Magical Memoir Moments
Memoir Controversy: Does Gender Matter?
My friend Sonia, who is doing a fantastic job of blogging about her experience as an expatriate in many different countries (check out http://gutsywriter.blogspot.com) and who has written a memoir about taking her family, including three teenage sons, to Belize for a year, sent me the following link. Apparently, the life stories of women and…
Slumdog Millionaire: A Metaphor for the Power of Memoir
Well, folks, it may be time to create a new category. I saw a lot of good movies this holiday season. Did you? Here’s the list of ones I saw: Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, Doubt, Milk,and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I recommend each of these films, and all of them have connections to memoir,…
The Latest Memoir Controversy: Angel at the Fence
“Read all about it!,” the newsboys could be saying, if there were newsboys today. “Another memoir bites the dust!” “Oprah decides to vet all future memoirists with truth serum!” Of course, there is brand new president, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an economic meltdown to report on, too, but, hey, memoir dishes up conflict…
Memoir and Love: The Vital Connection
All during the long holiday season/vacation I took this year, I have been mulling over the connection between memoir and love. Intuition tells me things that I can only later articulate. This has happened to me all my life. I love the story, whether it be true or apocryphal, that Einstein saw himself riding on…
Helen Alderfer, Poet, Mother, Wise Woman, Role Model
My husband Stuart gave me a book for Christmas I did not know existed–a pleasant surprise indeed. Helen Alderfer, an early woman leader in the Mennonite Church and someone I have long admired, has published a book in her 90th year. I have always loved reading about people who keep achieving their dreams well into…
My Stroke of Insight: A Spiritual Memoir
I will cut to the chase on the last night of the year 2008. I loved this book. I read it nearly in one sitting, fascinated by the straightforward telling of an incredible story. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist working at the Brain Bank at Harvard University, woke up one morning with a headache…
Small Things with Love: A Mini-Memoir
What makes us happy? Is it winning the lottery or getting a surprise million-dollar legacy? In our current economy, such windfalls might sound even better than usual. I haven’t seen Slumdog Millionaire (see trailer here) yet, but I gather that such a fantasy becomes reality in that film. Once I see the film, I will…