StoryCorps, the nonprofit radio program that broadcasts stories from everyday Americans, came to the University of Miami this week to record stories from veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's part of the program's special military voices initiative.
StoryCorps collaborated with UM’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and a nonprofit group called Warmamas to document the stories of 16 war veterans.
Jill Glaser, a StoryCorps facilitator, says the interviews are more like personal conversations between the veteran and their friend or family member. The facilitator's main job is to mediate and guide that conversation.
"We try to provide an intimate space where people can share what’s important to them, and ask questions they’ve never been asked before," she says.
StoryCorps came to UM through Warmamas, an organization based out of Coral Gables. The project documents the voices of military mothers.
"It’s the power of a story. And a mother’s story can be very powerful," says Patricia Figueroa Sowers, director of Warmamas.
If StoryCorps participants want to share their stories nationally, recordings are archived in the Library of Congress and may be aired on NPR’s Morning Edition.
