Everyone has a story

Paschoa Rossetto has had a significant life. She grew up in the coffee fields of Brazil, where her father was a hired worker. She went to school when she could and managed to make it through fourth grade.

Her family was poor. Her father was abusive. But Rossetto grew up to be strong.

The importance of a life like hers might have gone unnoticed. Certainly no one had ever asked to record her memories for the Library of Congress — not, that is, until the fall of 2003, when a University of Utah student named Michelle Sparks began visiting Rossetto at her home in Salt Lake's multiethnic senior housing.

Sparks visited Rossetto every week for several months, recording the older woman's memories on a compact disc. They spoke in Rossetto's native Portuguese, the language that Sparks had learned on an LDS mission to Brazil.

At the end of the semester, Sparks transcribed their conversations and presented Rossetto with a bound volume. The book is the autobiography of Paschoa Rossetto, and it is a story of faith, dignity and hard work.

According to Meg Brady, a professor who teaches folklore at the University of Utah, and who started the memoir project, the encounter was as meaningful for Sparks as it was for Rossetto. When students befriend seniors, both lives are changed, Brady says.

The memoir program will expand this month to include all Utahns, of any age, who would like to record their life stories. Beginning Jan. 22, at the Museum of Utah Art & History on Salt Lake's Main Street, Brady will staff a recording studio. For only $10, anyone can be interviewed and come away with a CD-full of memories. If you allow them to, the staff will also send a copy of your CD to the Library of Congress — where it will be kept forever and made available to all Americans.

There is more. By next summer Brady hopes to have a "storymobile," an Airstream that goes around the state, hitting family reunions and burning CDs.

In the storymobile — or at the Museum of Utah Art & History — you can tell your story the way you want to tell it, Brady says. Family members can interview each other, or you can have a student interview each of you. You can answer questions that you've selected beforehand. Or you can just ramble.

Brady's seen these memoirs done in a variety of ways. Each CD is a rich addition to a family's history. Future generations will hear the stories, the memories, maybe even some family lullabies — all in the actual voice of their ancestor.

In Utah, where so many people are interested in genealogy and family history, the project seems like a natural. Brady often asks herself why it took her so long to get this going.