Our school is a grade 6 through 12 public arts magnet school, made up of 580 students and 40 staff, in a fairly small community in SW Washington State. Students and staff will choose their own personal hero to interview for this project.

Katie Van Winkle is a senior at Oregon State University. She comes from a small rural community in Oregon and has won several regional and national writing awards. She is passionate about making the world a better place, advocating for victims of sexual violence, and standing up to fight injustice when she encounters it. She is passionate about horses and has been a rodeo court queen. She has traveled internationally, working with young people on military bases in Europe and Asia. She hopes to pursue a masters degree in counseling and eventually work with young people.

My grandmother Lillian

We plan to interview any LIFT Philadelphia clients, volunteers, and staff that feel comfortable sharing their story with us.

My father Merlo Irving Wells & family and friends that know him

I would like to begin by interviewing a young man I've known for over 6 years. Throughout the time I've known him, I've watched in amazement as life has thrown one curve ball after another at him, each of which he handled with a level of resilience I cannot begin to pretend to possess. From losing his mother, to repeatedly being forced out of school, to financial problems, to becoming a father, his life has certainly not been an easy one. He is currently serving time in a North Carolina state prison. I would love to document his story, as well as the stories of other inmates, in hopes to break down myths surrounding the stereotypes we hold of those who are involved in the criminal justice system.

I will interview Josefina Boitel, a 94-year old Cuban woman who lives in my neighborhood. Abandoning all sense of familiarity, Fina left revolutionary Cuba as a young woman in 1959, with her husband, children, and even a neighbor’s child who begged to come on the journey. Fina is now an elderly woman--alone, and nostalgic. After more than fifty years of living in the same apartment in Brooklyn, Fina is now being uprooted and moved to an elderly care facility in rural Pennsylvania so she can be closer to her daughter, Maria. After spending afternoons with Josefina Boitel, drinking Cuban coffee and eating fried plantains, I am anxious to continue probing my adopted Cuban grandmother about her life full of risk, transitions, and adventure.

On DreamDay, I deliberately made sure to visually capture the dreams of all sorts of individuals: from homeless men and women to corporate professionals. From 7 year old's to 78 year old's... From areas like Crown Heights to Murray Hill, as well as internationally from Bermuda to Bali. On Listening Day, I would like to make this opportunity available to as many individuals as possible, so that they may have the opportunity to document either 1: the stories of the actions they took to make their dreams come alive, or 2: the steps they intend to take to make a desired dream come true in the future. It is my hope that the stories of the past and future combined will serve as a symbolic gesture of what will constitute a brighter tomorrow.

When I met Mandy Flaming, we were both in our mid-twenties, newly married and enjoying life to the fullest. As we chatted and laughed together, music was always playing in the background. When Mandy was the first in our group of friends to get pregnant, we all watched and learned as she taught her babies to sleep through the night, fed them organic, homemade food, and raised chickens in her backyard. When her youngest child was diagnosed with Leukemia, her friends rallied around her family to give the support and encouragement she had always given us. All the while, there was sweet music accompanying their journey. I want to hear more about the ongoing soundtrack that Mandy has created as she blogs about her daughter's courageous battle.

Our goal is to gather stories from as broad an audience as possible: business owners and residents, office workers and children, first-time visitors and not-in-a-long-time visitors. We intend to post the stories on an interactive website and utilize the story format through subsequent phases of the planning process.

Nurses who practice holistic nursing and care for persons who have been hospitalized and/or transcended.

We will interview people that have overcome great challenges in life, be it health or otherwise. Families, Couples, Individuals that have used inner peace or spiritual awareness to find healing. The testimonials will be put online and sent out through various networks to promote the overall theme of peace.

We will interview historians and preservationists who inspire us by recording and preserving African American history in SC, GA and FL.

Foster children

Anyone who was had, does have, or knows someone who has been affected by Breast Cancer. Friends and Family members of suffers and survivors are welcome as well.

My students will interview other students, family members, those in their school, and community members. This will be a way of making learning personal to students, and both extending learning outside the classroom, as well as making it relevant to student lives. I hope for students to not only expand their own voices, but listen to the voices of others who will speak about their challenges and struggles to attain the America dream. As a teacher in an inner-city community of Los Angeles, I see the constant struggle of my students and their families. I hope for students to be able to find strength through their voices and through listening to the stories of others.

If I will receive the recording materials, I plan to use it in a gigantic program of finding refugees from Communist (and other) dictatorships living in New-York and the USA and record their survivors' experience for posterity. For unless we are aware of the crimes against Humanity we are condemned to repeat them. Thank you, Gabriel Gherasim

WInC staff will interview our participants.

I will interview my father.

about 10 members of the Eastside Community Center, Spokane, WA