“The past is never dead, it’s not even past.”  

REQUIEM FOR A NUN,       William Faulkner

 

“ The past is a foreign country—they do things differently there.” 

THE GO-BETWEEN, L.P. Hartley

 

 

I have a deep belief in recorded memory. And an equally strong conviction that everyone, no matter how great or small in the scheme of things, is entitled to record his or her individual life.  On the strength of this feeling, I spent ten years in California creating books for families as keepsakes for posterity.  I have also developed memoir groups for personal exploration into the mysterious realm of the past~~often surprisingly linked to the present and the future.

 

In this Memoir Workshop, we will address the nature of Memoir itself and what makes it different from Autobiography. We’ll explore such questions as:  Is Memoir necessary and how does it become part of the greater historical weave?  What is truth? What about honesty, and how much to tell, including about family? Are we limited to subjective material or can we include socio-political elements, either current or past?  For whom do we write? 

 

In discussing these subjects, we will experiment with different tools and exercises to help generate memories and create patterns of personal recollections.  In the process, we can be sure of finding surprises, receiving epiphanies, and gaining unexpected inspiration!