Sharing History :: From the Compost

May

Sharing History: Making History in the 1990s

By Kim

Making History: How to remember, record, interpret and share the events of your life, covers from 1930 through 1989, and shows how one’s own life
intersects with “big history.” I am in the process of gathering stories from the 1990s so I can update the book to include this important decade.

On the first Monday of each month, I share some historical events from the 1990s and ask readers to share their experiences about any or all of these events. These stories will be featured in the next edition of Making History (with your permission and your byline, of course). You can share your story here on the blog, in the Comments, or you can send your thoughts to me in an email, to kim@primary-sources.com.

AND if you share a story, I will reciprocate immediately by sending you a FREE copy of one of my ebooks of your choice. See my website for the ebooks you can choose from, and let me know which you choose in an email to kim@primary-sources.com.

Recently the issue of Gay Rights and Gay Marriage is much in the news. Historically speaking, the “sea change” (to quote Chief Justice Roberts) on this issue has been extremely swift, and the 1990s were a decade with many steps both forward and backward on this social issue. Here are just some of the 90s events that you might remember. What was your emotional response to this event? Did you talk about this event to your family or friends and share your opinions? Did this event motivate you to change your opinion or take action in some way? Did this event affect your lifestyle? If so, write it down. In 100 years, maybe one of your descendants would like to know how you participated or contributed to the events of your time

1990 – an openly gay legislator was elected in NY state – the first in any state
1990 – the US Congress repealed the law prohibiting gays from entering the country
1990 – The US Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government can deny security clearances on the basis of sexual orientation
1990 & 91 – Executive orders in 5 states prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in the public sector
1992 – The World Health organization declassifies homosexuality as a mental illness
1993 – Don’t Ask Don’t Tell becomes the law in the military, meaning gay people could serve in the military as long as they didn’t tell anyone they were gay, or engage in homosexual acts
1993 – The 3^rd Gay Rights March on Washington drew an estimated one million participants
1996 – The Defense of Marriage Act is passed by Congress, stating that gay people in committed relationships are not entitled to federal marriage benefits
1998 – The hate killing of Matthew Shepherd galvanizes many
1999 – Tammy Baldwin becomes the first openly gay member of the US House of Representatives

Thank you for sharing your story. And if you don’t feel like sharing, have fun remembering anyway.

Categories : Sharing History

Apr

Sharing History: Working the Rev

By Kim

My book, Making History: How to remember, record, interpret and share the events of your life, covers from 1930 through 1989, and shows how one’s own life intersects with “big history.” I began writing it in 2002, and published the 2^nd edition in 2007. Now it’s 2013 and I want to add the 1990s to the book and issue an updated edition. If you’ve read Making History, you know that stories from these decades are part of the book – not just my stories, but stories from a variety of other generous story-sharers. So now I am looking for more generous folks to share their stories about the events of the 1990s, so that I can include them in this new edition.

On the first Monday of each month, I will share some historical events from the 1990s and ask readers to share their experiences about any or all of these events. These stories will be featured in the next edition of Making History (with your permission and your byline, of course).

Need help remembering the 1990s? Here are four totally random questions to get you started. If you’d like to share something, please comment here on the blog, or email it to me at kim@primary-sources.com. And if you don’t feel like sharing, have fun remembering anyway.

1. President Bill Clinton was embroiled in a scandal involving White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The scandal broke in January 1998 and dominated the news for the next year. What do you remember about the Monica Lewinsky scandal? Did you follow the news? Did you think the media hype was overdone? Do you think the size of the scandal was due to political posturing? Do you think Clinton could have handled it differently? Did the scandal have any lasting effects on the country?

2. In 1992 Lee Iacocca retired from Chrysler, when the car manufacturer’s sales had begun improving. In 1998 Daimler Benz (the parent company of Mercedes Benz) merged with Chrysler. Iacocca was one of the most visible businessmen of the 1980s and 90s. What was your opinion of him? Was he good for the auto industry? Did you work in the automobile industry, or an allied industry? Did Chrysler’s downturn and subsequent upturn affect your life? Did you ever work for a company that was purchased by or merged with another? What was that experience like?

