Writing Your Life Story Blog

Aug 31, 2010, Katrina Five Years Later

It's been five years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and flooded New Orleans. The Crescent City has been slowly rebuilding, but there is still much to be done. It's been tough for a lot of the survivors, but there have also been some good stories.

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Aug 29, 2010, Remembering the Dream of MLK

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom rally. On the Washington Mall the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gave one of his most stirring speeches, the one known for his "I have a dream" statement.

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Aug 24, 2010, Concluding a Life Story Book or Video

One of the most challenging parts of a life story book or videobiography is how to wrap it up. The final chapter needs to have substance, to sum up and to express something of great importance. That's not easy to do, particularly if the subject is still alive. It's not the end of life...just the end of the life story (so far). One of the things you can do is comment on those things that matter the most.

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Aug 18, 2010, Girl Scouts Oral History Project

In 2012 the Girl Scouts will turn 100 and they are preparing for their centennial by creating an oral history project. The project will be filmed and they are looking for Girl Scout alumni to share their experiences and they will use current girls scouts to interview those alumni. If you share your story I think you should at least get a box of cookies!

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Aug 14, 2010, Richie Hayward and His Rhythm Feat

There are certain rock bands that have flown under the radar of mass commercial success, but by my own inner rating mechanism were as good as it gets. One of those bands was Little Feat, a group my college buddy (and later radio colleague) John Florence introduced me to. Man, that band could groove! They were funky, rhythmic, soulful and eclectic. The special drumming rhythms of Richie Hayward propelled the song beats to another level. To me he was highly intuitive and I just loved the way he played drums. Sadly Richie has passed away from liver cancer.

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Aug 6, 2010, Hiroshima - 65 Years Later

Sixty-five years ago today the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Along with the bomb dropped on Nagasaki it effectively brought about the surrender of Japan and the end of World War Two. The Hiroshima Peace Site and Memorial Park is worth looking at.

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Aug 4, 2010, Your-Life-Your-Story - My Life Story Writing Blog

My Life Story blog entries regarding personal history, life story writing and more.

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Aug 3, 2010, Your-Life-Your-Story - My Life Story Blog Archives, July, 2010

An archive of previous My Life Story blog entries from July, 2010 regarding personal history, life story writing and more.

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Jul 30, 2010, Television Archives and Upcoming Emmys

The annual award presentations for Television's best programming, the Emmys, are about a month away. Despite the criticisms of television, many that are quite valid, the medium is powerful and there can be educational and quality entertaining programming. If you like to research the history of television check out the Archive of American Television.

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Jul 29, 2010, Where You're From - in Verse

One of the education classes I'm taking this summer is on teaching the fundamentals of literacy. I've learned a lot and there have been many moments of profound insight, especially as it relates to life story writing.

We received a a printout this week of a poem by George Ella Lyon, "Where I'm From" (or the Spanish title, De donde yo soy). It's very expressive and beautiful'. He writes of being from many things, from ordinary items (clothespins), products (Clorox), food (fried corn and strong coffee) and ancestry (Artemus and Billie's Branch, the finger my grandfather lost to the auger) and ethereal places (I am from those moments - snapped before I budded - leaf-fall from the family tree).

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