National Day of Listening

Thanks for the information. Happy Thanksgiving.

This is a wonderful idea and so timely for us. We will be spending Friday with my mother-in-law, who begins 6 weeks of daily chemo for lung cancer on December 1st. While we are all very optimistic about her prognosis and hope for many more years of listening to her stories, what better way to spend the day with her.
Although she hates having her picture taken, she loves being with the grandlittles, so I plan on taking lots of pictures and doing journaling about what we hear on Friday.
Thank you.

I absolutely love this segment. Last year I interviewed my "quiet" grandpa when he was 88. I now have 3 hours of him talking about his life through the depression, a flood, WWII, and a bunch of other things I (and the rest of my family) would have otherwise never have known. Recording your family's history is one of the best things you can do. I highly recommend it!!

beautiful idea! Happy Thanksgiving, Ali.

Wow, I don't know how you do it but you certainly make my life easier by giving ideas, inspiration and help in my projects, always on time! I'm making an album on my late grandfather and will be making similar albums to some of my relatives as Christmas presents. I've been collecting info and stories from my grandmother and she's so happy to share. She actually cried when I suggested making the album, she is so happy. Next, I'll make an album on her life too.

I love this idea! My mom passed away two years ago from cancer. Approximately six months before she died, I had my 8 year old daughter interview my mom and dad. She asked them questions from this site: http://www.grandparents-day.com/interview.htm
During the interview my parents laughed, cried and shared some very poignant moments from their lives. I taped it with my camcorder. It is something my family will treasure forever.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LETTING US KNOW ABOUT THIS AWESOME PROGRAMME. tHE 28TH MARKS MY FATHER-IN-LAW'S 80TH BDAY SO I'M GOING TO TRY TO HAVE MY HUSBAND INTERVIEW HIM.
YOU INSPIRE US IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS!
alexox

This is so awesome Ali, I actually heard this on NPR yesterday too...
I finished my December Daily album and I am so happy that I took the time to do it, thank you so much for the inspiration! =)
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Jen

I highly recommend the StoryCorps book, Listening is an Act of Love: everyday stories, heroic stories, it's all in there. I dare anyone to get through it with dry eyes.

Thank you Ali for sharing this very important idea. Yesterday, my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimers. Although I've been taking care of her in a lot of ways, unitl yesterday, I had reserved a hope that her confusion could be due to something reversible (she's only 61). Before her long-tem memory fades, we're going to record her story and go through photos and important family heirlooms to record the stories about them, too. I think just having another video of my mom talking about anything wwill be a treasure. My grandma died of alzheimer's three years ago. I wish with all my heart we'd interviewed her before it was too late.

Ali,
Thank you so much for sharing information on National Day of Listening and StoryCorps with your readers. Based on the responses you've received, I know our first ever National Day of Listening will be a huge success, making the expression of listening as an act of love even more accessible.
Thank you,
Kathleen
StoryCorps

What a great idea - thank you for sharing

Story corps is the segment on morning edition that I look forward to most each Friday morning. Some mornings I arrive to work completely inspired with tears in my eyes. I just finished reading listenig is an act of love yesterday and it was truly beautiful to learn from so many amazing people. Thanks for reminding us about the importance of taking time to listen.

You are so right - you never know if it will be the last chance. My mom was just diagnosed with cancer so I plan to do several interviews with her about both her diagnosis and treatment and what words of advice/hopes she has for each of her grandchildren. Thanks for the inspiration! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

In November's Creating Keepsakes magazine they had great article about just the same thing! My sister and I decided to do this project for our husbands’ families. We downloaded the questions from the site in November at http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/content/viewmagazine/9/63/. We then emailed our families the questions and gave them a month to finish them. We typed them up in a "novel" format and did a digital scrapbook layout for the cover page. We are sending each family a copy.
We have also made a "Who Said What?" game. We gathered a quote that was our favorite from each family member's interview and made a digital layout. This way the game can be easily slipped into a scrapbook later. It will be fun reading the quotes and watching the family try to guess who is who.
The rewarding thing about this project was that we were hearing the stories of our husbands' families. We didn't grow up with their siblings, cousins, and other family and don't know all the funny memories. I also think that after time, family can grow apart, even when they live blocks away! This project is a sure way to remember why we love each other. I found a common thread in all the stories when I was compiling them together: Family comes first! Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?

Thanks Ali, what a great idea. Off to see the questions!

Perfect timing as I just finished taking Jessica Sprague's "Stories in Hand" class online it was all about providing "sparks" to kick start journaling about our stories and coudld easily be used to find out our familily members stories too. I SO want to get the stories of my parents and others lives before it's too late. I'd also like to video tape a segment of them as well. What a great gift to ourselves and to future generations that will be cherished for years and years. Thanks for bringing up this topic!!!!

COOLEST thing EVER! thanks for sharing.

I applaud and highly recommend this idea to everyone. speaking from personal experience, when my father was ill with cancer back in 1994 and we knew his death was imminent, we all gathered at my folks house to watch old slides. I got the idea of asking my dad some questions about his childhood and so forth. We recorded it on an old cassette player (i now must find a way to transfer it to CD). It was the most rewarding experience and now when i struggle to recall my father's voice, i can just play the tape. what a rich gift for my husband and boys who came into my life after my dad passed on.

Thank you for the inspiration, and the links! This will be a wonderful project for our family during the holidays.

What a great idea!

I love listening to story corps on NPR. Thanks for the tip. I plan to try this with my new in-laws this holiday.
Have a blessed holiday.

Ali,
This is a wonderful post to find. I asked for suggestions at DD a while back for questions to ask the children's great grandmother this week and your post is just perfect timing Thanks for the link. I will be adding some questions to the list we made. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

I should record all of my family stories. Like the time we had to sleep in the car on a family vacation because my Dad had forgot to book a room!
http://www.entertonement.com/nationaldayoflistening

Thanks Ali for the ideas. I am going to try to document December in my blog this year. Trying to relax about doing it EVERYDAY but at least I will get the key moments documented at http://gracehester.typepad.com/
You are such an inspiration!