StoryCorps, the radio program that helps people have meaningful conversations about their lives, is celebrating America’s 250th birthday with a special time capsule project. Connect 250 pairs strangers together for virtual calls. Together, these talks will become part of American history at the Library of Congress.
Wyoming Public Media’s Grady Kirkpatrick caught up with David Isay, StoryCorps’ founder and president, about the project and how to participate.
Editor’s Note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Grady Kirkpatrick: Sounds like quite a project here. Tell us about how this idea initiated.
David Isay: Sure. We came up with this idea not too very long ago. I think that we at StoryCorps were feeling kind of underwhelmed by the offerings for the 250th anniversary of the country and wanted to try to do something that was meaningful and lasting. Hopefully it's one of the most meaningful conversations people have all year.
GK: Well, it's interesting, because it's between two people that, initially, they don't know each other, right? It's two strangers getting together from different parts of the country or wherever it may be, right?
DI: That's correct. We have built, very quickly, we built this platform called Connect250, and strangers are matched to each other, kind of like a dating app, and have a conversation about their lives.
That conversation, like all of the StoryCorps conversations, goes to the Library of Congress so your great-great-great-grandkids can get to know you through your voice many generations from now. We were looking for something that on our 350th would still be resonant. That was kind of the idea.
It's been, as you said, it's been successful beyond our wildest imagination. Thousands and thousands of people have recorded interviews to date.
It's closing actually on August 31st, so it's now winding down, and the capsule will be closed.
GK: So are the pairings random, or are there specifics as far as who gets together with who?
DI: When you do a Connect250 sign-up, you write a bio about yourself, and basically you get sent a bunch of bios of people who are somewhat different than you. Everybody's a Morning Edition listener, though. This is an NPR [and] StoryCorps effort.
You can read different bios, and you choose who you wanna talk to, and then you set up a time and a day, and boom, you're in the interview room. You have a 40-minute conversation with prompts from StoryCorps, suggesting questions you can ask each other.
GK: That sounds relatively easy. I'm guessing the response has been pretty good so far, except for Wyoming. We need more Wyoming folks, right?
DI: Exactly. Like I said, we've had thousands and thousands of interviews from across the country, and we have none from Wyoming.
GK: All right. We'll change that.
DI: We wanna close the loop here. We love Wyoming, and we want Wyoming to be part of this time capsule. Again, it's closing very soon, but we hope that you'll go to connect250.org and sign up and be a part of this and represent Wyoming in this time capsule of America.
GK: I know there are some pretty incredible stories from folks from Wyoming, so hopefully we'll hear from many of those. And again, it's connect250.org. Is that how people get started?
DI: Exactly. That you go to connect250.org, you sign up, you set a date and a time, and you have this conversation.
People tend to go into this a little bit nervous, because it's kind of not something you do every day, talking to a stranger like this. But everybody, everybody comes out feeling great about this, and oftentimes you'll have made a new friend.
GK: Can it be done over a phone or a computer?
DI: It's done over a computer or your mobile phone, either way. And again, as you said, it's unbelievably easy to do. I think people will find the conversation really meaningful.
GK: Wonderful. Probably a good way to meet friends.
DI: Exactly.
