Blog
This blog is focuses on family stories, collecting family stories and the wisdom that comes from paying attention to our family stories.
It includes raw material for my memoir.
Mostly it is additional musings.
Wired for Story
Recent research indicates humans are wired for story. Keith Oatley, an expert in cognitive psychology and a novelist, thinks stories are like flight simulators. They prepare us for life’s ups and downs the way a simulator prepares a pilot for unseen turbulence. Steven Pinker, an evolutionary psychologist, similarly thinks that telling stories allowed us to see ahead and anticipate new situations. Those who were receptive to stories therefore had an evolutionary edge. Anthropologists note that storytelling is almost universal. Children...
read moreHow Will Video Change The Way We Remember?
Recently a friend pulled photos of her grandchildren from her purse to share. Hadn’t seen that in awhile. My photos are on my I-phone AND I have video. Video is everywhere. I’m not sure what that means in terms of family history but it seems significant. Long ago, only wealthy families could afford pictures of themselves. You had to hire a painter, dress-up, do a long sitting. The finished painting, one-of-a-kind, hung in the manor hall. Portraits in those days were of the Lord or Lady–not the children, certainly not the...
read moreParty Like It’s 2012
Lots of talk lately about the end of the world. My son’s part of a reading group that’s emphasizing post-apocalypse books–reading one a month this year. My sister recently gave me all three volumes of THE HUNGER GAMES. I assume the current end-of-world mood is related to the Mayan Calendar that ends December 21, 2012, likely because the creators couldn’t imagine a date farther into the future–BUT here we are! Of course, the world as the Mayans knew it ended 500+ years ago with the coming of the...
read moreWhy Worry About Family Stories?
Why Family Stories? Unless we pause to ask, “Why that story,” or “Why that story told that way,” we may find ourselves trying to live the story we’ve always heard. In my family we tell great love stories. Listen long enough and you might spend your whole life waiting to be swept off your feet. Stories get better with time. Families exaggerate because they want the stories to be remembered. Pay attention. The whoppers contain clues as to what the family thinks is important. George Washington never chopped down a cherry tree; never...
read more2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it. Click here to see the complete report.
read moreChristmas Letter Time–Yeah Family, Yeah Bloggers
Yes, I know people who bemoan the fact that no one writes letters any more. Those same people aren’t blog savvy. If they were, they’d know that bloggers are the letter writers of the 21st Century. I read blogs on everything from a-poem-day to the history of Yellowstone Park. I see photos of food in restaurants and police brutality in Oakland. I am informed about everyday things and history-in-the-making. Christmas letters are something else. So far this season, I’ve gotten the good, the bad, and the ugly. Since I love family...
read moreMy Family Put FUN in DysFUNctional–Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Yes, we love our families. Yes, lots of us have to give ourselves a pep talk before we enter the room for that Thanksgiving dinner, smiling. Families know how to push our buttons. Families have issues. If you haven’t seen the new George Clooney movie, be prepared. It’s not a feel-good. It’s a reality check. Speaking of reality checks, families are also good for that, too. They keep us grounded. Praise the Lord. Pass the gravy. We all need to stay grounded. The uncle/brother/ mother/cousin who drives you crazy may be doing you...
read moreWhere Are Your Old Photos? On Your I-Phone, Maybe?
I did the hard way. Set up a photo stand and copied the old family photos via film using my old Nikon 100. THEN I scanned them, one by one, one by one. If you’ve ever tried to tackle the task of copying old family photos, you know why most don’t. It’s too hard, too iffy, and too time consuming. You could grow old yourself in the process. So where are your old photos? Does this look familiar? Enter ShoeBox–the same I-Phone app that let you scan receipts and business cards now lets you scan your old photos. You can even...
read moreShare Your Colorado Story and Win a Trip
History Colorado is calling all Coloradans to dress up, snap a photo and, most importantly, share it and the story behind it for History Colorado’s “Share Your Story” contest for a chance to win a family overnight getaway for four to Glenwood Springs! Entries should be photos of individuals, kids or families dressed up that tells a Colorado story — past, present, or future – along with a brief description of the story. The “Share Your Story” photo contest will be open to Colorado residents 18 years of age or older beginning on...
read moreMy Story/Your Story/Our Story of 9/11
The tenth anniversary of 9/11 has come and gone. It is one of those shared moments that each of us remembers differently. I was putting on my running shoes. The television happened to be on. I called my friend and told her a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. She started to ask where we were going meet for usual 45 minutes of exercise. “Turn on your television,” I told her and for the next 45 minutes we watched together, talking on the phone the whole time. We caught the moment when the second plane hit. My husband had...
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