StoryBlog

Looking Back to Move Forward

2012-02-21T12:57:00.001-07:00

"Everything that happens to you is a teacher. The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it." —Polly B. Berends

As I launch into my 50th year, I wonder what's still ahead for me. Few of our early dreams and goals extend this far into our mature years—if we're lucky we've accomplished those early goals by now. I wonder: are my most exciting years behind me?

But I believe in living life deliberately; constantly learning from my own life experiences to guide me forward. If I look back at my life thus far—and I mean really look at it closely, with its peaks and valleys over time—I can see the basic contours of my life. I can see patterns emerge that give me the confidence to chart the way ahead. Those patterns that brought excitement into my early years will surely extend into the years ahead. Now that I'm older and more experienced at life I can map the way ahead with deliberate decisions, realism, and yes, risk-taking.

My life is my "story" and my past is a launching pad for my future.

My new eBook Creating Your Personal Timeline will help you see your life with a new perspective. By helping you access memories of the people, places, and experiences that have made your life unique, you'll become more conscious of your own story, allowing you to become the author of your future too.

Link: Creating Your Personal Timeline eBook

Please Share Your Family History Treasures

2012-02-15T02:39:00.002-07:00

"We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts, but instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do." —Della Wright

I've been the one in my family to trace, track and document our ancestors. Before me, it was my Aunt Lyda and before her, my great-grandmother Carrie. Unlike my sisters and parents, I'd always felt connected to those who'd gone before. As a child, I'd beg for stories of my grandfather, the architect and poet, who had died when my dad was only seven. I'd keep hand-drawn family trees in my treasure box and pore over unknown faces in aged photos found in my grandmother's storage trunk.

Aunt Lyda had all the family history secured in scrapbooks, manila folders and ancient photo albums—not to mention all the stories stored in her memory. I wasn't close to Aunt Lyda until I was in my 30s and she was well into her 80s. By then my parents and grandparents were gone, so I began to sit with Aunt Lyda and ask for stories. We became friends and over time she began to trust me with more than stories; she began to lend me the scrapbooks and albums. One at a time, mind you. And I had to bring back one before getting my hands on another!

I carefully scanned the photos, newspaper clippings, letters, diaries and memorabilia. It took months, but eventually I got access to nearly everything. The bounty was overwhelming. And at times heartbreaking. There were letters from my grandfather to his mother and to his young wife, my grandmother, that would have given my father such joy. They might have given him insight and understanding that a boy growing up fatherless may have needed and treasured. There was a church bulletin from 1920 with the minister's name on it—the same name and spelling as my father's, born in 1921—that could have given him the history of his own name. So many things that might have given my father an anchor and connection in the world; things that my father never saw.

It was this discovery, too late, that created my passion not only to preserve family history, but to share it as well. Preserving the documents of our family history is important, but sharing those documents and the memories and stories that go with them are paramount.

It's hard work to collect and care for heritage items, but today's technology makes it easy to share with everyone in your family. Whether it's an old family heirloom like a rocking-chair, handed down through the generations, or your great-great grandfather's military records, a simple photo or document scan can easily be shared with others while you keep the originals. Why not create an archive of everything you, as the family's chosen caretaker, have in your possession, then share your archive via CDs with the rest of your family.

Just remember, it's the memories and stories the object represents that are important, not necessarily the object itself. So, if you are the "chosen one," don't keep everything to yourself—please, please share the bounty.

Then Again: A Memoir by Diane Keaton

2012-02-08T02:41:00.001-07:00

This lovely—and loving—memoir is more than Diane Keaton's story, it's also her mother's story. Diane had known her mother kept journals throughout her life, but she only began to read through them as her mother faded into the haze of Alzheimer's. After her mother's death three years ago, Diane started writing, drawing from the 85 journals her mother had left behind, including this passage:

Every living person should be forced to write an autobiography. They should have to go back and unravel and disclose all the stuff that was packed into their lives. Finding the unusual way authors put ideas into words gives me a very satisfying knowledge that I could do this too if I focused on it...I really want to write about my life, the close friends I knew, the family life we had, but I hold back. If I would be totally honest, I think I could reach a point where I'd begin seeing ME in a more understandable light.

