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Posts: 3898
Feb 20 12 9:50 PM
But, you know, Danny really personifies so much of what StoryCorps stands for. Here was a guy—and actually, they prettied him up in this animation. He was five-feet tall. He was bald. He had one snaggletooth and crossed eyes. But he had more romance in his little pinky than all of Hollywood’s leading men put together. And this is—you know, and Annie used to say that people would make fun of Danny. They’d look at him. They’d roll their eyes. And all he wanted to do was be heard. And this is the kind of beauty and, as I said before, and poetry we find when we take the time to listen. That’s what StoryCorps is about. It’s what Democracy Now! is about. I mean, this is—I think, at its core, what StoryCorps says, you know, underneath it all, is that every life matters equally. And what I hope we do is create a country that—or help move the country a little bit in the direction towards recognizing the value in everybody’s story, the importance of listening.
n this Valentine’s Day, we turn now to the voices of ordinary Americans talking about love. They are collected in a new book from the award-winning national social history project, StoryCorps. The book, "All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps," showcases the most memorable narratives from nearly 40,000 recorded interviews where love is the central theme interweaving two lives together. "I think one of the messages of StoryCorps is to remember to say the things to the people who you love today, and not to wait," says StoryCorps founder Dave Isay. We also air some of Isay’s favorite recordings about love, including this message from a husband to a wife as they look back on their life together in his final days with terminal cancer: "My dearest wife: This is a very special day. It is a day on which we share our love, which still grows after all these years. Now that love is being used by us to sustain us through these hard times. All my love, all my days, and more. Happy Valentine’s Day." AMY GOODMAN: So, this is Danny and Annie. They’re Brooklyn residents, looking back on their— DAVE ISAY: First date, yes. AMY GOODMAN: —life together, from their first date to Danny’s final days with terminal cancer. This story released with animation. Go ahead. DANNY PERASA: She started to talk. And I said, "Listen, I’m going to deliver a speech." I said, "At the end, you’re going to want to go home." I said, "You represent a dirty four-letter word." I said, "That word is 'love.'" I says, "If we’re going anywhere, we’re going down the aisle, because I’m too tired, too sick and too sore to do any other damn thing." And she turned around, and she said, "Of course I’ll marry you." Then, the next morning I called her as early as I possibly could. ANNIE PERASA: And he always gets up early. DANNY PERASA: To make sure she hadn’t changed her mind. And she hadn’t. And every year on April 22nd, around 3:00, I call her and ask her, if it was today, would she do it again? And so far, the answer has been the same. ANNIE PERASA: Yeah, 25 times, yes. DANNY PERASA: You see, the thing of it is, I always feel guilty when I say "I love you" to you, and I say it so often. I say it to remind you that, as dumpy as I am, it’s coming from me. It’s like hearing a beautiful song from a busted old radio, and it’s nice of you to keep the radio around the house. ANNIE PERASA: If I don’t have a note on the kitchen table, I think there’s something wrong. You write a love letter to me every morning. DANNY PERASA: Well, the only thing that could possibly be wrong is I couldn’t find a silly pen. ANNIE PERASA: "To my princess, the weather out today is extremely rainy. I’ll call you at 11:20 in the morning." DANNY PERASA: It’s a romantic weather report. ANNIE PERASA: "And I love you. I love you. I love you." DANNY PERASA: When a guy is happily married, no matter what happens at work, no matter what happens in the rest of the day, there’s a shelter when you get home. There’s a knowledge, knowing that you can hug somebody without them throwing you down the stairs and saying, "Get your hands off me!" And being married is like having a color television set. You never want to go back to black-and-white. DAVE ISAY: So, Amy, this is—on the animation now, it says, "Danny and Annie spent 27 happy years together. In January of 2006, Danny was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A few weeks later, Danny and Annie recorded one last interview together from their living room in their home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn." ANNIE PERASA: The illness is not hard on me. It’s just, you know, the