Everyone has a story.....

 

Everyone has a story. This has never been more evident than within the community of the Duxbury Senior Center. We are constantly amazed by the stories we hear of people’s lives, and we decided that it was important to capture these stories and share them with each other to preserve them for future generations and families.

The Memoir Writing Class was established in the summer of 2018, with a grant from the Grafton Foundation. We began with the goal of documenting these important moments as well as providing participants with a meaningful artistic experience. We met once a week to write, read, listen, learn, and cultivate our memoires.

When you’re part of the Duxbury Senior Center community, the first thing you learn to do is to throw away any preconceptions of seniors and aging. This group of memoir writers was no exception. They jumped right in to the process, eager to learn and discover, and ready to go. The age range of the group spans four decades, which added to the variety and the richness of the pasts they remembered and the stories they told.

The group consisted of some published authors, but also, many first-time writers willing to try something new and grow and stretch their creativity. Everyone involved loves good writing, reading, and conversation. We provided writing prompts and exercises and asked for each one to choose a memory that could be published in this collection. From that, we are proud to present this compilation of essays. It’s interesting to note that the majority of the stories honor their mothers, fathers, grandparents, and family members who are no longer here but still live fully in their hearts.

An unexpected surprise that came from the course was the camaraderie, bonding, and friendships that emerged through the work of writing, listening , and sharing our stories. The process connected us to each other, and the sharing and exploring memories brought more of them to the front of our minds. We cherished each memory, even those we had to squint to see.  

Many thanks to the authors who visited the class and shared their invaluable wisdom about memoir writing. Marianne Leone, author of Jesse, A Mother’s Story, and Ma Speaks Up, started the class by talking about how to begin and what’s important in a memoir. She told us to “find our truths.” Panteha Sanati, a writing instructor at Massasoit and author of Under the Papery Roof spoke about structure and crafting your story. She asked us to carefully consider the memoir as a slide carousel and think about which slides we wanted to show. Melanie Brooks, author of Writing Hard Stories discussed how to delve deep into memories, even the difficult ones, and she warned us that we may “cry at inconvenient times.” And Stephanie Blackman, the owner of Riverhaven Books, explained the publishing industry and worked tirelessly guiding us through the process to make this book a reality.

Telling Our Stories provides a glimpse into each individual life and pays homage to the precious moments that make up a lifetime. We are delighted to have worked with these authors to offer this collection and hope that the many stories yet to be told continue to be written down, shared, and celebrated.