Diane artfully weaves their stories together, her's and her mother's, into a wonderful family portrait. She writes:

So why did I write a memoir? Because mom lingers; because she tried to save our family's history through her words; because it took decades before I recognized that her most alluring trait was her complexity; because I don't want her to disappear even though she has.

Then Again is a thoughtful tribute. And just as her mother found her mode of expression through her journals, Diane Keaton has moved beyond the medium of film and found a new way to express herself through words.

What's Keeping You from Writing?

2012-02-01T02:13:00.003-07:00

When I talk to people about the importance of preserving memories and sharing stories, I find two things: there's an overwhelming reluctance among older people to write their stories down and
there's an huge interest among younger people to have their parents and grandparents write their stories.

I find it interesting that humans are actually biologically geared toward sharing life experiences. The first half of life is all about acquiring and learning, while the second half is about giving back and sharing wisdom. By the time you retire you start to have a stronger interest in preserving your family's stories. You're starting to see your parents age, feeling your own mortality, and looking for some kind of connection between past and future generations.

You know it's important to share your stories—you feel it—so why are you still so resistant?

Maybe you think you haven't done anything special or that you're still too young to write your stories—many people think that and simply wait until it's too late. Perhaps you think you don't write very well or you never liked "English" in school.

You may come up with any number of excuses, but I believe there are even more compelling reasons why you should write your stories:

To pass on wisdom and life experiences to your descendents.
To make sense of the past before moving ahead.
To take stock and look at your life with a new perspective.
To leave an imprint of yourself and the life you've lived.
To document your life's path—where you've been, what you've accomplished, what you've learned and who you've met along the way.

I encourage you to find a way to share your stories. Try writing a couple of pages about an event in your life. Keep it relaxed and informal. Don't worry about grammar and spelling. You can always use spell check on the computer. And believe me, your family would rather have a story from you—even if it's not perfect—than nothing at all.

Photo credit: SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget via photopin cc

Family History Playlist

2012-01-25T16:52:00.003-07:00

I'm always on the lookout for songs to use in my family history projects. I've used lyrics from songs of a certain era to evoke a time and place, song titles as story titles, and quotes from songs that might say just the right thing for a book introduction.

There are plenty of ways to use songs without actually using the music.

Here's my own playlist of family history music. And if you want to listen to the songs, go to iTunes or Amazon and type the titles in the search bar to hear a sample of each.

Childhood Memories - Iris DeMent
Grandfather's Hat - Jeff Daniels
Family Tree - Lohio
Family Reunion - Jill Scott
My Father's Eyes - Eric Clapton
Family Reserve - Lyle Lovett
Genealogy - Tom Nickerson
Family History - Joanne Rand
Grandma's House - Deirdre Flint
Family Memories - Mountain Smoke
Family Hands - Mary Chapin Carpenter
Heirlooms - Amy Grant
My Ancestors - Jimmy Cliff
Anthem of a Family Tree - Steve Bonafel
Like a River - Carly Simon
Grandparent's Love - mr. Ray

It's Important to Read Your Writing Aloud

2012-01-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

"The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader." —Robert Frost

In my life story writing classes, I encourage students to write the way they speak. I believe that writing the stories from your life should be more like telling stories at the kitchen table than chronological autobiography. It's this storytelling voice that really connects with your readers.

I also believe that writing "for the ear" is important. It helps establish your natural voice—your storytelling voice. The best way to ensure you're writing for the ear is to read your stories aloud.

Once you've finished a first draft and made the necessary technical corrections, it's time to read the story out loud. Listen for:

Stumbling blocks. These are places where you falter or stumble. I call them speed bumps. They interrupt the flow of your story. Maybe it's a poor word choice or a troubling transition. Make a note where you hit the speed bump and come back to fix it when you're done reading.

Errors. It's easier for us to catch our own mistakes when reading aloud. Our eyes are apt to scan over mistakes, but our ears won't.

