Beginning ~ with a story from Durham, NC

Beginning (of the first story, page 10)

Cynthia Rahn:  I lived very far out in the country, and I had just started kindergarten with a lot of kids from town that I didn't know.  We had an assignment to bring in either a toy or a stuffed animal or something you found in your barn so that we could create a barnyard diorama.  I was a little shy and insecure because I knew I was from out in the country and probably looked poor to everybody else, and certainly everybody else looked rich to me.  So I felt a little intimidated.

Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project ~ edited by Dave Isay, 2007, stories, 293 pages

Dave Isay selects the most memorable stories from StoryCorps' collection, creating a moving portrait of American life.  The voices here connect us to real people and their lives — to their experiences of profound joy, sadness, courage, and despair, to good times and hard times, to good deeds and misdeeds.  To read this book is to be reminded of how rich and varied the American storybook truly is, how resistant to easy categorization or stereotype.  We are our history, individually and collectively, and this book reminds us of this powerful truth.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays