http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog Hundreds of Essays and Interviews to Help You Read and Write Memoirs Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:39:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 2006-2007 jerrywaxler@yahoo.com (Jerry Waxler) jerrywaxler@yahoo.com (Jerry Waxler) Self-help 1440 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/LearnMemoirCoverFront-small.jpg http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog 144 144 Reading and writing memoirs. Record the Stories of Your Life, tips, how-to, memoir book reviews, by Jerry Waxler memoir, writers, self-help, book-reviews, essays Jerry Waxler Jerry Waxler jerrywaxler@yahoo.com no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/spirituality-shaolin-pt3/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/spirituality-shaolin-pt3/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:01:56 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=676 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/spirituality-shaolin-pt3/feed/ 0 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-commune-civic-engagement/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-commune-civic-engagement/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:24:03 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=524 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-commune-civic-engagement/feed/ 7 0:08:33 Frank Schaeffer's memoir reminds me that the solution may already be locked away in the memories of millions of boomers who at one time were an idealistic bunch, trying to find new ways to work together to solve the world's problems. By resurrecting[...] Frank Schaeffer's memoir reminds me that the solution may already be locked away in the memories of millions of boomers who at one time were an idealistic bunch, trying to find new ways to work together to solve the world's problems. By resurrecting our former passion for groups, we may be able to solve Robert Putnam's civic disintegration as well as the boomer drain on society. 60's, Boomers, Philosophy Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/stories-wisdom-aging/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/stories-wisdom-aging/#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 12:36:12 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=490 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/stories-wisdom-aging/feed/ 2 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/fugitive-days-memoir-vietnam/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/fugitive-days-memoir-vietnam/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:46:52 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=435 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/fugitive-days-memoir-vietnam/feed/ 2 0:09:09 by Jerry Waxler In the 60′s, I vigorously protested the Vietnam War, but like most Americans I thought the organization called the Weather Underground had gone too far. Without knowing many details, I associated them with violent, irrational e[...] by Jerry Waxler In the 60′s, I vigorously protested the Vietnam War, but like most Americans I thought the organization called the Weather Underground had gone too far. Without knowing many details, I associated them with violent, irrational extremism. So I was surprised to hear that one of the founders of that organization was not only a free man. He was an acclaimed educator. I first heard about Bill Ayers during the 2008 presidential campaign when television ads implied that Ayers’ criticism of U.S. policy in Vietnam somehow tainted Barack Obama. The publicity intrigued me. I wanted to know more. After hearing an excellent radio interview with Bill Ayers, I decided to read his memoir “Fugitive Days.” Reading the book prodded me to review rusty old parts of my own beliefs. When Ayers was a young man, his outrage against the war drove him to the brink of anarchy. In his memoir, “Fugitive Days,” he chronicles his violent thoughts and actions in almost poetic detail. Even after reading the memoir, it’s hard for me to decide if he was a hero who risked his life to save the world from the insanity of war, or a mad child, a criminal, bent on imposing his will on society. And therein lays the power of the memoir. It shows his world as it was, not as it ought to have been, allowing me to see for myself and ask my own questions. The description of life through his eyes provided a deeper understanding of the world than I could gain from sound bites and stereotypes. Are young people idealistic or simple minded? When I was young, adults taught me that people are supposed to be kind, generous, and empathetic. I desperately wanted to live in a world driven by these ideals. Too often, the difference between the world they preached and the one they actually offered made me angry. So I protested, trying to badger them into following their own principles. However, demanding change turned out to be far more complex than I first had hoped. After I participated in my first riot, I realized I was contributing to the very chaos that I wanted to stop. The protest movement became increasingly strident at my alma mater, University of Wisconsin in Madison, until a climax in the1970 bombing of the Army Math Research Center. At 3 AM, when the bombers expected the building to be empty, a young physics researcher unrelated to the Army or the war was killed by the blast, exposing the dark side of extreme protest. More disturbing still, moral outrage against government policies can be used to justify all sorts of violent protest. For example, the Oklahoma City bombers claimed they were obeying higher principles, a justification that comes all too close to the reasoning of the Weather Underground. According to Ayers, his group never took part in an action that resulted in a death, so the book does not justify murder. In fact, the book does very little justifying at all. Rather than analyzing his actions, or even looking back at them with the hindsight of an older man, Ayers offers an immersion experience in that period. Just as you wouldn’t expect to see cell phones in a movie about the Vietnam War, Ayers also tries to keep his thoughts appropriate for a young man during the height of the Vietnam war protests. Feminism was still in the future In Bill Ayers’ time the feminist movement had not yet been born, so during his story, men were freely using women and justifying it with all sorts of theoretical excuses. Women were starting to complain, and in a rare nod to the future development of the feminist movement, Ayers hints at the tensions coming to the surface. Structure is interesting: In Medias Res The organizational structure of the book is interesting. The opening scene pulls me in with a bang. Ayers and his cronies are on the run, and they hear about the death of a comrade, letting me know they are all in mortal danger. This technique of “in medias res,” or starting in the midst of t[...] 60's Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/father-son-memoirs-addiction/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/father-son-memoirs-addiction/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:30:24 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=263 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/father-son-memoirs-addiction/feed/ 0 0:09:33 It takes time for the harm to emerge from behind its glittering mask, by which time the damage is done. Broken relationships. Lost opportunities. And the risks intensify. Car crashes, loss of mental functioning, the quick death of overdosing or the [...] It takes time for the harm to emerge from behind its glittering mask, by which time the damage is done. Broken relationships. Lost opportunities. And the risks intensify. Car crashes, loss of mental functioning, the quick death of overdosing or the slow death of disease. Nic's dad pleaded and threatened his son. Nic retorted, "You did it and you turned out okay." Then he slipped out of reach. Swearing he wasn't using or would never do it again, he continued tripping and scheming, lost inside himself. 60's, Addiction Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/how-awakening-pain-can-heal-it/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/how-awakening-pain-can-heal-it/#comments Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:00:48 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/how-awakening-pain-can-heal-it/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/how-awakening-pain-can-heal-it/feed/ 3 0:00:01 Story moves you to the next step Instead of keeping memories trapped in their original form, free them up with story. 60's, Trauma Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/escaping-prison-past/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/escaping-prison-past/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:07:55 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=144 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/escaping-prison-past/feed/ 4 0:00:01 I have met many men and women, who start out pointing in one direction, say towards a profession, or marriage and babies, or the family business. Then they end up somewhere else. Often the change in direction leaves them or their parents feeling con[...] I have met many men and women, who start out pointing in one direction, say towards a profession, or marriage and babies, or the family business. Then they end up somewhere else. Often the change in direction leaves them or their parents feeling confused, as if they have disrupted destiny or lost an important part of themselves. 60's, Storytelling, Trauma Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/interview-with-60s-celeb-dee-dee-phelps-part-2/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/interview-with-60s-celeb-dee-dee-phelps-part-2/#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:24:18 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/interview-with-60s-celeb-dee-dee-phelps-part-2/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/interview-with-60s-celeb-dee-dee-phelps-part-2/feed/ 0 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/#comments Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:03:52 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-interview-with-60s-celebrity-dee-dee-phelps/feed/ 3 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/fame-and-story-structure-in-dee-dees-60s-memoir/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/fame-and-story-structure-in-dee-dees-60s-memoir/#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:09:13 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/fame-and-story-structure-in-dee-dees-60s-memoir/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/fame-and-story-structure-in-dee-dees-60s-memoir/feed/ 5