Your personal voice. You can easily hear when you lose your storytelling voice. Perhaps you've veered off into a long-winded technical explanation and lost your "voice." Make a note to bring it back to storytelling.

Rambling off-topic. Listening to your own story will help alert you when you've trailed off from the point of your story. Jot down the places you'll need to make cuts and edits.

Go Back in Time with The Mortified Sessions

2012-01-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

Have you seen The Mortified Sessions on the Sundance Channel?

By looking through mementos from celebrity's pasts, we get a peek into their childhood ambitions, insecurities and embarrassing moments. It's a completely different perspective than we get from manicured magazine articles and TV interviews. Here, we get a glimpse of the real person behind the persona.

From geeky teenage photos to angst-ridden love notes, we dip into moments of personal history that shaped the person we see onscreen.

The pre-Sundance Mortified project started in the 1990s when founder Dave Nadelberg discovered a love letter from his own past, compared notes with friends, and found a new level of intimacy and understanding. Next he created events where strangers could come onstage and share their own moments of mortification. The events continue today, all around the country.

"Mortified is a comic excavation of the strange and extraordinary things we created as kids. Witness adults sharing their most embarrassing adolescent journals, letters, poems, lyrics, plays, home movies, and art... in order to reveal stories about their lives. Hear grown men and women confront their past with tales of their first kiss, first puff, worst prom, and fights with mom."

I love the whole idea of sharing your stories this way. Do you have a shoebox full of mementos from school days? Maybe it's time to dig it out and have a look at what you once deemed important. It's a good way to remember who you were, what you felt, and how far you've come.

And if you don't want to feel so alone in your own personal geekdom, have a look at some clips from The Mortified Sessions on Hulu or YouTube!

Try Something New in 2012

2011-12-29T13:15:00.001-07:00

The best way to jump-start your creative energy for the New Year is by thinking about your interests and desires. What untapped inner resources do you have that will support your efforts to try something new? You may find you have all different kinds of creative energy that will energize you for exploring new directions. What have you always wanted to try, but have always set aside?

I'm always encouraging people to try their hand at writing to share their stories, but there are many ways to get your creative juices flowing.

Broaden your exposure to new ideas by including those younger and older than you in your circle of friends.
Do something for your community; share your unique experience, insight, and talents.
Work on a collaborative project; enlist friends to share in a new activity.
Build upon something you've done before, but bring it to a higher level.
Experiment with your new pursuit as you would a new recipe or a new travel destination; tell yourself it's just an experiment and there's no harm in failing.

And for a bit more inspiration, enjoy this video of Google's Matt Cutts talking about his experiment with trying something new!

Charles Dickens says...

2011-12-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler to his own fireside and quiet home."

Sharing Voices from the Past

2011-12-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

As the holidays turn our thoughts toward family, we think fondly of those we miss—those who have passed on from our lives but still hold a forever-place in our memories. Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear those voices once again?

The gift of hearing those voices or seeing loved ones on film is one of the greatest gifts we can give to family members. If you have old home movies or cassette tapes from long ago, why not have them digitized and stored on CDs or DVDs? Share those precious memories with others in your family. They'll be the most memorable gifts ever!

Just to show what you can do with scratchy old cassette tapes and an assortment of family photos, here's my own foray into digital storytelling. I used some old cassette tapes from the 1980s that contained both my parent's voices: one from a Thanksgiving where my mother told what she was most thankful for, and one of my dad telling childhood stories as a Christmas gift for his young granddaughter. Now my whole family shares in the joy of hearing their voices once again.

So don't forget to take a few moments to record audio and video when the family is together for the holidays. Your family will thank you for it one day.

10 Gift Ideas that Celebrate Family History

2011-12-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Show appreciation for your family heritage this holiday season by choosing gifts that preserve memories, share stories, and create new traditions.

Family Tree CD. Frances England's new CD blends folk, indie, and old time sounds to explore themes of family life and friendship. Even though it's a kid's CD, it's truly music for the whole family. $12.95 from Amazon.

