Earlier tonight, as part of the programming for K-State First Book, we were fortunate to hear Dave Isay speak about his work for StoryCorps and his edited collection of StoryCorps conversations, Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, the 2026 selection for the university’s common reading program.
750,000 conversations: That’s how many interviews have been archived at the U.S. Library of Congress and stored online since StoryCorps started in 2003. As its website explains, “StoryCorps is committed to the idea that everyone has an important story to tell and that everyone’s story matters.
StoryCorps is also “now the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered,” helping us understand our past as well as our present.
This evening, we learned that Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work takes its inspiration from the ground-breaking oral history projects of Studs Terkel. Like the interviews selected for Callings, Terkel’s collection of first-person narratives in Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (1974) provides us with self-portraits of everyday people as they reflect on their relationship to work.
Finding your own purpose and passion in work, Dave reminded us, is an amazing moment of revelation — and a journey he encourages everyone to pursue, so they can have that moment of joy.
In his closing remarks, Dave asked all of us to “Live with courage”: to find ways to listen to those around us and gain insight on ourselves and others.
At a moment in history when so much can divide us, we can take “One Small Step” and, as this StoryCorps program explains, “get to know each other as people.”
We can also start with those who are often right at hand — our families — and capture our conversations with them using the StoryCorps app or by participating in the Great Thanksgiving Listen.
Visit the StoryCorps website to listen to archived interviews or watch short animations of interviews — and our thanks to Dave for sharing some of his story with us as we reflect this fall on the purpose and passion of work.
— Karin Westman, PR/Events Committee Chair, K-State First Book & Department Head, English