3. John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife were killed in a plane crash over Martha’s Vineyard in July 1999. Why do you think the Kennedy family was seemingly plagued by tragedies? Do you think JFK Jr. would have gone into politics? Would that have been a good thing? What do you think the Kennedy family means to Americans? Do they mean anything to you?

4. The first Harry Potter book by J.K. Rowling was published in June 1997. When did you first read a Harry Potter book, or have you read any of them? Have your children or grandchildren read them? Why do you think they have become iconic in our culture? What messages do these books send?

And here are some general questions about these events, or any other event you remember from the 1990s: What was your emotional response to this event? Did you talk about this event to your family or friends and share your opinions? Did this event motivate you to change your opinion or take action in some way? Did this event affect your lifestyle? If so, write it down. In 100 years, maybe one of your descendants would like to know how you participated or contributed to the events of your time.

And thank you for sharing your story.

Categories : Sharing History

Mar

Sharing History: In the Works

By Kim

My book Making History: How to remember, record, interpret and share the events of your life, covers from 1930 through 1989, and shows how one’s own life intersects with “big history.” I began writing it in 2002, and published the 2^nd edition in 2007. Now it’s 2013 and I want to add the 1990s to the book and issue an updated edition. If you’ve read Making History, you know that stories from these decades are part of the book – not just my stories, but stories from a variety of other generous story-sharers. So now I am looking for more generous folks to share their stories about the events of the 1990s, so that I can include them in this new edition.

Starting today, and the first Monday of each month here on my blog, I will share some historical events from the 1990s and ask readers to share their experiences about any or all of these events. These stories will be featured in the next edition of Making History (with your permission and your byline, of course.)

Need help remembering the 1990s? Here are a few totally random questions to get you started. If you’d like to share something, please comment here on the blog, or email it to me at kim@primary-sources.com. And if you don’t feel like sharing, have fun remembering anyway.

1990: Time Inc. acquired Warner Communications, giving us mega-corp Time Warner. Did you work for a mega-corporation, or one that was acquired by a bigger firm? What was that like?
1991: Anita Hill testifies at Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing and thus begins a national debate on sexual harassment. Were you ever sexually harassed at work, or did you witness any sexual harassment?
1994: The Violence Against Women Act passes in Congress. Do you think the Violence Against Women Act helped to shed light on this social problem? Do you think domestic violence has been reduced because of it?
1997: Princess Diana dies in a car crash in Paris. Did you watch Princess Di’s funeral, and if so how did it affect you? Do you think she symbolized the 1990s, and if so why?
1998: Viagra goes on the market. Did you or anyone you know take Viagra? What do you think of Viagra commercials – were you shocked or glad that this condition was out in the open?
1990s: Tattoos and body piercing are very popular. Did you or anyone you know get a tattoo or piercing? Are you happy now that you did? What does this style mean to you?

Some general questions about these events, or any other event you remember from the 1990s: What was your emotional response to this event? Did you talk about this event to your family or friends and share your opinions? Did this event motivate you to change your opinion or take action in some way? Did this event affect your lifestyle? If so, write it down. In 100 years, maybe one of your descendants would like to know how you participated or contributed to the events of your time.

Categories : Sharing History

Feb

Sharing History: Writing Memoir

By Kim

My parents in 2005

I’ve written before about my current WIP, which includes three different yet related memoirs – one my parents’ love story set during WW2, one my own story about discovering my true identity, and the third a photo book containing scraps of both old and new family stories written just for my family, illustrated by over 1500 photographs stretching from 1870 through 2013.

And here’s what I’ve discovered: this is hard! One reason it’s so hard is explained in my preliminary introduction to my parents’ memoir, titled The Boxes in the Closet. Here is that introduction:

Seattle, Washington
Present Day

After our parents died, Mom first and Dad two years later, my brothers and I cleared out the house they’d lived in for 45 years. Their deaths were not unexpected – Mom was 87 and Dad 94. To die at 94 cannot be called a tragedy. It is a triumph. But it is also an emptiness.

