One of my favorite features on NPR is StoryCorps, the occasional feature in which people interview a friend or loved one, about a topic of their choice. The moments these interviews produce are at once intimate and universal, and more often than not they bring tears to my eyes. Since 2003 this non-profit oral history project has recorded tens of thousands of personal stories and archived in them the Library of Congress.

This Thanksgiving, StoryCorps has declared Friday, November 28 the first annual National Day of Listening and is asking everyone to take an hour with a friend or loved one and give the special gift of listening. Their website http://www.nationaldayoflistening.org/ is full of tips and hints on how to create a meaningful conversation and recording, including a Do It Yourself Guide with nine steps:

• Pick a Storyteller
• Create a List of Questions (you can use their Online Question Generator to help)
• Purchase or Borrow Recording Equipment
• Choose an Interview Location
• Set Up and Test the Equipment
• Begin the Conversation
• Keep the Conversation Flowing
• Wrap It Up
• Preserve and Share the Conversation

Many of their stories are posted on their website too - I highly recommend listening!

So let's all give it a try! What better way to start off the holiday season in these troubled times than by giving a gift that costs you nothing and yet means so much!

- Kristi Woodworth