Latest news with #oralhistory
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
'Police used to chase me': Seniors in UAE recount early days in book titled 'story lines'
A boy who helped run Abu Dhabi's first cinema at age 12. A civil servant who once crossed a desert road with passport control between Dubai and the capital. A man who's worked under a single UAE employer for more than 50 years. These are just a few of the voices featured in Story Lines. The new book captures the memories and milestones of 27 senior citizens and long-time residents who helped shape the UAE's early decades, long before it became the global nation it is today. Launched last week at an event by AmCham Abu Dhabi in partnership with Uhibbook Publishing, the collection is the result of a two-year community storytelling initiative aimed at combating senior isolation and preserving the nation's oral history. 'The idea began as a volunteering programme to engage retired professionals who were facing social isolation, even though many had family and friends,' said Mehnaz Anshah, co-founder of Uhibbook. The seniors from UAE, India, Jordan, the UK, and other countries shared their recollections through handwritten notes, voice recordings and in-person interviews. Volunteers, many of them youth recruited via helped collect and transcribe their narratives. 'There was no template. Some stories arrived as voice notes; others were scribbled in Arabic. It was a mosaic of formats and languages,' said Uhibbook co-founder Sadia Anwar. Among the storytellers is Dr Ahmed Al Khoori, who recalls a barefoot boyhood in Abu Dhabi in the 1950s, when fresh water was drawn from shallow wells and school involved sharing textbooks between five children. By the age of 12, he was helping run the emirate's first cinema with his uncle. By 14, he was working in what would become Adnoc. 'I used to wear shoes only during class,' he recalled. 'During break I'd take them off — the sand was softer.' He remembers helping dig wells for water and learning to shoot pigeons with an air rifle; a gift from his father. 'The police used to chase me,' he laughed, 'but they never caught me. Their guns were too heavy, and I was faster.' Encouraged by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan to prioritise education, Al Khoori went on to study in the UK, earn a doctorate, and train generations of young Emiratis as an engineer and mentor. At 75, he continues to collect artefacts and has amassed more than 10,000 items, with plans to open a private museum. For Rashad Bukhash, another featured storyteller and chairman of the UAE Architectural Heritage Society, the book is a call to preserve more than just buildings. 'Writing down our stories is very important,' said Bukhash, who began journaling his life as a schoolboy in the 1960s and has since published more than 40 books. 'It's not just about individuals, it's the story of the country, of the human being, of how far we've come.' He reminisces about playing football with neighbourhood children, collecting stamps from market trash bins, and catching hundreds of bats with istikanas and an air gun in a local abandoned house. 'I think that was a Guinness world record,' he joked. One of his most vivid memories dates back to his first visit to Abu Dhabi in 1968: 'When we reached Seih Shuaib, the border between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, there was passport control. It was Eid Al Fitr, and the journey felt endless.' Another contributor, Farooq Musba, 76, left India for Dubai in 1973 before being transferred to Abu Dhabi, where he has remained under the same company ever since. 'I've been with Abdullah Hussain & Sons for over 50 years,' said Musba. 'My children were born and raised here, and now they work here too. Abu Dhabi is my home.' Musba raised nine children in the capital, all of whom completed their studies here. 'No one has gone back to India,' he said. 'We are settled. My daughters married engineers and accountants. My boys are working in government departments and private companies. One of them even opened his own business.' Though nearing 80, he still walks to work daily. 'In summer, winter — same no problem,' he said. 'I don't feel old. If I go with the children, I still play sports. My hair is grey, but my heart is young.' The project also underscores how cultural documentation can foster intergenerational understanding. 'You read the story of the people, and on another hand, the story of the country,' said Bukhash. 'There are lessons to teach your children, your friends.' For AmCham Abu Dhabi, which helped facilitate connections and amplify the project through its Arts, Culture and Education Committee, the initiative reflects its broader mission of community cohesion. 'We are proud to support initiatives that celebrate the diverse voices that contribute to the fabric of our community,' said chair Lina El Labban Lampkin. 'The stories reflect the spirit of unity, respect and shared progress that defines Abu Dhabi.' The publication is available for purchase on Uhibbook's website for Dh250, with plans to distribute it to local bookstores and institutions in the coming months. Anwar said they've already seen interest from corporates seeking meaningful gifts and from educational and cultural institutions. 'This was a huge experiment,' Anshah concluded, 'we didn't know how to do this — no one had. But we need these voices. And we hope this is just the beginning.'
