976 --> 00:18:25,173
but to find out who they are as people,

358
00:18:25,173 --> 00:18:29,128
and in doing so,
begin to build bonds of trust;

359
00:18:29,128 --> 00:18:32,014
or that someday it becomes
a tradition all over the world

360
00:18:32,014 --> 00:18:34,522
that people are honored
with a StoryCorps interview

361
00:18:34,522 --> 00:18:36,765
on their 75th birthday;

362
00:18:36,765 --> 00:18:39,041
or that people in your community

363
00:18:39,041 --> 00:18:44,195
go into retirement homes or hospitals
or homeless shelters or even prisons

364
00:18:44,195 --> 00:18:47,725
armed with this app to honor the people
least heard in our society

365
00:18:47,725 --> 00:18:50,711
and ask them who they are,
what they've learned in life,

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00:18:50,711 --> 00:18:53,172
and how they want to be remembered.

367
00:18:53,172 --> 00:18:58,707
(Applause)

368
00:19:00,947 --> 00:19:04,224
Ten years ago, I recorded
a StoryCorps interview with my dad

369
00:19:04,224 --> 00:19:09,019
who was a psychiatrist,
and became a well-known gay activist.

370
00:19:09,019 --> 00:19:12,456
This is the picture
of us at that interview.

371
00:19:12,456 --> 00:19:15,637
I never thought about that recording
until a couple of years ago,

372
00:19:15,637 --> 00:19:18,632
when my dad, who seemed
to be in perfect health

373
00:19:18,632 --> 00:19:21,233
and was still seeing patients
40 hours a week,

374
00:19:21,233 --> 00:19:23,996
was diagnosed with cancer.

375
00:19:23,996 --> 00:19:27,386
He passed away very suddenly
a few days later.

376
00:19:27,386 --> 00:19:29,661
It was June 28, 2012,

377
00:19:29,661 --> 00:19:34,041
the anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

378
00:19:34,041 --> 00:19:37,398
I listened to that interview
for the first time at three in the morning

379
00:19:37,398 --> 00:19:39,126
on the day that he died.

380
00:19:39,126 --> 00:19:41,123
I have a couple of young kids at home,

381
00:19:41,123 --> 00:19:44,582
and I knew that the only way
they were going to get to know this person

382
00:19:44,582 --> 00:19:49,428
who was such a towering figure in my life
would be through that session.

383
00:19:49,428 --> 00:19:53,173
I thought I couldn't believe in StoryCorps
any more deeply than I did,

384
00:19:53,173 --> 00:19:54,961
but it was at that moment

385
00:19:54,961 --> 00:19:59,820
that I fully and viscerally grasped
the importance of making these recordings.

386
00:19:59,820 --> 00:20:01,913
Every day, people come up to me

387
00:20:01,913 --> 00:20:06,074
and say, "I wish I had interviewed
my father or my grandmother or my brother,

388
00:20:06,074 --> 00:20:08,342
but I waited too long."

389
00:20:08,342 --> 00:20:10,478
Now, no one has to wait anymore.

390
00:20:10,478 --> 00:20:12,158
At this moment,

391
00:20:12,158 --> 00:20:15,700
when so much of how we communicate
is fleeting and inconsequential,

392
00:20:15,700 --> 00:20:18,197
join us in creating this digital archive

393
00:20:18,197 --> 00:20:22,514
of conversations that are
enduring and important.

394
00:20:22,514 --> 00:20:25,344
Help us create this gift to our children,

395
00:20:25,344 --> 00:20:29,342
this testament to who
we are as human beings.

396
00:20:29,342 --> 00:20:33,268
I hope you'll help us make
this wish come true.

397
00:20:33,268 --> 00:20:37,779
Interview a family member, a friend
or even a stranger.

398
00:20:37,779 --> 00:20:44,069
Together, we can create an archive
of the wisdom of humanity,

399
00:20:44,069 --> 00:20:45,703
and maybe in doing so,

400
00:20:45,703 --> 00:20:49,665
we'll learn to listen a little more
and shout a little less.

401
00:20:49,665 --> 00:20:54,193
Maybe these conversations will remind us
what's really important.

402
00:20:54,193 --> 00:20:56,956
And maybe, just maybe,

403
00:20:56,956 --> 00:20:59,742
it will help us recognize
that simple truth

404
00:20:59,742 --> 00:21:03,689
that every life, every single life,

405
00:21:03,689 --> 00:21:06,624
matters equally and infinitely.

406
00:21:06,624 --> 00:21:08,755
Thank you very much.

407
00:21:08,755 --> 00:21:10,905
(Applause)

408
00:21:10,905 --> 00:21:15,113
Thank you. Thank you.

409
00:21:15,113 --> 00:21:17,389
(Applause)

410
00:21:17,389 --> 00:21:19,571
Thank you.

411
00:21:19,571 --> 00:21:24,935
(Applause)