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Friends and Chicago Tribune columnists Mary Schmich and Eric Zorn talk about their memories at the school, from taking lessons to co-founding the long-running holiday showcase and singalong, Songs of Good Cheer. This interview was recorded at the Old Town...

Old Town School teachers Barb Silverman and Jess McIntosh talk about teaching at the school, experiences as women in a male-dominated music community, and reflections on their friendship over the years. Barb is a clogger and multi-instrumentalist who performs in...

Carol Emens talks growing up catholic, getting married, sexuality, and identity.

This interview is about a girl named Alyssa who found her passion by going on a mission trip to Chicago three years ago.

In this interview I speak with my dad about how growing up in his family changed him as a person as well as the influence brought onto him by his mother and neighbor. We speak of family traditions, origins from...

Folksinger and Old Town School teacher Ed Holstein talks with his student Rick Weiland about growing up on Chicago's south side, stories of the city's folk scene over the past 50+ years, and memories of his brother and collaborator Fred...

A conversation between Laura Doherty & Karen Banks-Lubicz. This conversation was recorded at the school on May 10th, 2017. Go to www.oldtownschool.org/StoryCorps to hear selected excerpts from interviews collected as part of the StoryCorps-Old Town School partnership.

Lynn shares with Sarah her experience of going to the 1965 Presidential Inauguration, of attending Northwestern in Chicago in 1965-1969 during the campus uprisings, and recognizing the importance of living in diverse places with water roots.

John Ford, a long-time client of EZRA's, sits down with a member of EZRA's Social Action team to discuss his experiences growing up as a Black man in Chicago, working with EZRA, and gentrification in Uptown, Chicago.

A conversation between friends, bluegrass musicians and fellow Old Town School coworkers Colby Maddox and John Huber. Colby has been managing the Resource Center and teaching mandolin at the school since 1999. John has been working at the school since...

David and Timm talk about their artistic mentorship and friendship.

Ben Sachs-Cobbe talks with his Aunt Toni about her childhood in a crowded apartment in Chicago's west side, her getting an education, falling in love, and surviving cancer.

Mary Suzanne Chladek Gehardt (77) discusses about where she grew up and what was it was like to live in Southside, Chicago. She also discusses about her work life starting at hospice to real estate to becoming the first woman...

Creating Community Through Sharing Stories: Sandis Wright was born in a rural Swedish community in northern Maine, where he always dreamed of living in the big city. After moving to both Chicago and Atlanta, and getting married, he decided to...

A conversation between Mehran Jalili & Maya Tatiana. This conversation was recorded at the school on July 25th, 2017. Go to www.oldtownschool.org/StoryCorps to hear selected excerpts from interviews collected as part of the StoryCorps-Old Town School partnership.

When a young Reggio "The Hoofer" McLaughlin first started tap dancing in Chicago, venues turned him away at the door, saying "we haven't booked a tap dancer since 1945!" In this conversation with his coworker Mareva Lindo, he talks about...

David Anderson (72) and Stef Leinwohl (73) discuss going to design school at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

Talked with Maureen Muckian about growing up in Chicago, Christmas holiday and childhood memories.

Lee Littlewood talks to Ann Littlewood about his mother, with their son Daniel facilitating the interview.

Musician and historian Stephen Wade talks with his friend Matt Brown about Stephen's musical beginnings, studying banjo with his mentor Fleming Brown in the 1970s, and his reflections on the Old Town School then and now. Since learning to play...

I got to interview my grandpa about the 1960’s. it was Avery informative and cool to learn more about his experiences during that time.

A conversation between Larry Rand & Skip Landt. This conversation was recorded at the school on July 26th, 2017. Go to www.oldtownschool.org/StoryCorps to hear selected excerpts from interviews collected as part of the StoryCorps-Old Town School partnership.

Katherine Noone Interviewing her 75 year old grandmother, Dolores Mirabelli

In this interview, conducted on December 2nd in plano, Texas, Ethan Fine (16) interviews his mother Suzanne (45) about her childhood and her life as a teenager in Morton Grove, Chicago. Suzanne shares about her her time in high school...

The activism happened inside the Astro Restaurant as well as outside. The waitresses were allies to the gay community.