I just heard about StoryCorps through a wonderful segment on the BBC World Service Outlook programme.

"You bring a loved one to our booth - a parent, a friend or someone you have just met on the bus whose story you want to get to know - the door shuts and for forty minutes you just talk. Most people ask the big life questions like: "What are the most important lessons you have learnt?", "How do you want to be remembered?" or "What did your grandmother sing to you when you were a child?" Then at the end of 40 minutes two CDs have been burnt, one stays with you and the second goes to us and we put it in the Library of Congress and it becomes part of the oral history of America."

Listening to the piece it reminded me of the inspiration for this project: I was talking to my friend Cynthia and she mentioned how she often asked her Grandmother for advice and inpiration; it was something I had never done and immediately regretted. 

I wrote down two phrases from Mathew Bannister's conversation with founder David Isays:

"Forty minutes to transmit wisdom from one generation to the next."

"Turn off your computer and cellphone, look a loved one in the eye and tell them how much they mean to you by listening to them."

There is a wonderful conversation between Seymour and Marcia Gottlieb in the Outlook piece and these three compilations are an introduction to the breadth and emotion of the recordings. The talk below by founder David Isay gives an overview of his career as a Radio Producer and the ideas and passion behind the StoryCorps project (apologies for posting such a long video, but I enjoyed it so much I would feel I was cheating to post anything shorter). 

Finally, if you have the chance, I throughly recommend listening to as much of the World Service as you can.

There is no obligation, but I would be delighted if you would consider posting on the Creator blog. 

In the past 4 years the range of people who contributed to the project, by sharing something and making a connection, have, on every level, made it what it is. 

To continue to share, even on the smallest scale - by drawing from individual experiences: things you've learnt; things you are learning; things you are passionate about; things you are worried about; things you have finished; things you are working on; things you are thinking of; the sort of things you would share in a discussion with friends, family or workmates  - it could be possible to create an expansive resource for current students, graduates and fellow contributors. 

Not every day, or every week, but whenever you have the impulse to share, please do. 

The connection that started when a student received your poster has the chance to continue; we can map out a small area of the transistion from student to graduate and there is also potential to break down boundries between disciplines, posts by a Designer will appear next to those by a Fine Artist.

I think we can create something really exciting.

This will be a learning process, but I'd love to hear what you think.