Category: Memoirs
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Memories, past, present, and future
The first time I heard the concept of making memories was years ago, in Victoria Island in British Columbia staying at a Bed and Breakfast run by a retired couple. The sun was shining brightly through picture windows that opened down a hill towards the docked boats in the harbor.
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10 reasons to take a memoir writing class in a cemetery
I attended a memoir class at a cemetery yesterday. There were about 25 people who walked through the gates of the cemetery for a happy reason, to participate in a community outreach program hosted by West Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Bala Cynwyd, outside of Philadelphia. Thank you for hosting this event,West Laurel Hills! I love…
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Use story scenes to convey abstract ideas and emotions
I am musing this morning about the powerful way books and ideas affected my life. I am thinking about this because of a passage from Angela’s Ashes in which the author was hired to read Jonathan Swift’s Modest Proposal to a blind man. It makes me think about how subtle it was for Frank McCourt’s…
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A memoir author’s first book is a triumph over odds
by Jerry Waxler I was excited last night when I reached the end of George Brummell’s memoir, Shades of Darkness. The very last paragraph in the book is about him volunteering to help other struggling people tell their story. (Note to myself: I’ve got to be careful about telling what excites me in a book.…
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60’s nostalgia: two memoirs of growing up Black
Both of these books are about growing up poor and black in the segregated south. That’s proof that what was incredibly boring and mundane while you were living it as a child can years later become fascinating in your memoir. If the reader has never experienced that side of life, it gives a window into…
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Families are an ocean of memoirs
What a great idea, having a memory writing class, at a cemetery. And it’s the same cemetery where my brother was laid to rest, so the three of us will be together again for the first time in years, sharing memories about life in the family ocean.
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Memoirs teach me about life and writing
by Jerry Waxler I’m reading 4 memoirs right now, and I learn something from each one. From Margaret George’s “Never use your dim lights,” I’m learning how politicians jerk each other around, and how hard it is to stay idealistic in the world of politics. From George Brummell’s “Shades of Darkness” I’m learning how brutal…
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Memoir touches history, and I touched the memoir
by Jerry Waxler I went down to center city Philadelphia last night to Larry Robins book store, to hear a talk by Tommie Smith. Smith won gold in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, and then shocked the world by raising his fist during the awards ceremony. It seems innocent enough now, but in 1968…
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