Sterling Silver Necklace. This Family Tree necklace is perfect for mom or grandma. Each hand-stamped leaf symbolizes a family member.
$34 from Etsy

The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History. This companion how-to-guide from the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? offers everything you need to know to chart your family's unique past.
$15 from NBC Store

Family Dinner Cookbook. This book includes stories from Nora Ephron, Maya Angelou, Alice Waters and more. It's filled with ideas to connect with your kids, one meal at a time. $29.99 from Paper Source

Family Traditions Journal. This hand-bound book is a memoir in the making. You can recount all your family traditions here—from the holiday spread at grandma's to your most beloved bedtime stories. It celebrates your inner circle and all the traditions that make your clan one-of-a-kind. $30 from Uncommon Goods

Personalized Family Tree. This metal sculpture is great for showcasing your family, past and present. Hang precious family photos from the curved branches to remember your heritage this holiday. $39.95 from Walmart

700 Sundays by Billy Crystal. This book, based on Crystal's one-man Broadway show, is a heartfelt memoir of his family history.
$11.98 from Amazon

"Every Family has a Crazy Aunt" Mug. You know you have one! We all do! Why not share the joke? $17.95 from Zazzle.com

Ancestry.com Gift Membership. All you have to do is choose a membership duration, enter the recipient's email address and Ancestry.com will send a printable gift card with your purchase confirmation. From Ancestry.com

Story of a Lifetime. This leather-bound book poses questions from the simple to the provocative, prompting reflection and self-discovery. And it's ready to share, personalized with your family name.
$79.95 from Red Envelope

Basic Scanning Guide for Heritage Photos

2011-11-26T16:16:00.001-07:00

Whether you want to copy vintage family photos or create a digital archive, scanning is the first step in preserving your heritage photos and documents for years to come. Everyone's scanner software is different, so it's hard to give a step-by-step process for using each one. But you can get great scans on any scanner if you pay attention to two simple things: resolution and file format.

Before you scan, decide how you'll be using the photos. Are they to share with family via email or the web? Are you getting 4x6 prints made? Are you making enlargements or creating a photo book? Or are you creating an archive on CD, DVD or external hard drive? Since each usage requires different scanner settings, how you plan to use the photos will determine the necessary resolution and file format.

There are several file formats to choose from. For heritage photos, you should concentrate on .JPG and .TIFF. They're the most widely recognized file formats for everyday users like us. JPGs are small, compressed files. The compression doesn't detract from the image quality, so they're great for making prints or sending via computer. But JPG files lose resolution every time you edit and save, so they aren't great for long-term preservation. TIFFs are much larger files. They take up more space on your computer, but they preserve greater detail in the photos. Plus, they never degrade with multiple saves.

Resolution is all about dots-per-inch (dpi) and pixels-per-inch (ppi.) The physical photos you're scanning are measured in inches (dpi,) but the photo's image that appears on your computer screen is measured in pixels (ppi.) So if you scan a 6"x4" photo at 300 dpi, you will create an onscreen image that is 1200x1800 ppi. The equation goes like this:

(6 inches x 300 ppi) x (4 inches x 300 ppi) = 1800x1200 pixels.

The more dots or pixels you have, the sharper image you'll have. But remember, as resolution increases so does file size. Images with high resolution will take up more space on your computer.

Finally, here are my general rules of thumb for scanning heritage photos:

To give yourself the most options for future usage of the photo, I recommend saving your scans twice. First as TIFFs for an archival copy, and then again as JPGs to use and share.
For archival purposes, scan photos at a minimum of 300 dpi. Use 600 dpi or 1200 dpi if you have the storage space.

Writing the Flavors of Childhood

2011-11-16T13:07:00.001-07:00

As Thanksgiving approaches, I'm pulled towards memories of family holidays from my childhood. I begin to long for tastes and smells specific to my mother's and grandmother's kitchens. Last night at dinner out with friends, someone at our table took a bite of cooked carrot from her plate and said, "Somehow, this tastes just like my childhood Thanksgivings. Stuffing, turkey, and vegetables all in one bite!" Everyone grabbed a fork, nabbed a carrot from her plate, and agreed; each in his or her own reverie of flavors past.