I would not have called my father a sentimental man – he was a realistic hardheaded businessman who liked to discuss (we won’t call it argue) politics, economics, business – you know, topics for “real men.” Yet in his bedroom closet, way in the back, we found scrapbooks of memories and boxes full of his letters to his brothers, nephews, and old army buddies, as well as battered notebooks full of written musings about life, love, romance, babies, art, poetry, nature, religion – what he would have categorized aloud as “for women” and not worthy of serious discussion.

One of the last things I found in Dad’s box was a single sheet of paper with song lyrics printed in his crabby hard-to-read handwriting. Now, my dad thought real songs had ended with Bing Crosby, and he was especially scornful of rock and roll, which when I was a teenager he labeled as “the element that is destroying the only country I know and love.” Yet here was this piece of paper that he had saved in his secret stash, with song lyrics from 1986 written by Bob Seger, who I would have sworn he’d never heard of, and if he had, would have dismissed as another low life rock musician.

My hands were steady
My eyes were clear and bright
My walk had purpose
My steps were quick and light
And I held firmly
To what I thought was right
Like a rock.
music & lyrics by Bob Seger

My father impressed with the words of Bob Seger, amazing. I cannot wrap my mind around him even listening for a minute to a rock and roll song, much less writing down the lyrics. Yet here they were.

On Mom’s side of the closet, we found more boxes, also full of written materials – journals she had kept on and off for sixty-plus years, scrapbooks of her children’s drawings, stories and schoolwork, and letters to and from a variety of people including her mother, her friends, and especially her two sisters-in-law, who she regarded as real sisters. Girlfriend letters, chock full of secrets that are usually whispered, or told when no men are around.

And then finally, stuffed into the darkest corner of the closet were two large boxes full of nothing but letters written between 1941 and 1945. Both my parents served in the military during the Second World War, Dad in the Army stationed in the South Pacific, and Mom in the Women’s Marine Corps stationed in Philadelphia and Washington DC. They were far away from their homes and families in the Pacific Northwest, for the first time in both their lives, and it was a time full of uncertainty and turmoil. They needed contact with those they loved, so they wrote letters – lots of letters. There were more than two hundred letters in these two boxes, from Dad to his mother and Mom to her mother, and of course from Dad to Mom and Mom to Dad. Except they weren’t Mom and Dad then, they were Armond and Lois, young twenty-somethings alive with hopes and dreams in spite of war.

Beat-up cardboard boxes kept for nearly seventy years, and moved from place to place to place until they at last found a permanent home in the back of a bedroom closet. My parents had a sense of history and of their place in it, a sense they must have inherited from their mothers – since it was my grandmothers who were the recipients of many of those letters. They must have been the ones who kept them, and returned or bequeathed them to their children. This sense of history has in turn been passed down to me. The gratitude I feel for this treasure trove that landed in my lap is beyond words.

These letters tell a story of love and loss, hope and fear, and how to cope with uncertainty by keeping your chin up. They cover Depression and War and Service and Patriotism, alongside fashion and movies and what they ate for dinner.

There are holes in this narrative, letters missing, probably lost, but still they give a tantalizing glimpse into everyday happenings and the most private thoughts of these complex beings, Armond Pearson and Lois Winter Pearson. The letters are significant not only for what they share, but what they leave out. They answer many questions but raise some too, and the answers to those questions will never be known now.

This is a memoir of Armond and Lois’ love story from 1938 through 1945, but it’s not complete. I wasn’t born until much later. I don’t know the whole story. This memoir is based on their letters from this time, and also on the stories I heard growing up, from them and other members of my large and noisy family. And sometimes based only on what I guess. Maybe this is true of all memoirs. All the stories can never be known.

And how little we truly know the people we think we know best.

Categories : Sharing History

Oct

Sharing History: Memoir WIP

By Kim

I’ve written before in this blog about two of my current projects, both memoirs – one about my parents’ love story, and one about me and how I came to be who I am. Just in case you are wondering how these memoirs are progressing, here are a couple of paragraphs from the one about me. It takes guts to share first drafts, and I hope you appreciate mine. Let me know what you think.

