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By Brett Zongker, Associated Press
      

WASHINGTON (AP) - Yoko Ono and her son, Sean Lennon, are joining
a national oral history project that urges people to take time the
day after Thanksgiving for a 


      The recorded conversation between mother and son about their
lives will be broadcast Friday as part of the StoryCorps segment on
NPR's "Morning Edition." Organizers said Ono and her son find
similarities between their childhoods.

      This is the third year for the National Day of Listening, a
project that encourages people to record interviews with friends or
family members about their lives. New participants this year also
include U.S. Olympic athletes and staff at the Smithsonian's
National Museum of the American Indian as part of Native American
Heritage Day on Friday.


      KJ Jacks, 29, who has worked in special events since the museum
opened in 2004, said it was a chance to talk about the diversity
among Native Americans, including her own experience growing up
near Denver. She said it's important for people to know Native
people are part of everyday life and that "we don't all walk
around wearing buckskin dresses."


      "My father is full-blood Cherokee. I didn't meet him until I
was 16 years old. So my mom tried to get me interested in Indian
culture when I was young, and I wasn't having any of it - I was
rebelling," she said in her interview with a co-worker.


      Jacks explained that she grew up with a single mother of Irish
decent. It wasn't until she came to work for the museum that she
wanted to learn more about her Cherokee heritage and reconnect with
her father.


      "I feel like I have a very different background than a lot of
people who work in the museum, a lot of the Native people, because
I didn't grow up in it," she said after her story was recorded.
"I think it will be a good way to just understand how people
work."


      Free interview guides and sample questions are available online
or through an iPhone app from the New York-based StoryCorps
project.


      Former President George W. Bush helped jump-start the Day of
Listening in 2008 before leaving the White House by sitting down
for an interview with his sister, Dorothy Walker Bush Koch.


      Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected more than 30,000 interviews
across the country. The recordings are archived at the Library of
Congress.


      Founder Dave Isay said that during a time of much political and
cultural division, listening to one another can remind people "how
much more unites us than divides us."


      Curators at the American Indian museum may consider a larger
oral history effort and are encouraging indigenous people to record
their stories.


      The museum wants to have Native American communities more
involved in developing its content to help redefine how they are
represented, director Kevin Gover said in an interview he recorded
for StoryCorps.


      He also showed how the interviews can reveal very personal
details. Gover, who is of Pawnee decent, spoke about his life
growing up with an alcoholic father and his own struggles with
alcoholism.


      "In my career as a drinker, I still have memories that I
shudder over, things that I did, and I just wish I could take them
back," he said. "So that's reason enough for me never to drink
again."

Gallery

Yoko Ono and her son, Sean Lennon, are joining
a national oral history project that urges people to take time the day after Thanksgiving for a National Day of Listening with their
friends and loved ones. Ono and Lennon's conversation will air Friday on NPR's Morning Edition program.

Yoko Ono interviews son for 'Day of Listening'

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