Audrey, Me, and StoryCorps

Where's Audrey?  This photo on the right taken by the StoryCorps staff member who facilitated our 40-minute interview last September.   Searching around for a better one, I could only find her in the middle of this group photo from last summer.  We were on Roosevelt Island, across the East River from Manhattan.  It's lunch break as we organize a library for a special education school.  Riding the red tram to the Island was a first for us, Millicent in the cap, Linda in red.*

Audrey and I met through The Transition Network for women over 50 interested in new approaches to retirement.  Originally I'd met her at a very large meeting of TTN in her home.  Distracted by the amazing view from living room and the need to focus on which committee I'd sign up for, I did not connect with her.  It was sitting together on the subway after another meeting that we began to talk.

Initially, it was her story of deciding to come to the City from Boston that caught my attention.  Here was another mature woman, a recent widow, who saw New York as a setting for more possibilities than where she lived. It helped that two grown children were here, two grandchildren, but there was more.  I could relate to that:  the City, where i've lived off and on as an adult, promises something very elusive.  The message some of us hear from a seductive deep voice, probably male, "Poke around, ask questions, try out the unexpected."

Audrey's a great supporter; she likes you, what you're doing; she's there.  Which returns me to our being at the StoryCorps booth in Grand Central Station.  For an "Oral History" class last Fall, I needed someone who'd agree to an interview that would be placed in the National Archives.  On one of our long strolls through the City, I'd learned we were both only children.  Would she talk more about her family, growing up in Depression-era Chicago?  If you have a good friend, a loved one, person with a story that needs saving, you can do this too.  Another interview booth is in lower Manhattan.  Their mobile booths, current in Vermont and Texas, are another way to get those important stories of everyday Americans preserved for the future.  Blogs for the mobile units are also on their website. 

Audrey has a long history in community activity wherever she's lived--California, Massachusetts.  I admire her ability to work in voluntary groups, ask pointed questions.  My fuse is much shorter. She's also surprisingly hopeful for someone who has been a part of the ups and downs of the Choice movement, international family planning. When I put together "Sex, Seniors & the HIV Crisis," for N.Y.Gray Panthers, Audrey expected more TTN members to attend.  I didn't.  Women over 50 have their heads in the sand about STDs--whether they're successful professionals or blue collar workers.

Tomorrow she embarks on a trip--loves to travel--to Botswana.  Two days after radiation treatment!  Spunky is an excellent adjective for Audrey. My next post is a going-away present.

* As it turns out, the tram broke down this year, is now out of service.  It had been a very popular tourist ride, four minutes of hanging beneath the 59th Street bridge, spectacular views. Whether and when it will run again is unclear.