The Life Stories Collection.

First Person Portraits

These are public radio stories made over many years by Jay Allison - working together with friends, colleagues, neighbors, strangers and whoever would take the loan of one of his tape recorders. They are stories about life as we find it and record it.

Many of these stories first aired on NPR's All Things Considered and on PRI's This American Life.

Featured Life Stories

Artists: Beginnings - A chorus of artists. They recall when they began.

Dad's Moving Out - There was a moment when Dan knew for sure his parents were splitting up. He remembers it clearly. His parents remember it clearly too, but differently. Produced with Daniel Robb.

Concerning Breakfast - A story about eating and not eating. Annie was volunteering at a public radio station. During her training she was told that asking people what they had for breakfast was a good way to set your recording levels and make sure the interview subjects were more comfortable. To Annie, what people had for breakfast was the most interesting part of the conversation. Produced with Annie Cheney.

Dad and Sam - Love and brotherhood. "Every year my father would go get Uncle Sam from the Delaware State Mental Hospital and bring him home for Christmas.."

Michael Baronowski, 1966, age 19.

Vietnam Tapes of Lance Corporal Michael A. Baronowski - In 1966, a 19 year-old marine took a reel-to-reel tape recorder with him into the Vietnam War. For two months, until he was killed in action, Michael Baronowski made 3-inch open reel tapes of his friends, of life in foxholes, of combat. Thirty-four years later, his friend and comrade Tim Duffe found those tapes. Produced by Christina Egloff with Jay Allison for the series Lost & Found Sound.

Artists: Rejection - A chorus of artists. They ponder why they keep going.

Trapeze - A father interviews his daughter while she's hanging upside down on her trapeze, about to fly away. There must be a metaphor in there somewhere. Produced with Jon Carroll.

Descended from the Holocaust - A physician in central Massachusetts borrows a tape recorder and accompanies his parents to the Holocaust Museum to talk about something they've never talked about before: their experience in the Nazi concentration camps. Produced with Dr. Alan Berkenwald.

Carmen's Grandmother - Carmen visits her grandmother in the nursing and remembers the love and racism of her childhood. Produced with Carmen Delzell.

Ghosts - Even though she's not sure there are, writer Carol Wasserman hopes there are ghosts next door. Produced with Viki Merrick.

Cypress Knees - The 70-year old King of the cypress swamp has trouble remembering exactly where he is, even as he scampers barefoot along a single board catwalk suspended above the slough. Mostly, though, we consider the beauty and wounds of life.