Edna O'Brien captures this feeling well in her essay The Ghosts of Taste:

"Baudelaire said that touch has a memory, but taste has more so. If I taste orange cake, it is never simply the one I am eating; it is the cake my mother made when things were relatively buoyant. To test the cake, she would put a knitting needle into the center, then allow me to lick the moist crumbs that had congealed around it. I taste it at odd moments, that and sliced beetroot put to cool in a glass bowl and seasoned with chives. I think of these not as food but as something more: the summation of a time, a place, of sunshine or rain, of happiness or strife—our little histories, and always, at least in those childhood days, a hunch that something extraordinary was about to happen."

This Thanksgiving, why not take advantage of the tastes coming from your own kitchen to trigger memories from childhood holidays. Take 20 minutes and write one or two pages starting with the words "I remember tasting..." You'll be surprised at your own "ghosts of taste."

10 Favorite Storytelling and Story Sharing Apps

2011-11-10T17:14:00.012-07:00

Mobile apps allow us to capture and share our stories "in the moment." You know, when you're riding in the car with plenty of time to think and reminisce, or sitting in a waiting room with time to kill, or when you wake up in the middle of the night with a great story idea. Those are great times to jot down a memory or better yet, record it in your own voice.

There are plenty of apps out there for storytelling, journaling, recording and sharing your stories. I prefer easy-to-use apps that require little to no learning curve to use them. Here are a few of my favorites.

Stories from Main Street
This brand new app from the Smithsonian collects stories about small-town American life. You can record your story about the American experience or listen to other stories from people just like you across the United States.

StoryCorps
Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 30,000 interviews from more than 60,000 participants. Listen to the weekly story and get tips for recording your story on your iPhone or other device.

Storytree
Storytree makes it easy for you to capture and share your stories with the ones you care about. This app provides a private and collaborative place where you and a group of people can share stories through video, audio, photos and text.

Storyrobe
Storyrobe lets you create digital stories using images and video from your camera or photo library. You can use the built-in microphone, or any 3rd party microphone to create audio recordings with photos and videos.

Storie
Whether it's to remember a wonderful vacation that you just returned from, to share a family recipe, or to showcase your quirky and creative side, Storie lets you tell your stories and share them on Tumblr, Twitter or Facebook, or even embed them on your blogs and websites.

Shoebox by 1000memories
It's the fastest way to scan old photos and share them with family and friends. All photographs scanned using Shoebox are uploaded to 1000memories.com where, in partnership with the Internet Archive, they will be preserved for free, forever.

Voice Diary
Voice Diary allows you to record life story memories, whenever and wherever you like. The recorded diary passages are automatically compressed and archived for future listening.

Blurb Mobile
Anywhere, anytime, stories are waiting to be discovered. Blurb Mobile helps you share your stories. It's easy to create fun and engaging stories using all your iPhone media: text, video, audio and photos.

iTalk Recorder
iTalk Recorder is a full-featured recording app. Press the big red button to record; press it again to stop. You can email recordings to family and friends straight from iTalk.

Writing Toolkit
This app will help spark your creative fires whether you're a writing veteran or a first-timer. Writing toolkit is about empowering you to be a better writer. Writing is challenging, thoughtful work, and this app provides you with new ideas and methods for your writing.

Digging for Family History in Lyme Regis

2011-11-04T11:49:00.002-07:00

I've had a long personal history with the tiny seaside village of Lyme Regis on England's Dorset coast. And it turns out I've had an even longer family history there.

I first discovered Lyme Regis during my college years in England. It was the early 80s and the recent filming of The French Lieutenant's Woman, not to mention the fact that John Fowles lived there, gave the place a bit of romance. When the rigors of study overcame me I'd escape to this secluded place for a few days of quiet. I'd spend £8 on a B&B, watch the fishing boats come in, and hike on the Undercliffs. It became my own personal retreat.

Fast forward to a few years ago. I'm working on my family history, following my great-grandmother Hill's linage back...and back...and back to mid-1600s Connecticut. There it takes a jump, understandably, to England. And here's where I get knocked for a loop: it links directly to Lyme Regis!

