A conversation with folklorists Michael and Carrie Kline and educator Doug Selwyn considering how to invite people best to tell the stories that matter to them, on their terms, without asking leading questions or causing anxiety or discomfort in the storyteller. The Klines, who recently returned to the area after thirty years of story-gathering, music-making, and community-building primarily in West Virginia, have rapidly settled back in among locals and have helped the towns of Northfield and Deerfield surface stories of their histories as they celebrate anniversaries of their founding. Selwyn, a retired K-12 teacher and university professor of education, frequently used oral history and story-telling/story-gathering processes in his classrooms from third grade to graduate school.