New York Times
10-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Cubs players young and old keep oral history tradition of baseball alive
CHICAGO — When Craig Counsell was a fresh-faced rookie second baseman with the 1997 Florida Marlins, the veterans had a postgame routine. Win or lose, they would gravitate to the training room and talk about what just happened on the field. 'Or just bull—-ing,' Counsell said. 'But in between the chatter was talk about baseball.' Advertisement That was a team loaded with veterans, such as Darren Daulton, Bobby Bonilla and Gary Sheffield. The Marlins went on to win the World Series and Counsell famously scored the winning run in Game 7. Those BS sessions are where Counsell, now the Chicago Cubs manager, got his education about baseball. 'It's where you learn how to act, it's where you learn about the highest level of the game, it's where you learn what not to do, it's where you learn what you want to do,' Counsell said. 'You learn there's an oral history to the game and how you will be treated. … Often, how you are treated as a younger player is how you're going to treat the next generation behind you.' Twenty-eight seasons later, despite all the advancements in technology that allow us to shelter ourselves from the outside world, the oral history of the game is still being passed down in training rooms, dugouts, clubhouses and team planes. Perhaps nowhere more than with Counsell's Cubs, where the old players and young players are treating each other pretty good these days. 'I know, like, it's a little thing, but I know a flight attendant who worked one of our flights recently,' Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon told me the other day. 'She had also worked flights for a different team and she's like, 'You guys are so much more interactive. You are all talking to each other.' I was like, 'Oh, what does the other team do?' She said the minute they get on the flight, it's headphones. No one interacts. For us, we have guys going up and down the aisle. Everyone's just moving around, talking, it's cool.' Justin Turner, Taillon and Ben Brown were recently sitting around discussing how Nolan Ryan's career spanned from the late 1960s through the early 1990s, which got them into a deeper conversation. 'We were talking about that in the locker room actually, just like how closely connected you are in baseball,' Taillon said. 'We did it with Justin Turner. You can connect him to (Hall of Fame pitcher) Robin Roberts through like five or six dudes. (Roberts) played in the '40s and '50s. That's something I hope never gets lost in baseball, just understanding the history and how closely connected we are to each other.' Advertisement Roberts pitched 19 years, starting in 1948 and finishing in 1966. It took me a few minutes to make a connection between him and Turner, and it only took three players. Roberts finished his career with the 1966 Cubs and he pitched with Fergie Jenkins, who came back to the Cubs at the end of his career and pitched in 1983 in front of a second baseman named Ryne Sandberg, who finished his Cubs career in 1997, when a 26-year-old pitcher named Miguel Batista appeared in 11 games (getting tagged with an 0-5 record). Batista was a 40-year-old reliever on the 2011 Mets with Turner. Turner and Taillon talked about the oldest guys they played with, and although Cubs pitcher Drew Pomeranz wasn't in that conversation, he noted he would win that competition. 'Jamie Moyer,' he said. 'I was there for his 49-year-old win.' A 23-year-old Pomeranz started 22 games for the 2012 Rockies and was locker neighbors with the almost-50 Moyer, who broke into the majors with the 1986 Cubs. Moyer led Pomeranz around, showed him the ropes and wasn't shy about sharing his advice and stories of a lifetime in the game. 'They would just come out of him, you didn't have to ask,' he said. Something Moyer might've learned from Rick Sutcliffe or Dennis Eckersley on the Cubs almost 40 years ago could be passed down today on a pitching staff that includes seven pitchers between the ages of 33 and 38 and young starters such as Brown (25) and Cade Horton (23) and up-and-coming closer Daniel Palencia (25). Pomeranz credits advice Randy Wolf gave him about keeping a mental checklist on the mound. Taillon said Gerrit Cole, a contemporary in Pittsburgh and New York, taught him about creating a weekly routine. I got the idea for this column after hearing about how Taillon and fellow veteran Matt Boyd were teaching younger Cubs pitchers to chart pitches, which is apparently a lost art these days. 'When we were in the minor leagues, the day after you pitched, you did the computer in the stands,' Taillon said. 