More than 100 people turned out at the Athens Regional Library Thursday evening for WUGA’s listening event with StoryCorps’. After a month collecting stories from Athenians, StoryCorps ended its stint in the Classic City with the crowd listening to some of their fellow residents’ stories.
Simone Moonsammy was one of the night’s attendees gathered in the Appleton Auditorium.
“There were all members of the community represented so I really enjoyed that aspect of hearing everybody’s story,” Moonsammy said.
She and her husband shared their story.
“Our anniversary was October 17 and we did that Saturday after in celebration of our love story, being an interracial couple in the South.”
StoryCorps recorded over 100 stories while its mobile site RV was parked in the parking lot at the Library. For those who gave permission, their stories will be sent to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Jacqueline Van Meter is the site coordinator for the mobile tour. She says everyone has a story.
“People who have known each other for years and years will discover something they didn’t know about the other person,” according to Van Meter.
She says each story has a broader appeal than at first glance.
“Simply taking the time to tell the people in their lives how they feel about one another is an occasion and something worth documenting, even for folks who might feel a little reticent to get in front of the microphone, they’re not creating this document for themselves, there are so many people in their lives, family members, unborn family members, future generations, historians, that are going to be really interested to just hear that prospective.”
The nonprofit StoryCorps was founded in 2003 and the Mobile Tour began in May 2005.