Last summer I had the chance to revisit Lyme Regis and spent a couple of mornings at the local library poring over church register transcripts that went back to the 1500s. Happily, I jotted down birth dates, death dates, and marriages. I even managed to be invited to a small town meeting where residents informed me that I'd find no Hill grave markers in the parish church yard—all the coffins and headstones there prior to 1800 had fallen into the sea as the cliff eroded.

So was it coincidence, my pull towards this fairly obscure village all those years ago? Or was some kind of genetic memory invoked? I guess it doesn't really matter what brought me to Lyme Regis. I just know it's all the more precious to me now that I have an ancestral connection in addition to my personal connection with this quiet seaside town.

Wisdom Comes with Age

2011-10-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

"The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions." —Oliver Wendell Holmes

We've all heard the adage that with age comes wisdom, but now science is backing up the claim. Recent research shows that as the brain gets older, it learns to allocate its resources more efficiently. In the study, older people were less concerned with mistakes and used only the necessary parts of their brains when tackling new tasks. Younger people tended to fire up all areas of their brain when faced with something new.

A life of experience really does give us a deeper wisdom.

Research on aging also tells us that optimism contributes to our longevity. The Beauty of Aging is a documentary that honors older women as the wise elders that they are. It's one of the best films I've seen that shows how positive attitudes enhance our health.

And if you're over 80, you can share your own wisdom stories on The Beauty of Aging Facebook page.

Make a List, Spark a Story

2011-10-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of listmaking. I especially like it when something I'm listing surprises me—when I make a new discovery simply by setting the words down in a new way. That's why I love the book List Your Self: Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery.

Making lists is one of the best ways to spark story ideas. It's much easier to sit down and start listing items than it is to start writing a whole story. Lists will trigger details that we may not remember otherwise. The archaic root of the word "list" is from an old English word meaning "listen to." When we make lists, we're listening to our deep selves.

List making is a non-threatening way to take stock of your life—it draws out things you never knew were there.
By making lists, you'll learn instantly what you love, what you can't live without, and what drives you crazy.
List making is different from writing or journaling. It's a contained task. It gives you the chance to complete it in one sitting.
There are no wrong answers in lists. Every time you finish a list, you finish a huge thought, pull up a big memory, or dive into a major story.
Your list will be like no one else's—you will emerge as uniquely YOU.

Writing Your Stories Can Relieve Stress

2011-10-12T09:35:00.001-07:00

We've all had stressful or traumatic life experiences at some point in our lives, and now scientists find that writing about our emotions from these events can help ease our anxiety.

By writing one or two pages—uninterrupted and unedited—about a stressful event, many people are able to process the event and eventually relax. Dr. James Pennebaker's findings suggest that:

The act of thinking about an experience, as well as expressing emotions, seems to be important. In this way, writing helps people to organize thoughts and give meaning to a traumatic experience.

Or the process of writing may enable them to learn to better regulate their emotions. It’s also possible that writing about something fosters an intellectual process — the act of constructing a story about a traumatic event — that helps someone break free of the endless mental cycling more typical of brooding or rumination.

This process seems to work best a few months after a stressful event, but I believe we can reach back to very old traumas—even those from our childhood—and work through them successfully. And these may not be the stories we choose to share with others, but sometimes writing for ourselves alone is even more valuable.

Technology That Changed our World

2011-10-06T11:15:00.002-07:00

The first time I used a computer was in 1986. It was an Apple IIe. It used big floppy disks and required DOS commands, but it was a personal computer and I was thrilled to get my hands on it. I was working in corporate communications in San Francisco, but only the year before I'd been writing my college papers in longhand and felt lucky when I could snag a free typewriter in the library.

I remember the day one of the partners brought in a brand new Macintosh. They were still relatively new and none of us in the office had ever seen a mouse before, let alone the new graphic user interface (GUI) that showed up onscreen as file folder icons and a garbage bin in the bottom left corner. It was a new world and I was hooked!

