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This Thanksgiving, Try StoryCorps' Oral History Project

An oral history project called The Great Thanksgiving Listen encourages people to record interviews with loved ones over Thanksgiving weekend.
Courtesy of StoryCorps
An oral history project called The Great Thanksgiving Listen encourages people to record interviews with loved ones over Thanksgiving weekend.

With enough divisive topics to go around the Thanksgiving table this year, dinner debates can easily steal our attention away from loved ones. StoryCorps suggests using its app to have a meaningful, one-on-one conversation, as part of its Great Thanksgiving Listen project, where kids interview their elders about their lives. But anyone with a smartphone can participate.

"The microphone can give you the license to ask questions that you might otherwise shy away from asking," StoryCorps founder Dave Isay recently told NPR's Scott Simon. "People are learning about their family's personal stories and also helping to capture and share the wisdom of humanity."

StoryCorps created a toolkitfor the project for teachers to help students prepare for their interviews. Here are some interview tips.

In recordings uploaded for last year's Great Thanksgiving Listen, young people ask brave questions. Corey Chun, then 13 years old, used the opportunity to ask her grandmother about her grandfather's death. Lauren Bonner, also 13 at the time, interviews her grandfather, who tells her about a regret that almost was.

You can hear excerpts from Lauren Bonner's and Corey Chun's Great Thanksgiving Listen interviews by clicking the audio button above.

Audio produced forWeekend Edition by NPR's Samantha Balaban.

StoryCorps is a national nonprofit that gives people the chance to interview friends and loved ones about their lives. These conversations are archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, allowing participants to leave a legacy for future generations. Learn more, including how to interview someone in your life, at StoryCorps.org .

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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