'Day two, you did video. Day three, you'd chart in the dugout. Every day as a starter, you were working during the game, and it taught me a lot about watching the game, not just sitting there and wasting time in the dugout. … I think it's less about doing a chart, more about let's see if we can learn how to watch what's going on. I think that's true in life, in general.' Advertisement When we talked, Taillon had just returned from throwing a bullpen session, and he noted that Brown and Horton probably stopped to watch because they saw Boyd there. 'Now, when we're out there for the game today, they might want to ask me questions about what I was working on or what I was doing, which is really cool,' he said. Taillon noted that he takes in as much as he gives out from younger players, particularly when it comes to things like nutrition and training techniques, which have evolved since his days as a high schooler in Texas. 'You get on the right team with the right guys and it's like I want to talk pitching with Ben Brown because he's such a great dude,' he said. Brown feels the same way. 'We're just constantly in conversation,' he said. 'Whether he's asking me questions or I'm asking him. I feel like our relationship is so unique and special in that way, and he's so humble that he would want to listen to what I have to say about something.' Palencia credits conversations he's had with guys like Pomeranz and Ryan Pressly, whose job he took, with helping him figure out how to do a very stressful job. 'Drew and Pressly, we talk about the game a lot,' Palencia said. 'Every time we're watching games, we talk, like what you can do in this situation. If you got a two-run lead, you can just attack here because a solo homer is not going to beat you, don't let the games speed you up, stuff like that.' Taillon said during a game, infielders like Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner will come up to him and talk about pitches he threw. Palencia said Turner gave him confidence after he blew a save in Miami. 'It's easy for some position players to be worried about their at-bats or whatever,' Taillon said. 'Our guys are invested in everything.' Last week, we were talking to Javy Báez in the visiting dugout on the South Side. I told him how Pete Crow-Armstrong, whom he was traded for in 2021, said he used to watch Báez's base running as a learning tool. Báez, the wild-swinging baseball artist, broke into the majors 11 years ago and is now the veteran on a young, first-place team. Advertisement 'It feels great, honestly, that people look up to me,' he said. 'But what I tell young guys is to not copy but to take some stuff from the players that they look up to and just do it yourself with your style. And if it works, you gotta keep using it.' Crow-Armstrong (23) and Matt Shaw (23) don't have to look far for role models in their clubhouse. Swanson, Hoerner, Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker, Seiya Suzuki, on and on. Everyone has something to offer. 'The more different guys you're around, the different organizations you're in, you see different ways and styles of doing things, and you kind of cherry-pick the stuff that you like and that applies to you and that you think you can use to make you a better player,' Turner said. Counsell remembers how a veteran hitter he played with in Arizona showed him how to anticipate pitchers' patterns. 'My favorite guy to just be around hitting was Mark Grace,' he said. 'It was just very simple for him, and the way he communicated it was very simple, and really it was helpful for me.' While it's his job to run the team, Counsell is self-aware enough to know that some of the best advice and encouragement comes from teammates, not coaches and managers. But on occasion, he will offer his two cents. 'We faced (Justin) Verlander the other day and they pulled a clip of Counsell's homer off Verlander,' Turner said. 'He said, 'Look guys, if I can do it …'' (Top photo of Justin Turner talking with Matt Shaw: Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images)
BBC News
09-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
New historic audio archive tells stories of rural life on Exmoor
Interview recordings that capture personal stories and pivotal moments in Exmoor's history have been published for the first audio was recorded between 2000 and 2002 by archivist Birdie Johnson, to capture life at the national recordings are now available to listen to on the South West Heritage Trust's website and cover topics ranging from farming and mole catching to the Lynmouth flood in 1952 and the formation of the new National Park Johnson, who is from Exmoor, said: "As my father got older, we would sit at the table talking about his life. I used to say 'I must record you'. Then he died and I never had. That's how I got interested in oral history." The Exmoor Oral History Archive features 78 interviews, totalling more than 200 hours, and covers both the North Devon and West Somerset sides of the national recordings include memories stretching back to before World War One, offering insights into local life and work, which for many began when they were 14. There are also stories about how women used to do their laundry in iron furnaces over the fire and gave birth at home. The audio comes with black and white portraits of the interviewees by taken by photographer Mark J Rattenbury."It's not just a personal vanity thing, it's enormously useful and valuable to researchers and people chasing family connections," Ms Johnson said."Those recordings are going to be preserved forevermore and when formats change they will be automatically upgraded. It's a huge thing." 