and how they want to be remembered.
(Applause)
Ten years ago, I recorded
a StoryCorps interview with my dad
who was a psychiatrist,
and became a well-known gay activist.
This is the picture
of us at that interview.
I never thought about that recording
until a couple of years ago,
when my dad, who seemed
to be in perfect health
and was still seeing patients
40 hours a week,
was diagnosed with cancer.
He passed away very suddenly
a few days later.
It was June 28, 2012,
the anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
I listened to that interview
for the first time at three in the morning
on the day that he died.
I have a couple of young kids at home,
and I knew that the only way
they were going to get to know this person
who was such a towering figure in my life
would be through that session.
I thought I couldn't believe in StoryCorps
any more deeply than I did,
but it was at that moment
that I fully and viscerally grasped
the importance of making these recordings.
Every day, people come up to me