I don't tell stories. I let 'em tell theyselves.

Jane, in New Columbia the night the girls practiced their oral history recitations. They are 12 and 13 and 16, and they spent a year learning how to interview. Then they knocked on a neighbor's door, said tell me about your childhood, your struggle, your secret hope. Saturday night, the girls will read edited transcriptions from 20 of the residents, the story of the community in miniature.