'Labour of love' Ms Johnson said that after her father died, she trained to become an oral archive was originally recorded as part of a Dulverton and District Civic Society project to capture for posterity life on Exmoor at the turn of the century."It gradually built up. What I thought would be a small project became a really established one, with the Civic Society behind us," she added."It was very egalitarian and democratic. Our cart went around all of Exmoor, into post offices and community centres, asking people to suggest people and why."It was a labour of love."South West Heritage Trust archivist Liz Grant added: "The contributors – farmers, doctors, teachers, postmen, local councillors and more – reveal a deep connection to Exmoor, with recollections that highlight strong community ties."It's incredibly exciting... to know that the archive will now be safeguarded, not only for future generations but forever."
Fox News
06-06-2025
- General
- Fox News
Remembering The Incredible Heroism On D-Day
As Americans and other countries involved commemorate the 81st anniversary of D-Day, Martha takes a look back at her conversation with historian and journalist Garrett Graff about the unsung heroes of the day. He highlights his book, 'When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day, ' which honors D-Day with stories of military and human triumphs. Garret shares with Martha some of the powerful interviews he conducted, remembering those who demonstrated courage and bravery on June 6th, 1944. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Casualties in Trump's war on the arts: the small museums keeping local history alive
For the past two years, a small arts non-profit has been telling stories about the communities living alongside the Los Angeles river, one voice at a time. The organization, called Clockshop, has collected the oral histories of nearly 70 local residents, activists and elected officials. Their knowledge is compiled in a vast cultural atlas – which contains videos, an interactive map and a self-guided tour exploring the waterway and its transformation from a home for the Indigenous Tongva people to a popular, rapidly gentrifying urban space. But in April, the future of the ever-growing atlas was thrown in uncertainty, when a three-year federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the agency that supports libraries, archives and museums, was terminated 17 months early. The grant, originally for $150,000, still had $20,000 left to pay out. 'There is no recourse to recover the funds still in the grant project activities,' the organization said in a post on Instagram. Now, executive director Sue Bell Yank says their mission to preserve the stories of residents ousted by gentrification could lead to 'erasure of the past, of cultural self-determination, and a lack of understanding about how communities can successfully advocate for the kinds of neighborhoods we deserve'. Clockshop's post foreshadowed an alarming message that would eventually be delivered to hundreds of other arts and cultural institutions across the US. As the Trump administration directed federal agencies to cancel grants that did not support the president's new priorities, which focused on funding 'projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity' and targeted anything broadly deemed 'DEI' (diversity, equity and inclusion), millions of dollars dedicated to preserving local history and culture suddenly disappeared. Shortly after IMLS grants were terminated, so too were those awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). By Friday 2 May, a spreadsheet created by writer and theater director Annie Doren was being passed around the internet, aiming to catalog every organization that had lost their NEA funding. With more than 500 organizations on the list, the question shifted from who lost their funding to who didn't. While organizations of all kinds were impacted, it is the small and midsized institutions that lack endowments, prominent donors, and broad outreach whose futures are particularly in jeopardy. The cuts have affected a broad swath of projects – from a documentary film-maker in Fresno making a film about a woman who has played Harriet Tubman in civil war reenactments for 30 years; to a dance performance about south-east Asian mothers in New York City, to an organization that brings films, book clubs and other cultural events to rural Montana. Rick Noguchi who runs a non-profit called California Humanities, said he has seen the 112 NEH grants it awarded across the state suspended indefinitely by the Trump administration. 