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Dec 12, 2018

StoryCorps: Share your story and be archived in the Library of Congress

StoryCorps logoStoryCorps, a nonprofit initiative that brings people together to tell stories – with respect and care – and archives those stories locally and in a national archive, is coming to Miami University Regionals.

The specific program StoryCorps is bringing is One Small Step, which empowers people with different viewpoints to have great conversations and to listen with compassion — even when we disagree.

Everyone is invited to participate.

Anyone from on or off Miami’s campus and who can be at Miami Hamilton or Middletown on a date in February is welcome to sign up. But to be matched and recorded in conversation, you must register by Jan. 6.  Update: The deadline to register is now Jan. 13.

If you are interested, please complete the screening questionnaire.

StoryCorps has won two Peabody Awards, an Emmy and a $1 million MacArthur award. These are its principles:

  • We treat participants with the utmost respect, care and dignity.
  • StoryCorps maintains a relentless focus on serving a wide diversity of participants.
  • StoryCorps is a public service.

This is how One Small Step works:

People with different political views will record a StoryCorps interview with each other. With a facilitator, it is hoped they will break down boundaries created by politics and remember our shared humanity. The goal is to remind people that:

  • There are more things we have in common with each other than there are things that divide us.
  • Treating those with whom we disagree with decency and respect is essential to a functioning democracy.

With One Small Step, StoryCorps seeks to counteract intensifying political divides by facilitating and recording conversations that enable people who disagree to listen to each other with respect.

Miami University Regionals are the local host for this series of One Small Step recordings.

As pieces of oral history, StoryCorps interviews are archived at the Library of Congress and recordings are also available to individuals.

Miami University is interested in having such conversations continue. If you, as an individual, community or business leader, are interested in participating in a continued conversation, please contact the Center for Civic Education at Miami Regionals at onesmallstep@miamioh.edu or 513-785-3005.