'The life you live is meaningful': StoryCorps to capture the lives of Green Bay-area residents
GREEN BAY - The woman didn't know why she was in a recording studio. Her children had signed her up to talk with StoryCorps about herself, but who would be interested in hearing about growing up on a farm?
But when she started talking, she took readers to the familiar plains of her past, and the narrative was rich, compelling and full of life.
Lea Zikmund, the director of the StoryCorps Mobile Tour, often bears witness to intimate moments like these, where she can watch someone realize the value of their stories in real time. People from across the country may step into the recording studio hesitant, but then, transport themselves to the time they learned to ride a unicycle or when they became a parent for the first time.
RELATED: A Father's Day special: She searched all her life for her father. At 54, she finally found him.
RELATED: Brain Center of Green Bay evolved from surgeon's experience with wife who had Parkinson's
That's part of what Zikmund envisions for Green Bay area residents when the StoryCorps Mobile Tour opens to the public from Thursday until Sept. 8 at the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Brown County, 300 S. Adams St.
Green Bay is the seventh city on StoryCorps' 2023 mobile tour, and one of only three cities to represent the Midwest this year. Local artists Laura Schley and Kent Hutchison will help kickoff StoryCorps month in the Brown County community at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
The city was selected for its proximity to a local National Public Radio station, its temperate climate (at least for late summer), and its lack of previous coverage.
"The goal for us is to preserve as many stories as possible across the country," Zikmund said. "Place is really important for people in the same way. People being in their environment can help them reflect on: What is important about my life experience living in Green Bay? What does it mean to me?"
How does StoryCorps Mobile Tour work?
People are invited to sign up for recording sessions through the website for dates between Aug. 10 and Sept. 8. Sign-up requires candidates to include a "conversation partner," someone whom they know well such as a spouse, parent, sibling, friend, colleague or roommate.
The Airstream trailer, a converted traveling recording studio, will be parked at the Aging & Disability Resource Center for the month. Stories will be limited to 40 minutes and, within that 40-minute window, staff from StoryCorps Mobile Tour will help guide the process.
"We're really just supporting the idea that they're coming in to preserve a conversation between them and their loved one, about whatever they want to discuss," Zikmund said.
When she interviewed both her parents, Zikmund asked them questions about where they grew up, what life was like when they were her age, what it felt like to become parents, and other milestones. But conversations can look very different from more traditional chronologies. It's about centering people's experiences, capturing their lexicons, turns of phrase and emotions.
StoryCorps archives all its recordings with the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center, but independent of that, StoryCorps has its own internal archive free and accessible to the public.
In exchange for hosting StoryCorps, Wisconsin Public Radio will be given access to all the recordings over the course of the month. Some stories may be selected for regular programming, Zikmund said.
“It’s exciting to partner with StoryCorps to connect and strengthen our local communities,” said Ellen Clark, WPR Green Bay regional manager, in a news release. “It’s a great extension of what we do at WPR. Our reporters, hosts, and producers are committed to including diverse perspectives and experiences in our work to help Wisconsinites better understand one another and the wider world.”
Capturing the stories of Green Bay is part of a larger oral history project
Brown County is growing up on a farm, working in a factory, establishing roots. It's fishing and kayaking along the lakes, rivers and bay. It's Lambeau Field and cheese hats. A starter home. A tribal land since time immemorial. The site of the first roseate spoonbill in more than a century for the state.
That geographic composition makes it ripe for storytelling. And it's part of what StoryCorps founder and MacArthur Fellow Dave Isay had in mind when he said, on being an authentic American, "We are a people defined by small acts of courage, kindness and heroism."
Zikmund also sees every story as a testament to the value of human life. Every story, from the mundane to the highly octane, is a priority for Zikmund, as it helps piece together a larger map of the country. It's an important answer to the question of legacy, which is at the heart of many oral history traditions.
That's also why parking the Airstream trailer at the ADRC is so crucial. Recently, it made its trailer wheelchair accessible to honor a vaster array of abilities.
The experience, too, is completely free, and participants can receive a digital copy of their recording.
There's no language barriers, either. Partners can record their stories in any language, and the team of seven at StoryCorps Mobile Tour is also bilingual in English and Spanish.
"The life that you live is meaningful, and you deserve to have the opportunity to talk about it with someone who knows you," Zikmund said. "It's a reminder to people that they have value."
MORE: Need to talk to somebody who has gone through it? Call UpliftWI, a new peer-to-peer warmline
Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @natalie_eilbert. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: StoryCorps Mobile Tour to record Green Bay-area stories for a month