'There are many newer immigrant communities that don't have deep donors and struggle with being able to find individual donors that step in to tell their stories.' Back in Los Angeles, the cuts have blanketed cultural institutions with feelings of anxiety and urgency. But their leaders are also fighting back, vowing to continue the work of preserving local history in spite of the administration's threats to revoke non-profit status if they continue to champion DEI programs. The Japanese American National Museum (JANM), an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood that focuses on the history, culture and legacy of Japanese immigrants, initially lost grants that amounted to roughly $1.45m – though some have since been temporarily restored after a court order. Among those cut was a NEH landmarks of American history and culture grant, which funded a workshop helping teachers build a curriculum about the history of Japanese incarceration during the second world war. JANM CEO Ann Burroughs said that the program benefits approximately 20,000 students a year. 'It was very much to ensure that the history was never forgotten,' Burroughs said about the museum's mission and outreach. 'It was also to ensure that what happened to Japanese Americans never happened to anybody else.' Los Angeles's One Institute, which houses the largest queer archive in the world, also uses their collection to help educate others on queer history and marginalization. They lost a $15,000 NEA grant to support their upcoming annual festival in October, and now they are scrambling to hold fundraisers to keep the festival on track. Tony Valenzuela, the organization's executive director, said that their event is important because it covers a gap in education. 'Even in liberal states like California, only a fraction of students learn about the contributions of queer people to society,' Valenzuela said. 'If the government abandons funding non-profits and other individuals and organizations providing a social good, this country will also be abandoning whole swaths of its citizens who greatly benefit from this work.' Another organization that was hit hard was the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), which operates the Skid Row History Museum & Archive, located just a few blocks north of the neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles. They lost four grants administered by IMLS, NEH, and California Humanities, and are unlikely to receive an NEA grant that normally keeps the organization running – a total value of nearly $144,000 dollars, or 22% of the organization's annual budget. Like Clockshop, the LAPD's exhibitions, public programs and archives chart the ways Skid Row has been transformed – and nearly erased – due to development and gentrification. 'Not everyone sees Skid Row as a community, let alone a thriving arts community,' said Henry Apodaca, LAPD's media archivist. 'This is a critical counter narrative to popular narratives that we've all been inundated with when talking about Skid Row.' One of the terminated grants was an IMLS grant for small museums, which was being used to support a project called Welcome to the Covid Hotel. The project, named for the temporary medical treatment centers that popped up in vacant hotels during the pandemic to care for unhoused people, culminated in an exhibition and a series of theatrical performances based on interviews with patients, nurses and social workers. 'There's stories of people coming in blind and getting cataract surgeries,' explains LAPD's co-founder and artistic director, John Malpede. 'Someone with gangrene needed to have his legs amputated, and it saved his life. And most people got and accepted some form of next-step housing.' Malpede's performance is a creative way for policymakers to notice the Covid Hotels' impact and potentially make the sites into permanent fixtures. When the grants were canceled, LAPD was still waiting on more than $38,000 to come through: money that was supposed to pay venues, crew and performers for events that took place in April, as well as upcoming performances in May and June, and a forthcoming publication. While LAPD aims to move forward with their plans, they are uncertain on how to fund it. After going public on social media, private donors have since stepped up to help the JANM and Clockshop recoup their losses. LAPD and the One Institute, however, are still looking for support. Without this funding, not only could the non-profits disband, but also the communities that have flourished as a result of their work. As Malpede warns: 'It's only because of the neighborhood standing up and using its own history that it continues to be present.'