My parents were born in the shadow cast by the First World War, raised during the Depression, and came of age just in time to get caught as participants in a second world war even worse than the first. It can’t have been easy to function in this kind of insecurity. No wonder they preferred to grin and bear it and keep their chins up, phrases that appear often in their letters. Seeing the world as it really was would have erased hope.
   Instead they wed themselves to a determined optimism. If something bad appeared, grin if you can, and if you can’t at least keep your chin up. Eventually it will go away. If it doesn’t go away, just pretend that it did, or better yet that it was never there at all.
   My father was much better at this optimism than my mother. She pretended to grin and keep her chin up, but in unguarded moments – like when Dad wasn’t around – her natural fears asserted themselves, often stronger because they had been denied.
   But Dad’s optimism was not forced. It had been there so long and was so much a part of him that what had begun by overlooking reality, which is just another way of lying, had morphed into a kind of truth that he could by force of character get others to accept. At least when they were in his presence.
   Except that some of us others didn’t accept it and could still see the truth peeking from the shadows. The lies remained lies; like the old 1930s song, they were only a paper moon sailing over a cardboard sea. Underneath the truth still waited, and while it waited it rot.
   My poor parents. How unlucky for people of this mindset to have a child who remembers nearly everything, no matter how young she was or how long ago it happened. Even if she bears it she won’t grin until she understands, and if she raises her chin, it’s just to ask another question. A child who didn’t want to play the blind and deaf game, who was a member of that pesky baby boom generation whose chief delight was pulling back the curtains to show what was underneath those grins and chins. ©2012 Kim Pearson

Categories : Sharing History

Sep

Sharing History – More Adventures of Memoir Writers

By Kim

I work with many memoir writers (and am one myself) and I know that we have things to say that may help other aspiring memoirists. Every month I feature excerpts from my interviews with those who have written and published a memoir, and here’s the next one.

This month my interview is with Teresa Rhyne, author of The Dog Lived (and So Will I) to be published next month, October 2012. You can buy this book online at Teresa’s website, www.teresarhyne.com or Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

The Dog Lived (and So Will I) is an uplifting, charming and often mischievous story of the relationship between the author and her dog Seamus, including his diagnosis of cancer and her dedication to healing him, followed by her own cancer diagnosis. Teresa’s story shows how dogs come into our lives for a reason, how they steal our hearts, show us how to live, and teach us how to love.

Q: Why was it important for you to write your memoir? (ie, leave a legacy to your descendants; educate, enlighten, or inspire others in similar situations; heal your emotional wounds; entertain; make money; etc.)

Teresa: When my dog was diagnosed with cancer and I was given such a grim prognosis for him, I immediately started researching and reading trying to find out more about his particular cancer and possible treatments. In other words, I was trying to find hope. There was little I could find. Much the same happened when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. There are plenty of human cancer memoirs out there, but I only found one or two that really spoke to me and helped me find my way. I wanted to write Seamus’ story and mine because of the hope it offers for anyone going through a difficult and perhaps hopeless-seeming time. And yes, it was also good therapy for me!

Q: What was the most challenging part of your memoir to write? Why?

Teresa: I found writing about myself, particularly the more emotional parts, most difficult. It was much easier, on one level, to tell my dog’s story—because I happen to think he’s wildly adorable and everyone should feel for him. But when it came to writing about my battle with cancer, I struggled with not wanting to come across as needy, or pathetic, or overly-dramatic. I had to get out of my own way and just write what happened and how I felt. It was however also very difficult to relive the diagnosis and prognosis stage of my beagle’s cancer, because it was such a terrible time in my life for many reasons. It’s painful to scratch off those scabs.

Q: What part of writing your memoir came easiest to you? Why?

Teresa: Writing the funny anecdotes about my dog and my boyfriend came the easiest, simply because I love the stories and I loved reminiscing. I also find writing the funny parts much easier than writing the darker moments because humor is how I deal with most everything. It’s a much more natural voice for me.

Q: How long did it take you to write your memoir? Did you write every day?

Teresa: My memoir started as a blog, in January of 2009 shortly after my own cancer diagnosis. After that I was blogging daily. I didn’t start writing it as a memoir until that summer. After I had a rough draft of the first half of the book, I learned that non-fiction requires a proposal, not a finished memoir. So I turned my attention to the proposal and then the agent search. After the proposal got me an agent, I diligently went to work on more chapters, but also was revising the proposal. I signed with my publisher in October, 2011 and wrote like a mad woman until my due date for the completed manuscript—January 4, 2012.

