Home
What
Story and Why
How
to
Tell
What's
New
Blog
Life
Story Resources
Research
is Fun
Get
Started
Sample
Writing
Free
Newsletter
Articles
About
Contact
Us
Privacy
Terms
|
The
"Your Life is Your Story" Blog Archives
© Tom
Gilbert
Read
about
quality family history and life story news, views, methods, products,
links, services
...and whatever else catches our fancy of personal
historian
April, 2022
current
blog entries
blog
archive
index
Memoir Writing Help for Fee and Free
April 27, 2022
It is exciting to think about a finished memoir or life story! All the
adventures, memories and lessons learned, told in an interesting or
even entertaining fashion is a goal of many people. And why not? As I
like to say, everybody has a story.
But the reality of producing a life story or memoir is that it takes
time and it is a lot of work. Sometimes really hard work. But take
heart, life story teller! I am not trying to discourage you.
What anyone needs when they embark on the journey of writing a life
story (or working with someone who will do the writing) is
encouragement and good advice. There is real value in paying for the
services of a professional. At the same time there is lots of free
information and help available for free.
Memoir writing help for a fee and for free - you should consider both.
I have lots of articles on my site as I have written about the process
of life story writing for nearly twenty years.
I also have paid for help myself. Investing in services and education has made me a better writer and life story professional.
Much of the help I have received has come from The Memoir Network. You
can sign up and get access to a great deal of free beneficial memoir tips
and resources. I did.
The Memoir Network even has their own YouTube Channel and I've watched some of those informative videos. Check them out.
If you are serious in making headway with your life story I encourage
you to investigate the resources. Preserving the story of your one
incredible life is a worthy goal.
Wow, What a Day!
April 19, 2022
All of us have days that stand out. It could be remarkably good. Or
depressingly bad. Such is life. Although most days are not on the
extreme of positive or negative, the ones that we remember typically
are.
Thankfully, not all days are on an extreme end of the spectrum. We
couldn't handle it if it was incredibly great all the time (though it
sounds tempting). And certainly life would be a very long tale of woes
if every day was crushingly bad.
But life is much more like a rollercoaster than a merry-go-round. Ups and downs.
A writing task you can try would be to pick a day in your life to write
about that would have the final line of, "Wow, what a day!" I got the
idea from reading an article about a retired University president who
is now teaching writing classes to an unusual group of people. Homeless
people.
Russell Long is a former president of West Texas A&M University.
His class is not a continuing education course, or a seminar for
aspiring writers or college students. He shares his insight, experience
and writing expertise with people who don't have a regular place to lay
their head each night. He has teamed with the Panhandle Adult
Rebuilding Center in downtown Amarillo. His "students" range from the
higher educated to little to no schooling. You can read about this at the online Amarillo Globe-News site.
I like that he is breaking down stereotypes and inviting people to
write about their lives. Science has evidence that writing about your
life can actually have health benefits.
His assignment to his students is to pick a day to write about from
your past, present or even imagined future that ends with the line,
"Wow, what a day!" I bet there are going to be some amazing stories.
Trash Talking Times
April 14, 2022
Does it seem like people are more disrespectful and rude than ever? I
don't know if that is a fact, but it sure seems like trash talking and
tearing people down verbally is on the rise.
I sure see it. Not just at the elementary school I teach at, although
there is plenty of mean and rude comments there. I seem to encounter it
more in public. Road rage, arguments in lines in stores, and neighbors
not being "neighborly".
Don't even get me started on what we see on social media.
It's a shame.
It used to be that people commonly said please, thank you, yessir, no maam, and hello, how ya' doin'?
Now often people won't even look at each other, much less smile.
I know there are plenty of people who are
still nice and polite. And I also applaud those who will stand up for
righteousness and justice, even if that means speaking with authority.
There are examples of good behavior. Unfortunately the ones who stand
up for the less fortunate and for common courtesy often get a lot of
abuse. Some even lose their lives while trying to promote doing the
right thing. It is as if people consider kindness to be a weakness.
What can we do about these trash talking times?
Well, I've heard the saying that we should "be the change we want to
see in the world". Another person commented that "Darkness cannot
drive out darkness, only light can do that." And then there was the
very tall order to even "love your enemies."
Instead of trash talking, maybe we can practice more considerate conversation. As another saying states so well, "Be kind."
Writing About Walking
April 7, 2022
It was four years ago to the day that I wrote and posted an article
about one of my favorite themes. It is about walking. I like to go for
walks. It's not just for the exercise. It could also be considered a
spiritual practice.
We need time when we can move around, but at a slower pace than our
typical modes of transportation. I am by no means down on riding a
bike; I like that too. And certainly I drive a car.
If I need to go longer distances there are options. Planes
and trains work. Someday, maybe in the not too distant future, we
might even be traveling into outer space, or near space, to get to
global destinations around our planet even faster.
But the pace of walking, and the importance of taking in the sights and
sounds, is just really special. If you haven't gone for a walk lately
and you are able to do it, by all means, get out there! Springtime with
the warmer weather is ideal after a long, cold winter.
Check out the article from April, 2018. I hope it gets you considering the benefits of when you walk.
Albuquerque's 100 Year Old Radio Station
April 5, 2022
100 years ago a radio station in Albuquerque, New Mexico began
broadcasting at 770 AM. A century ago that was the bandwidth used by
radio stations. AM Radio. In 1922 it was pretty much a new
frontier.
New Mexico was part of the wild west frontier in America back in the
day. For a long time the land was part of Mexico, which iprior to
Mexico's independence was colonized by Spain. The United States
received land that included what became the New Mexico territory in
1848 as part of the Guadalupe Hildago Treaty at the end of the
Mexican-American War. But there were still land disputes and eventually
the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for more land that
added to both New Mexico and Arizona territories.
New Mexico didn't officially become a state until 1912. Just a decade
later on April 22, 1922 KOB was licensed and began broadcasting. With
50,000 watts of power on AM the signal could spread far and wide,
including east where at night (when AM radio waves travel further) it
could interfere with other radio stations, such as powerhouse WABC in
New York City. Therefore the station had to use a directional signal at
night.
All of that is a lot of broadcasting jargon. What I want to say here is
congratulations to one of the grand old radio stations in the country!
KOB eventually was sold and call letters modified to KKOB. And the
station now also broadcasts on the FM band at 96.3
I worked in radio for more than thirty years, including a stint from
2004-2008 for Citadel Broadcasting in Albuquerque, home of a number of
stations including the mighty 770 KKOB. In fact, the FM frequency now
used by KKOB at 96.3 was where I was an afternoon rock jock for then
96.3 The Buzzard - "Real Classic Rock"!
KOB (KKOB) has been a ratings powerhouse as a news/talk station and a
real part of Albuquerque and New Mexico history. You can visit the
station website here and find out more about the history of the station here on Wikipedia.
Congratulations to all the broadcast professionals involved over the
years at this heritage radio station. I was honored to know and work
alongside some of those pros and radio was a big part of my life story.
Although radio broadcasting has changed a lot since I was in it and
continues to evolve in the "on demand" landscape we live in, I still
value the significance a local broadcast radio station can have in a
market. And I do get nostalgic over my radio days.
|
