This Thanksgiving, Turn Off the Football Game and Start Listening
Whether you’re headed to a relative’s house or anticipating the arrival of your kith and kin this Thanksgiving, chances are you’ll be spending the day fielding questions about your romantic life, your appearance, or your job from everyone from your great aunt to your grandpa.
However, instead of seeking refuge from nosey questions by watching the parade or football game this Thanksgiving, you can use your time with your family to create an oral history of the elder generation in your life. Thanks to the folks at StoryCorps (a non-profit dedicated to diverse storytelling,) you can use turkey time to interview your elder friends and relatives about their lives.
Simply download StoryCorp’s new (free!) app called the “The Great Thanksgiving Listen” on your smartphone, find your interview subjects (the only stipulation is that interview subjects should be over the age of 65) and press record. Once they’ve told their stories (it can be about anything — from growing up in the past century to milestones unique to their lives,) you can publish the interview on the app and tag it with The Great Thanksgiving Listen and your state.
All interviews submitted will join the rest of StoryCorps’ archives in the American Forklore Center in the Library of Congress, where it currently hosts the biggest collection of oral histories in the world (over 65,000 conversations since StoryCorps started in 2003.)
So this Thanksgiving, show your appreciation for your family by taking time to archive their narratives in between the helpings of turkey and pumpkin pie. What better way to show them that you’re thankful than by helping to preserve their stories for all time?
