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WE ALL HAVE STORIES TO TELL
Willie Mae Cherry was listening to the radio recently while on her way to Carver Road Church of Christ when she heard her own voice float over the airwaves. It was an exciting moment for the 66-year-old Georgia native.
“It was a joy,” said the great-grandmother of eight.
Cherry, a retiree, and her older brother, Samuel Gamble, reflected on their lived during a recorded conversation late last year for the StoryLine project, which began collecting the stories of local folks in April 2009.
An initiative of the ECHO (Everyone Can Help Out) Network, StoryLine invites pairs of residents to sit together in the colorful StoryLine bus and simply talk about themselves. The StoryLine bus often docks at community events, where attendees are invited to record their stories.
The purpose of the project and the ECHO Network is to increase the city’s level of social capital by bringing residents closer. ECHO Network Executive Director Natasha Gore believes that the StoryLine project does just that by allowing people to share their experiences, struggles and accomplishments with one another.
“We feel like (StoryLine) is a stepping stone to building social capital,” said Gore, who has led the organization since July 2009. “When you know someone’s story, it’s a lot harder to hate them and pass judgment.”
The conversations are edited into two-to-three-minute segments that are aired on several local radio stations, including Wake Forest’s WFDD and Winston-Salem State’s WSNC. The conversations are also available to listeners at the StoryLine Web site. Even those who do not consent to having their stories aired on the radio or feature on the Web site are still allowed to record stories for their own personal use. All participants are given a CD of their original 40-minute conversation as a keepsake.
“It’s just an opportunity to reflect on your life and the relationship you’ve had,” commented Gore, a Charlotte native. “When you hear the edited versions and it’s broadcast, it’s an opportunity to bring other into your life and share it with your loved ones.”
The conversations are informal, and guided by the pairs of friends or family members that enter the bus. Storytellers may cover any topic they deem important, Gore said.
“It’s designed to be a conversation,” she explained. “Most of the time what we get is the story of the relationship between two people.”
Cherry and Gamble, two of 10 children born to sharecroppers in rural Gearogia, talked about moving to the Twin City as young people in search of better lives. Gamble, who is two years Cherry’s senior, spend the bulk of his career working for RJ Reynolds. Cherry, who retired from Sara Lee after more than 25 years of services, says she hopes her grandchildren, great-grands and others in the community will gain perspective from hearing their story.
“I want them to know how I came up. They’ve got a much better life than I had and I want them to appreciate it because they’ve got more of a chance than what I had,” she said. “…I feel like I can tell other people where I came from and it might help them appreciate where they are today.”
Local musician “Big Ron” Hunter has gone into the StoryLine bus twice. His first conversation was with fellow musician Jeffrey Dean Foster at their church, Green Street Church. The second, taped in November was a conversation with Luther “Captain Luke” Mayer, a well-known blues musician. I really enjoyed it. I like being interviewed and I like talking with people,” said the Winston-Salem native. “…If they asked me, I’d do it again because I have so much to talk about and so many experiences.”
Hunter, who has been playing blues and jazz since he was a child, has traveled to several countries to perform with the Music Maker Review. The 57-year-old’s conversation with Mayer centered around the city’s rich history and artistic heritage.
“Captain Luke and I talked about …part of the history of Winston-Salem,” he related. “There’s a lot of history in Winston-Salem. There’s also a lot of talent in Winston that a lot of folks don’t know about, like Captain Luke. He’s a famous musician.”
Gore believes the more than 200 recordings that the project has amassed are all important pieces of local history.
There’s no way that we can continue in the future unless we know what happened in the past, whether those things are positive or mistakes that we made, and everybody wants to feel that they contribute to that (effort) in some way,” Gore remarked.
Gore says StoryLine, which organizers believe is the only locally-based project of its kind, it one of ECHO’s most successful endeavors to date.
“When you present an opportunity to put something down of permanence about yourself, and then when you share that with others, it’s just really appealing to people,” she related. “…People have been really enthusiastic about wanting to get their stories edited.”
This year, The Chronicle will feature some of those who record StoryLine conversations in its pages. The paper will shed even more light on some of the project’s most interesting recorded conversation.
By Layla Farmer