I don’t write every day. I wish I did, but I’m a full-time lawyer with my own law practice, so that’s a tough one. I write on weekends, sometimes in the evenings during the week, and I take week-long writing retreat vacations as often as possible. In the last few months before my manuscript was due, I did indeed write every day.

Q: What is your favorite memoir, other than your own? Why?

Teresa: It’s difficult to choose. One that quickly came to mind is Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship by Cathie Beck. It resonated with me in so many ways, but particularly relating to a close friend I had had a falling out with and recently renewed the friendship in a much healthier way. When I was in breast cancer treatment I was devoted to Cancer Vixen by Marissa Acocella Marchetta and I still keep it on my bookshelves (many other “cancer books” were donated to a local breast cancer resource center). I loved how she dealt with the whole experience with such humor but at the same time was brutally honest. She let me know what to expect in a way that was approachable and not frightening (well, not too frightening). Ironically, though I love them all, I have a hard time reading dog memoirs because that is the one time I will cry like a hysterical newborn—I can’t handle dogs being injured or dying. That’s actually why my memoir has the title it has—so wimps like me will know up front that the dog lives! I did love The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery. In fact, I loved it so much I queried her agent, Sarah Jane Freymann…and that’s who I ended up with as well.

Q: Which element do you think is most important in a memoir – setting of time and place; underlying theme or focus; storytelling plot; characterization? Why?

Teresa: I think voice is the most important. Memoir is so intensely personal that if the voice doesn’t come through, it’s not going to sound authentic. I believe that’s why I struggled so much with the more emotional parts of my memoir—I’m not a person who cries easily; I’m very low drama, very logical, and in fact unemotional. So I had to find a way to convey the drama and pain that was occurring while still being true to my voice and my character. I kept hearing from my beta readers “where’s the emotion?” And I heard that as “you need to cry.” But since I never did cry throughout my cancer odyssey, it seemed inauthentic to have my “character” crying or carrying on outwardly. Eventually a beta reader said “I don’t need to see you cry. I need to understand why you are not crying.” That one piece of advice made all the difference. The story had to be told in my authentic voice and it had to be honest.

Teresa has more interesting things to say about the process of writing a memoir, so Part 2 of her interview will be next month. I hope you’ll check back. And I hope you buy her book! (I too am a sucker for dog books – after all, I wrote one myself.)

Categories : Sharing History

Sep

Sharing History: What Were You Doing/Thinking/Feeling?

By Kim

Whether we realize it or not, each of us plays a role, however small, in many of the “big” events that happen in the world. Even if all you did was say, “Wow!” or “So what?” when you heard about it, your opinion might have mattered to someone else. So let’s take just one month in one year – January 1990 – and if you were alive and conscious during that month, you probably remember at least a few of the events I listed below. (Obviously a very partial list – a lot happens in the world.)

Ask yourself these questions: What was your emotional response to this event? Did you talk about this event to your family or friends and share your opinions? Did this event motivate you to change your opinion or take action in some way? Did this event affect your lifestyle? If so, write it down. In 100 years, maybe one of your descendants would like to know how you participated or contributed to the events of your time.

January 1990

David Dinkins was sworn in as the first black mayor of New York City.
Sports News Network began on cable TV.
The Tower of Pisa was closed to the public because it was leaning too far.
The Space Shuttle Columbia left the earth on a 10 day mission.
Time Inc. acquired Warner Communications, giving us mega-corp Time Warner.
Al Sharpton was stabbed in Brooklyn.
The Simpsons premiered on Fox TV.
The Supreme Court struck down a Dallas ordinance imposing strict zoning on sexually oriented businesses.
Knots Landing won a Soap Opera Digest award.
AT&T’s long distance telephone service was disrupted for 9 hours due to computer problems.
Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for buying & smoking crack cocaine.
Born on the Fourth of July won a Golden Globe award.
Bobby Knight was named as basketball’s Big 10 winningest coach.
A State of Emergency declared in Armenia and Azerbaijan because of ethnic violence.
The captain of the Exxon Valdez went on trial for charges arising from terrible oil spill.
McDonalds opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow, Russia.

Categories : Sharing History

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