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Voices: StoryLine Lets People Speak Out

April 28, 2009

Teri Hairston had always believed that she had shielded her daughter and son from the abuse that she suffered at the hands of their stepfather.

After a beating, she would smile when she saw her children.

"I would do my best not to cry out," she said. "I would put on a happy face. They could hear it, but my behavior would be so opposite."

But in a recording studio with her daughter, Angel Hooper, Hairston found out just how wrong she was. Hooper, who was 9 at the time, said she would try to figure out ways to get her stepfather angry at her so he would beat her instead of her mother. Her daughter said that she wondered why her mother stayed with a man who abused her.

"Her desire at 9 to protect me when I thought I was protecting  her was very impacting to me," said Hairston, the program assistant for Winston-Salem's 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.

People will be able to hear Hairston's story and others in a new project called StoryLine that starts today.

StoryLine is a project of the ECHO Council, a group of about 40 community leaders that promotes social capital, which are the informal networks that people form in a community.

Hairston's story is one of about 15 that have already been recorded. Edited versions of those stories will air on four public-radio stations next month -- WFDD-FM (88.5), WSJS-AM (600/1200), Que Pasa Radio WYSR-AM (1590) and WSNC-FM (90.5).

They will also appear on the Web site, www.storylineproject.org.php5-13.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com, and at listening gatherings held in the community. Stories also will be archived.

The stories will be collected in the StoryLine bus, a mobile recording studio that features comfy seats, microphones and recording equipment.

Two people who know each other will make a reservation for the bus and then go in and have a 40-minute conversation on any topic they choose. The conversation will be recorded, with the help of a facilitator. The two people will get a free copy of the conversation, and if they decide to share their conversation with the public, they will sign a release form.

"There will be happy stories, stories of love and romance," said Gail Fisher, a lead volunteer for the project. "There will be difficult stories."

More than 100 volunteers have worked on the project over the past two years. The idea came from a marketing committee of the ECHO Council.

The ECHO Council has a budget of about $50,000 a year for the project, Fisher said. That includes refurbishing the bus, which used to be a bookmobile and an ice-cream truck; maintenance; equipment for the recording studio; training; and production.

The council received a lot of in-kind contributions from people and such organizations as Spot Recording, SPEVCO and CJMW. Dewey's Bakery is planning to make a monetary contribution, Fisher said.

Fisher said they made an effort to make sure the stories reflect the diversity of the community. Volunteers especially reached out to blacks and Hispanics ,and people in the homeless community, she said.

The conversations are often unpredictable, said Cheryl Schirillo, a lead volunteer with the project. People come in with an idea of what they want to talk about, but sometimes, they veer off onto a different, yet equally revelatory topic, she said.

For example, Hairston and her daughter were going to talk about when Hairston told her children that she was a lesbian, but then they started talking about how Hairston's abuse affected her children.

Fisher said that officials want the project to continue for years to come.

"Our purpose is to build a more trusting, connected community," she said.