StoryCorp

Ashton and I went to record our interview with StoryCorp – the oral history project that is running across the country right now. It was one of his birthday presents. The first StoryCorp booth was in Grand Central Terminal in New York City, where we recorded our interview yesterday. There are now booths at the transportation hub at Ground Zero and two traveling booths. The interview, along with everyone else’s, are submitted to the Library of Congress for classification and cataloging.
I interviewed Ashton because of his very interesting and unusual life while growing up in New York City during the 1970’s and ’80’s when the City was truly a “concrete jungle.” It was odd how once in the booth. The interview, which was supposed to be a natural conversation between him and me, kind of became very formal. Ashton has great stories, but he said he ended up being very self-conscious of what he was saying. Sometimes, it was like pulling teeth to get him to open up. Over all, it was a lot of fun and a good interview.
I think this is a great project. A national oral history of our time and with regular people can only be a good thing. I’ve heard many very touching interviews on NPR’s Morning Edition.