On July 7, NPR and StoryCorps are launching a new project to commemorate the United States' 250th anniversary.
The goal of Connect 250 is to get everyday Americans talking to each other about their lives and experiences. And to create a virtual time capsule capturing who we are at this moment in the nation's history.
StoryCorps founder David Isay talked to WXXI News about how the project will work and how listeners can participate once they register at connect250.org.
The following is a transcript of his interview with Beth Adams. It was edited lightly for clarity.
DI: "When July 7 comes along, you'll be notified that the platform is open and you will have a chance to have a conversation, a StoryCorps conversation, very easy to do, like a dating app, with someone you choose from the thousands of people who sign up. And then you have this forty-minute conversation over a protected, sort of like a Zoom platform."
BA: "Is there any hope that people, when they select their conversation partner, that they're going to choose someone who is completely different from them, maybe in, you know, where they live in the country, perhaps. I don't know how much they would know about the person at first glance, perhaps they have a different world view, different political views."
DI: "Well, I think that's the fun of this thing. And, as I said, it is kind of like a dating app. So, basically, what you know about your partner and what your partner knows about you is your first name, where you live, and then you write a bio of yourself, you know, four or five, six lines. You're going to have a list of five people who you can choose from, first name, where they live, and their bio, and if none of those appeal to you, you'll go to the next five, and the next five, and the next five, and the next five, and I think it's great if you pick someone who's really different than you, younger than you, older than you, urban, rural, politics, whatever is interesting to you, you'll pick that person, and if they pick you back, then you'll set a time with them over a protected secure messaging platform, and when the appointed time comes, you have the StoryCorps conversations with questions at the bottom, guiding you through. At the beginning of your interview, you read the bio of your partner to them, and they read your bio to you, and then you're off to the races."
BA: "You have called listening an act of love. In fact, that was a title of one of your books."
DI: "Yes."
BA: "How does that philosophy apply to a divided country?"
DI: "Well, I mean, I think it's even more apropos than it is to standard StoryCorps, which is people that we know and love. I mean, I think it's hard to hate up close, and this is not — I want to be clear that this Connect 250 effort is not about politics, but you know, we live in a country where there's kind of growing fear of the other, which is extremely dangerous, and you know, we don't talk to our neighbors like we used to, and you know, strangers are strangers to be feared, and I think that that act of listening, and you know, sitting down with someone and not having small talk, but asking, like, who they've loved and, and you know, what their childhood was like, and who was kindest to them, and wisdom they want to pass down to generations, that's like one of the best ways to bond people to each other. I mean, this whole thing, like, might sound a little intimidating to people, but if you know people like you have heard Story Corps now for 22 years, if you trust StoryCorps, trust me, even if you're a little nervous about this idea, do it, because on the other side, you're going to come out with someone who you really like, and it's going to be one of the most meaningful conversations you have all year. I guarantee that."
BA: "Are you hoping that listeners who hear some of these conversations, when we ultimately get to hear them, are going to be inspired to engage with people in real life who they might not have engaged with before? "
DI: "Well, that's the whole, you know, I like to think of Story Corps. If we succeed, you know, Story Corps will be America's empathy machine. The facilitators who travel the country in what we call signature Story Corps, bearing witness to these interviews all over the country, you've had about 750,000 people participate. When you ask them what they've learned, it's that people are basically good. And I hope that what StoryCorps does, what Connect 250 does, what everything we do does, is reminds people that most of us are good, and there's a lot more we share in common than divides us. It's a bit of a cliche, but now more than ever, it's incredibly important for us to know this, because a divided country is not a country that that will survive and thrive into the future, and it's not the country we want going into our 350th birthday."
