The PADUCAH LIFE Magazine – WKMS This I Believe Project
September through February, 2009
Cash gifts totaling $1000 to be distributed in February, 2009
PADUCAH LIFE Magazine readers and WKMS listeners are invited to submit their own 500-word essays based on the premise, This I Believe, here at www.wkms.org. Essay-Writing Tips will prompt your imagination. Contribute an Essay sends your writing directly to This I Believe, Inc., the company in Louisville, Kentucky that screens all essays for possible use on National Public Radio. This I Believe in the Classroom gives high school and university teachers' curriculum guides for incorporating the This I Believe essay as a personal narrative writing assignment in classes.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of this project,” said Darlene Mazzone, president of Mazzone Communications and publisher of PADUCAH LIFE Magazine. “I am a huge fan of this program. Consequently, we were delighted when WKMS decided to initiate a similar project here locally. In addition to the request for essays, we are also implementing the introduction of the This I Believe program into local schools for use in English and writing classes. That is even more gratifying for me personally; to know that we are aiding in emphasizing the creativity and writing skills of local students.”
In the 1940s and ‘50s, Americans faced difficult questions and challenges similar to those facing us today, as they entered a new era brought about by a series of historical events, including the onset of the Cold War, McCarthyism, and racial tensions. Within this context, radio pioneer and legend Edward R. Murrow saw an opportunity to engage Americans and encourage them to communicate openly about the beliefs and values that guide them through life. In 1951, he launched a project whose main objective was “to point to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization.” That project was This I Believe.
This I Believe asked Americans from all walks of life to express in a short essay the basic values by which they lived. Murrow created five-minute radio segments that included the essays being read by the essayists themselves. The project was an amazing success. Essayists included Presidents Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover, Helen Keller, Jackie Robinson, and Albert Einstein. The words expressed by famous and everyday Americans alike brought comfort to a country troubled by the state of affairs at that time
The PADUCAH LIFE Magazine – WKMS This I Believe Project's purpose is to generate more writings from our region by people who are our neighbors, establishing a common meeting ground of expression. You are an active region of writers, including students in the Murray State University Low Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing, the Paducah Writers Group, and Guerilla Poetry. Think about the literary output of authors from our region, like Bobbie Ann Mason, Irvin Cobb, Judge Bill Cunningham, Callie Khouri and many others.
This I Believe launched on National Public Radio in April 2005 and has collected more than 10,000 personal essays since then. NPR airs a selected essay each Sunday on Weekend Edition Sunday (heard Sundays from 8 to 10 a.m. on WKMS) and then again on Monday's All Things Considered (heard daily on WKMS starting at 4 p.m.).
Essays for the PADUCAH LIFE Magazine and WKMS This I Believe Project will be accepted through November and all submissions will be eligible for a drawing for cash awards in February. Some of the essays will be aired on WKMS, published in PADUCAH LIFE Magazine, and performed at a public reading. Each is automatically submitted for consideration to the nationally-broadcast program, This I Believe.
