The Life Stories Project

True Stories of Everyday People

WFYI is proud to be a part of the Life Stories Project in collaboration with Storytelling Arts of Indiana and the Indiana Historical Society. In keeping with our efforts to amplify the voices of our community in the areas of health, education, the arts and public affairs, we're presenting a selection of these stories on 90.1 WFYI through December. 

ART APART

Life Stories: Little Turtle and Mama Bird
Teresa Webb is a storyteller, mother, and musician. She is Anishinaabe (Native American). Teresa's story about a mother bird and a baby turtle offers a window into her own life, and the lives of her people. Also on the recording, Teresa plays a cedar flute. In the photo, she holds rattles and a drum that she made herself.

Life Stories: Asia Labouche
Doug Mellinger recounts the ups and downs of his career in drag as Indy's own Asia Labouche.

Life Stories: Cultural Cannibals
Brazilian-born visual artist Artur Silva and Indy native DJ Kyle Long are a force for cultural cross-pollination in the Circle City. Learn about their influences and how they work together in this interview.

To learn more about Kyle and Artur, visit www.culturalcannibals.com. You can also find more of Artur's artwork at www.artursilva.com, and Kyle's weekly global music blog and podcasts at www.nuvo.net/blogs/ACulturalManifesto/

HEALTH & FAMILY

Life Stories: 'Complications'
When Cornelia Davis-Moore went to have a hysterectomy, she didn't expect to end up fighting for her life. Fortunately, her husband Dwayne Moore was there to make sure she kept fighting.

Life Stories: Love, Surgery and Glass Blowing
Joani Rothenberg is an art therapist at St. Vincent hospital in Indianapolis. When her husband, Jeff --a surgeon Indiana University Hospital-- was suffering under the stress of his work, she brought art into his life.

Life Stories: The Baby Saving Dietitian
In 1972, Dr. Louise Elizabeth Goggans founded the diet therapy clinic at Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis. Before starting the clinic, she traveled to homes around Marion County for the Visiting Nurses' Association. This, she says, was her only success story from that job.

INTEGRATION

Life Stories: Birmingham 1964
Sandra Harris and her husband Ed were a young white couple in Birmingham in the early 1960's. They were active in the civil rights movement, a dangerous thing to be. In this story, Sandra recounts a time when she and Ed invited an African American couple over for Sunday dinner as part of an integration initiative.For more from Sandra Harris' memories of Birmingham in the civil rights era, visit her page on the Life Stories Project website.

Life Stories Project: Jackie and Nikki
Indianapolis Public Library CEO Jackie Nytes shares what she learned about the effects of city policy decisions on children growing up in Mapleton-Fall Creek in the 1980s and ‘90s. We'll also hear from a young woman who lived with Jackie at the time.

Life Stories Project: The Integration of Lew Wallace High School
Celestine Bloomfield was one of a small group of black students who were part of the first integrated class at Lew Wallace High School in Gary, Indiana. This summer, forty three years later, she met with one of her white classmates, Paul Kilgore, to discuss their experiences. For more on Celestine's high school experience, click to visit her page on the Life Stories Project website.

Life Stories: Integrating the Teachers
Wilma Moore is Senior Archivist of African American History at the Indiana Historical Society. Stanley Warren taught history at Crispus Attucks High School in the 1960s, when it was Indianapolis’ only Black high school, and had Wilma as a student.

PERSONAL & POLITICAL

Life Stories: Y-Press at the RNC
In this edition of the Life Stories Project, we remember Y-Press, a youth media organization in Indianapolis from 1991 to 2012. Y-Press stories were published in the Indianapolis Star and aired on 90.1 WFYI.

Here, high school students Sigal Tavel and Greta Herbertz recall their adventures covering the 2012 Republican National Convention. This piece was produced by Andrea Muraskin, a former Y-Press staff member.

Click here to view Y-Press multimedia coverage from the 2012 election.

Photo: Greta Herbertz (center) and other Y-Press members with Herman Cain at the 2012 Republican National Convention, Tampa, Florida.

Life Stories Project: Last Time Down
DaVinci Richardson spent much of his life as an addict, and spent 13 years in and out of prisons. Now, he works as a detox medical assistant at the Salvation Army Harbor Light Center in Indianapolis. This is the story of when he decided to make a change.

Life Stories: Switching Sides
Sheila Seuss Kennedy remembers former Indianapolis mayor Bill Hudnut, for whom she worked as Corporation Counsel (the city's attorney). She also reflects on how she changed parties even though her politics remained the same. The opinions expressed here are Ms. Kennedy’s and do not reflect the views of WFYI.

Sheila Kennedy is a professor of law and public policy at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Her blog is at sheilakennedy.net.

Life Stories: The Near Eastside Fights Redlining
Community activists Ruth Shaw and John Hay relate how an effort to combat insurance redlining catalyzed community organizing on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis in the early 1980s. John Hay is the executive director of Indy-East Asset Development, and Ruth Shaw is president of the Eastern Avenue Block Club.

Record and Share Your Stories

The Life Stories Project involves recording and sharing the true stories of everyday people. Yes, that’s right – your stories of childhood, mom and dad, grandparents, summer vacations, holidays, work life, the war, family traditions, your childhood home and so much more.

The stories and photographs will be placed online for family, friends, neighbors and the entire community to hear. Through these stories, we hope to celebrate our commonalities and differences to create a stronger, more vibrant community as well as leaving a legacy of stories for generations to come.

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