finality of it. And him, he goes along like a trooper. DANNY PERASA: Listen, even downhill a car doesn’t roll unless it’s pushed. And you’re giving me a great push. The deal of it is, we try to give each other hope—and not hope that I’ll live; hope that you’ll do well after I pass, hope that people will support her, hope that if she meets somebody and likes him, she marries him. ANNIE PERASA: Yeah, he has everything planned. You know. DANNY PERASA: I’m working on her. She said—it was her call—she wants to walk out behind the casket alone. I guess that’s the way to do it, because when we were married, you know how your brother takes you down, your father takes you down? She said, "Well, I don’t know which of my brothers to walk in with. I don’t want to offend anybody." I says, "I got a solution." I said, "You walk in with me. You walk out with me." And the other day, I said, "Who’s going to walk down the aisle with you behind the casket?" You know, to support her. And she said, "Nobody. I walked in with you alone. I’m walking out with you alone." ANNIE PERASA: Mm-hmm. DANNY PERASA: There’s a thing in life, where you have to come to terms with dying. Well, I haven’t come to terms with dying yet. I want to come to terms with being sure that you understand that my love for you up to this point was as much here as it could be and as much as it could be for eternity. I always said the only thing I have to give you is a poor gift and it’s myself. And I always gave it. And if there’s a way to come back and give it, I’ll do that, too. Do you have the Valentine’s Day letter there? ANNIE PERASA: Yeah. "My dearest wife: This is a very special day. It is a day on which we share our love, which still grows after all these years. Now that love is being used by us to sustain us through these hard times. All my love, all my days, and more. Happy Valentine’s Day." DANNY PERASA: I could write on and on about her. She lights up the room in the morning when she tells me to put both hands on her shoulders so she can support me. She lights up my life when she says to me at night, "Wouldn’t you like a little ice cream?" or "Would you please drink more water?" I mean, those aren’t very romantic things to say, but they stir my heart. In my mind, in my heart, there has never been, there is not now, and never will be, another Annie. DAVE ISAY: So, Amy, then, in the animation, it tells us that Danny and Annie recorded that on a Thursday. The next Friday, it aired on public radio, and Danny died about two hours after the broadcast. Annie got thousands of letters from public radio listeners. She carried one with—she buried one with Danny. She carried one with her behind the casket, one copy of the letters. And still to this day, she reads a letter a day, instead of the letter she would have gotten from [Danny]. So, you know, Danny and Annie, they—that first interview was recorded within the first weeks after we opened the StoryCorps booth. And, you know, I— AMY GOODMAN: How did they discover it? This was at Grand Central? DAVE ISAY: They—yeah, they came to the booth. AMY GOODMAN: Grand Central in New York City. DAVE ISAY: Grand Central Terminal. AMY GOODMAN: You had a little kind of a camper— DAVE ISAY: Yeah, well, no, the— AMY GOODMAN: —set up there, a booth. DAVE ISAY: It was a little booth, and then we started—we launched these Airstream trailers that travel the country. And, you know, they came back over and over again. Danny brought every character he had ever met—Major League umpires and undercover narcotics detectives, everybody. And they read their love letters to each other over and over again. And we ended up naming the booth for them. But, you know, Danny really personifies so much of what StoryCorps stands for. Here was a guy—and actually, they prettied him up in this animation. He was five-feet tall. He was bald. He had one snaggletooth and crossed eyes. But he had more romance in his little pinky than all of Hollywood’s leading men put together. And this is—you know, and Annie used to say that people would make fun of Danny. They’d look at him. They’d roll their eyes. And all he wanted to do was be heard. And this is the kind of beauty and, as I said before, and poetry we find when we take the time to listen. That’s what StoryCorps is about. It’s what Democracy Now! is about. I mean, this is—I think, at its core, what StoryCorps says, you know, underneath it all, is that every life matters equally. And what I hope we do is create a country that—or help move the country a little bit in the direction towards recognizing the value in everybody’s story, the importance of listening.
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