The Great Thanksgiving Listen
Ah! Thanksgiving. Yummy festive FALL-ish food, family, football games, cool brisk walks, new movies, leftovers, board games, naps by the fireplace ... these are a few of the happy memories I associate with the upcoming holiday weekend. But, most of all I think of FAMILY.
Grandma Hall + Addie stuffing the turkey back in 2013. Priceless!
I grew up celebrating Thanksgiving at my Grandma Hall's house. There was a busy kitchen full of food prep, lots of cousins to play with, a big fire in the fireplace, mixed nuts in a bowl by Grandpa's chair, lots of grown-ups talking and eventually a BIG feast that outlasted even the most mature kids. When we were done eating we could sneak upstairs where the cool air offered a welcome contrast to the too-warm and too-noisy gathering around the dinner table. After all the dishes were cleaned up, the pie, whipped cream and ice cream cones came out and we'd be invited to come back down and sit around the living room. Then there were stories. Sadly I don't remember most of them, but I do remember how I felt and I liked it. I was part of something big and warm and loud and happy.
Now that I'm the grown up, there's all kinds of cool techy ways to make sure the stories told are recorded, so they can be remembered. If you haven't yet heard of StoryCorps, or downloaded the StoryCorps mobile app, I think you should. Here's why ...
1. The StoryCorps app is SUPER EASY to use. It comes pre-loaded if you will with interview topics and questions, so you can prepare ahead of time and know what you want to talk about.
2. All the instructions and tips proven in thousands of interviews are in the app as well. The one thing you need to do is make sure your device has enough storage for the resulting audio file, which can get pretty big. They say you need at least 500MB of space. You also want to give the StoryCorps app access to your camera.
3. Before you begin, the app will prompt you to give your interview a title and add your selected questions right onto the record screen. As long as you spend even 5 minutes becoming familiar with the app, you can't go wrong—it's super slick!
4. It's a good idea to do a quickie practice interview, to help both interviewer and interviewee relax. This way you can check your mic and make sure all is in order. Small rooms with carpeting in them work best.
If you've never heard StoryCorps founder, Dave Isay speak, have a listen. You'll be both inspired and motivated to do more than eat, sleep and shop this weekend. You'll be inspired and motivated to LISTEN and to create history with someone you love!
