The StoryCorps booth is located within the WTC Path Terminal

July 26, 2005, would have marked Felicia Traylor-Bass's 42^nd birthday. Instead, she was among the almost 3,000 people killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attack on 9/11. Her husband, Andrew Bass, decided this year to commemorate the day by stepping into the soundproof studio of the newly opened StoryCorps booth in the WTC PATH station, where he recorded special memories of Felicia and reflected on the life they shared.

Inside the booth, StoryCorps workers Nora Levine and Justina Negias help Bass tell his story, with Levine asking questions and Negias operating the recording equipment. For the next 40 minutes, Bass speaks into a microphone, sharing anecdotes about his wife that will be recorded. A copy of the resulting CD is Bass's to keep. A second copy, with his permission, will be sent to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Bass begins by speaking about the nervous excitement he felt when he and Felicia first met -- on a blind date nearly 14 years ago. He remembers the movie they saw, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," and also that he was too shy to make any moves that night. Their first kiss would come when Felicia grabbed him impulsively in a supermarket aisle.

"We were opposites," Bass says. Felicia was outgoing; he was more reserved. She was into fitness; he was not. She was a morning person; he preferred to sleep late. She was the serious one; he liked to crack jokes and play around. But despite their differences, Bass recalls fondly, "We had great chemistry."

Moving along with the interview, Levine asks him to describe some of the best things about his wife. "Her strong will and the fact that she was so friendly and sociable," he says. "She had a really good outlook on life."

While most of the recording session covers happy memories of Felicia, Levine also asks him about the grieving process. "It was tough. The first year and a half was tough as hell," he says.

StoryCorps plans to collect more than 250,000 interviews nationally over the next ten years

Though Bass feels her loss intensely, Felicia's presence still looms large. "Even though she's not here anymore, in a lot of ways, she is," he says. "That zest and zeal for life has somehow zapped into [me]. I still have my fears, but I definitely have a different outlook on life. Even talking to people I don't know -- I know that's a direct result of Felicia. She was a very intelligent woman who taught me a lot of things about life."

Inside the studio, Bass chooses to capture memories of Felicia as well as the ways in which she touched his life. Like stepping into a time travel booth, participants can relive special memories of the lives shared with their loved ones, rather than focusing on the incredible loss. The experience is both an emotional outlet for the mourners and a way to create a historic record of lives lost.

"Coming up on four years after losing Felicia and losing so many of her friends, it's interesting to see how we are moving forward to remembering them," Bass says after his session ends. "We tend to forget the individual people in this tragedy and the people that live on with their tragedy. These stories are really a great way to do that."

StoryCorps is a national oral-history project designed to instruct and inspire Americans to record one another's stories in sound. In October 2003, StoryCorps opened its first booth in Grand Central Terminal, where 3,000 interviews have since been recorded. In addition, two StoryCorps "mobile booths" embarked on cross-country journeys in May, collecting the stories of Americans in towns and cities nationwide. The largest oral-history project ever undertaken, StoryCorps plans to collect more than 250,000 interviews over the next ten years.

The WTC PATH station booth, which opened on July 12, 2005, is StoryCorps' second free-standing booth. Here, sessions are reserved for those directly affected by the events of September 11. Boxes outside the booth let visitors listen to short excerpts of previously recorded interviews with family members of victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

The booth opened July 12, 2005

"It is our hope that we become part of the [permanent] memorial," says Marion Kahan, director of StoryCorps. "I'm touched by the responses. They have been generally positive and full of gratitude."

"We are finding out that just to sit there and talk about their loved ones is so powerful. It's a sacred experience where you have that opportunity," she adds. "Someone came in, and she booked back to back interviews. The first was somber, the second was talking about her husband -- her husband who was really funny, and did funny things. I think they somehow don't think they should talk about those things. I think people are prescribed that certain role as the grieving widow."

A StoryCorps interview is designed to provide an opportunity to ask someone the questions that never get asked because the occasion never arises. For this reason, participants are encouraged to visit the booth in pairs. "StoryCorps is about communication, it's about two people talking to each other and sharing a conversation," Kahan says.  

According to Kahan, though, the majority of visitors to the WTC booth so far have come alone. "We are finding that people are going by themselves because they don't understand that it would be better with someone else. They don't understand what the format will take, so they don't want to burden someone else with their emotions."

Kahan hopes that over time people will grow more comfortable visiting with friends and loved ones. "To be able to have that conversation is what we prefer," she says. "But if it's hard for them, our facilitators are prepared to do it themselves."

In addition to learning how to operate the booth and interview participants, facilitators at the WTC StoryCorps booth receive special grief training. It should be understood, though, that they are not trained psychologists, Kahan points out. They are simply there to listen, she adds. 

"It's a very pure way for people to remember people," Levine says. "We are separate from it. It's for the people who come here. They lead us."

For those interested in recording at the WTC StoryCorps booth, go to www.storycorps.net to schedule a reservation. Participants are asked to give a $10 donation.

Related Links