The View from a Drawbridge

I was at home, sound asleep, when I got a phone call from my boss the other day. She was calling to let me know that StoryCorps was trying to track me down. I was intrigued. Why on earth would StoryCorps be contacting me?

For those who are unfamiliar with this amazing organization, I’ll quote directly from their website: “StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind. Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 50,000 interviews from more than 80,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.”

So I called the contact number and identified myself. They wanted to talk to me about a StoryCorps interview I did back in 2009, in which I talked about what it was like to be a bridgetender. It seems that their next anthology will be “Callings”, a publication about interesting jobs that people are passionate about, and they are considering including my interview in that book, which will come out in 2016.

The woman I spoke to couldn’t guarantee that my interview would make the cut, but if it does, they’ll send me a copy of the book. Even though they had the rights to the interview already, they wanted to establish contact with me for fact checking purposes.

Finding me must have been no mean feat. Since 2009 I’ve moved at least 5 times, have long since changed my number and e-mail address, and now live 3000 miles away, on the other side of the continent. That, to me, says they’re really interested in using my interview. Time will tell.

Either way, I’m extremely excited. There’s nothing quite as delicious as having your routine disrupted by an unexpected and unbelievably gratifying event. Isn’t life grand?