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Writing Your Life Story Blog

Here's where you find out what's new at Your Life is Your Story.

Mar 07, 2019

They Called Him "The Kid"

What's in a nickname?

Some nicknames come out of common usage. For instance, a parent may just call one of their kids "boy" or "girl". In a loving way, you know, like girl! Get over here!

I know of someone who calls one of her sons "Baby Brother" and one of her daughters "Yady". But she actually didn't come up with the names, it was other family members who called them that and it stuck. That's kind of how nicknames work. Someone starts it and it catches on.

Billy the Kid, a famous western outlaw, did much of his carousing in New Mexico. I live here in "The Land of Enchantment" and New Mexico was truly the wild, wild west back in "The Kid's" day. There is a new movie just coming out about Billy andhis nemesis, the sheriff, Pat Garrett. It's coincidentally titled, The Kid.

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Mar 06, 2019

Your-Life-Your-Story - Back Issues Index

Index to back issues of the Your Life is Your Story free ezine newsletter

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Feb 25, 2019

Still Celebrating African-American History Month

We are in the last week of February, the shortest month of the year, but one of the deepest months in terms of celebrating people who have impacted our world in many incredible ways. African-American History Month happens each February and perhaps it is an opportunity for you to learn more about some of the people who have changed our world with their contributions.

As a teacher I like to think that we can learn from peoples' lives, regardless of the color of their skin, and in any month of the year. Still, I applaud that we have a month dedicated to the extraordinary contributions of African-Americans. One of my favorites is Maya Angelou. She was a marvelous writer, dancer, actor, poet and humanitarian.

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Feb 20, 2019

Opportunity Declared Officially Dead

Opportunity is dead...but not before going way beyond the expectations of NASA and scientists who study Mars.

The rover was sent to Mars in 2003 and landed on January 25, 2004. Immediately it went to work studying the Red Planet and sending back bountiful amounts of interesting data. The rover was expected to work for 90 days, but it ended up being 15 years. What does that tell us? That with machines as well as human lives, we don't often know how much time we've got.

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Feb 07, 2019

MVP in Character, Frank Robinson Was One of the All Time Baseball Greats

I heard the news earlier today that baseball great Frank Robinson passed away. He was 83 and had a career in Major League Baseball that included 21 seasons as an amazing player and another 16 years as a manager.

He was the first African-American to manage a Major League Baseball club and I find it significant that he gets the spotlight on him during this African-American History Month. But Frank Robinson was a great person who could and would be judged by his character and not the color of his skin (as Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed).

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Feb 04, 2019

Your-Life-Your-Story - My Life Story Blog Archives, January, 2019

An archive of previous My Life Story blog entries from Januaryy, 2019 regarding personal history, life story writing and more.

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Jan 30, 2019

Get Back 50 Years

50 years ago today the Beatles played their final public show, that is if you could call 42 minutes of live Beatles songs atop their Apple Records Building a concert. At this stage of their career the lads were on the verge of breakup. Lots of tension, even minutes before going to the roof to plug in and play a variety of songs they were working on, including "Get Back" with Bill Preston on keyboards.

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Jan 22, 2019

Life Lesson Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr

50 years later it is good to be reminded of some of the most powerful life lesson quotes from Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Here are three:

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.

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Dec 31, 2018

Review and Renew

Here we are, on the cusp of a new year. Many people make big plans to celebrate on New Year's Eve and people are typically in a hopeful and celebratory mood. All good.

But because I try to live one day at a time and be present to each moment, I find that the end of the year does bring about reflection. However, I am not that big on New Year's resolutions. I do like to renew my commitments to live for today and to do better. You might notice that I said, "do better" instead of "do my best". Best is the goal, but progress is how I measure. I know myself well enough to recognize that I will and do make mistakes.

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Dec 23, 2018

Asking the Right Questions

It's the Holiday Season and as you gather with family and friends it is natural to renew our relationships and talk about our lives. This is typical. What is not so typical is spending the time to preserve the stories about our lives and families for us to appreciate and for future generations to learn about us.

When I interview people about their lives I like to prepare a list of questions. It doesn't mean I don't leave room for spontaneity. It is very important to let the interview unfold like a conversation. But it helps to have some starting points and to think in advance about areas to explore.

Continue reading "Asking the Right Questions"