StoryCorps on WFCR

• Dad's Stories a Hit

  [2009.06.17]Ron Bittel grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, but now lives in Florence, Massachusetts. His daughter Maggie is a big fan of his stories. At the Storycorps booth in Springfield, Ron told Maggie about his father, Alfons, who was a New York City police officer in the 1940's.

• A Mother and Daughter Story

  [2009.06.11] For 20 years, Jaime Michaels and her mother were nearly estranged. The issue was that Michaels is a lesbian. She describes her mother as a conservative heterosexual. At the Storycorps booth in Springfield, Michaels told her friend Anne Rogers how — in the course of one afternoon — the conflict between mother and daughter came to an end. In her interview, Michaels refers to the group P-FLAG — which is short for "Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays."

• A Voice Keeps Her Afloat

  [2009.05.13] On this week's StoryCorps, a tale of a smart person in a bad situation and the invisible strength of her mother. About 25 years ago Eileen Cohen — an accomplished woman with several college degrees under her belt — went on a Caribbean vacation. While out on a sailboat, she nearly drowned.

• From India to the United States

  [2009.05.06] On the occasion of "Immigrants Day" at the State House in Boston, today's StoryCorps is an interview between teenager Nisha Malik—born in India—and her mother Suman Malik. They now live in Greenfield. They talked about life in their adopted country.

• Reflections on Life with Children

  [2009.04.29] Today's StoryCorps is a look back and a look forward. Jeanne Young grew up in Enfield, CT. In the 1960s, shortly after her father died, and her brother was sent off to boarding school, Jeanne got pregnant. She sat down with her daughter Beth Cunningham at the StoryCorps booth in Springfield to talk about that time. Jeanne was then 17 and unmarried.

• A Boxer's Story

  [2009.04.20] Wilbur Cameron is a five-time New England Golden Gloves boxing champion and almost qualified for the Olympics. He was on his way to going pro, when something happened during a sparring session. At the StoryCorps booth in Springfield, Massachusetts, Wilbur Cameron told his friend Burt Freedman about that day in the ring.

• Liberating German Concentration Camps

  [2009.04.09] After serving in the army during World War II, David Cohen became a high school history teacher in New York City. He taught his students what he learned while fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, and liberating survivors from German concentration camps, including that anyone who was witness to an act of hate must speak out.

• Raising Nine Children

  [2009.04.01] Ruth Enders and her husband, Evan, have nine children. Years ago, when Evan was in the Air Force and Ruth was a military wife, she was often on her own for months at a time with her growing sons and daughters. And they moved more than a dozen times, often with little notice.

• Family Lore

  [2009.03.25] All families have stories. Some tragic. Some comic. Some more elaborate than others. Rebecca Flowers Schamess loves listening to her mother-in -law's childhood stories. Stephanie Schamess now lives in Florence, MA. In the 1940s, she grew up in Hartford and New York City. For a while she lived with her extended family of grandparents, aunts, and uncles. At the StoryCorps booth in Springfield, Rebecca had Stephanie tell a tale or two.

• Blood Doesn't Define Family

  [2009.03.18] When Freda Driscoll Sbar - a white woman - chose to adopt a child, she didn't think about race. She thought about giving a child a loving, permanent home. She and her partner adopted their first African American daughter when she was 3 days old. Alannah is now 17 and in her senior year of high school in Northampton, Massachusetts. Alannah says she knows her racial identity is different than both her mothers, but at the StoryCorps booth in Springfield, Alannah and Freda talked about how many traits they actually have in common.

• Living With Mitochonrial Disease

  [2009.03.11] Most members of the Couture family of Springfield, Massachusetts have something in common: a genetic disorder known as mitochondrial disease. The disease occurs when the mitochondria in your body -- which we all have -- fail to produce enough energy for cells or organs to function. It's detectable, but not curable.

• Inflection Points

  [2009.02.25] Carl Ho from Amherst, MA, always considered his brother his best friend. Mel committed suicide in 1983, just shy of his 32nd birthday. Carl Ho's teenage son Jonathan never met his uncle. They talked about him at the StoryCorps booth in Springfield.

• Keys to Life: Friendship and Optimism

  [2009.02.12] 85 year old Miriam Chace Chapman grew up during the Great Depression. She's learned a lot over the years, especially about gathering people she loves all around. Her daughter Kathleen Lafferty invited her to the StoryCorps Booth in Springfield to talk about her life.

• Finding Hope

  [2009.02.11] Erin Newman-Long and her husband Matthew were expecting their first baby in March 2007. They had an easy pregnancy with Birdy, they baby's nickname inutero. Erin and Matthew had planned on a home birth. But after 24 hours in labor, Erin was rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section. Birdy was stillborn. About a year and a half later, Erin and Matthew came to the StoryCorps booth in Springfield when Erin was 32 weeks pregnant.

• Remembering a Best Friend

  [2009.02.10] "Michael came into my life now probably 22, 23 years ago... My first meeting with him was really sort of typical of Michael, because Michael would just literally give you the shirt off his back..." On WFCR's StoryCorps, Suzanne Schuster and Suzanne Garrow from Florence, MA, talk about their best friend Michael Hallway.

• The Life of a Stone Wall

  [2009.02.06] When Sonam Lama was a young man in Tibet he learned to build stone walls. And as he told his friend Ken Schoen at the StoryCorps Booth in Springfield, MA, this is what he does now -- with a great deal of pride.

• Lessons from the Elders

  [2009.02.06] In the StoryCorps Booth in Springfield, Massachusetts, poet Verandah Porche tells her friend, "... when I hear somebody start to talk my fingers twitch..." Writer Porche makes those words last long beyond the time they're spoken.

• Two sisters remember

  [2009.02.03] "One of my roles for Ma was I provided her the live soap opera ..." Sisters Judy Harris and Cathy Terry remember their mother in this week's StoryCorps from WFCR

To learn more about StoryCorps, click here