Sometimes we forget the amazing changes, technological and otherwise, that have happened during our lifetimes. To us, they've just happened gradually over the course of time. But the younger generations can't imagine life without laptops, iPods, and iPads—just like we couldn't imagine life before telephones and television.

It's up to us to share our stories of these amazing changes and what life was like before. So when you're writing the stories from your life, don't forget to include the discoveries and inventions that changed our world.

Infusing Objects with Meaning

2011-10-02T13:20:00.003-07:00

We all have something in our lives that while not obviously valuable, is displayed as though it were a precious and irreplaceable artifact. Inquire about the object's provenance and you'll likely be treated to a lively anecdote about how it came into your host's possession. Keep digging, and you might even crack the code of what the thing really means.

This idea is what Taking Things Seriously: 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance is all about. Objects themselves aren't inherently meaningful—we're the ones who infuse them with meaning. By writing short, one-page essays, the owners of the objects in this quirky little book show how unlikely objects have been invested with personal significance.

Why not try writing a one-page essay about one of your own treasured possessions? Take a snapshop of the object and keep it together with your essay. Stick it in your photo album or memorabilia box—or better yet, share your story with friends or family.

Rebecca West says...

2011-09-26T03:00:00.002-07:00

"Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs."

Bicycle Portraits

2011-09-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

Bicycle Portraits gives us a glimpse of people's lives in South Africa—at least, a glimpse of people who ride bicycles there. Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler set out to document people who use bicycles as part of their work or life and to find out why so few South Africans actually use bikes as transportation.

Their investigation is our joy! As they cycle their way across the country, they document fellow bikers through photos and videos. Through Stan and Nic, we meet interesting people like Sina Mabeta. And we get to hear their stories.

See more stories on the Bicycle Portraits vimeo channel and visit the website to pre-order their upcoming book.

Your Story Coach is now on Twitter

2011-09-20T17:38:00.007-07:00

By following Your Story Coach on Twitter, you'll get posts about:

people's lives
memory and the brain
life story writing
genealogy tips
history resources
storytelling
book and video recommendations

Click below to follow me on Twitter!

100 Interviews: Everybody Has a Story

2011-09-15T08:04:00.001-07:00

Gaby Dunn has been writing her Tumblr blog 100 Interviews for nearly a year now—and she's just about completed her goal of interviewing 100 people.

After graduating from Emerson College and interning at The Daily Show, Gaby was having trouble finding a job in journalism. So she made a list of people she'd like to interview—everyday people, not celebrities: a rocket scientist, an amputee, a museum curator—and got busy finding them and writing their stories.

Her blog was a hit! People loved the stories she was sharing.

In a recent interview, Gaby tells how she found that everyone has a story and everyone's story is important.

"So many people think they’re boring, which is insane. A lot of the people who are the quietest and most unassuming people are the most amazing people,” Dunn, 23, said by phone. “Some of the people I’ve written about are crazy interesting and they don’t have any sort of outlet to tell their story, or they’re content not to.”

Thanks, Gaby, for giving these people that outlet!

How Your Brain Remembers Places

2011-09-05T12:15:00.001-07:00

Did you know our brains have "place cells?" Scientists believe that these cells, located in our brain's hippocampus, help us form mental maps of our environment. In a recent study with rats, researchers found that in order to create a stable representation of a place in their brains, the rats needed to experience a place, not just see it.

What does this mean for humans? Scientist David Rowland says,

"Stop to think about what you did yesterday, and you will immediately begin to relive those experiences -- what you had for dinner, the conversations you had and so on. Psychologists refer to this sort of memory as 'episodic memory,' or a memory of events that occurred in your life. A key feature of this type of memory is its autobiographical nature: it is a memory of your experiences, what you had for dinner, the conversations you had."

"The first-person experience is essentially the basis of what we define as episodic memory," Rowland said. "We found that the construction of this hippocampal representation of space -- the map's construction -- is also self-centered. The place cells therefore appear to help create an autobiographical record of experience."

So—while seeing a place helps us create a map of it in our brains, we must explore and experience the place to put a personal stamp of it in our memories.