Magical Memoir Moments

A Great Memory Generator: More Touchstones for Baby Boomers

Today on Facebook, my friend Linda posted this video of games and activities recollected from growing up in the 1950’s and ’60’s. I recommend you take a trip down memory lane, and you will almost certainly come back with some interesting memories. Or, if you are a young person, you might want to watch just…

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Toy Story 3: A Memoir Stimulus Package

When Stuart and I saw Toy Story 3, I remembered one of our more delightful experiences while in Prague last year–a trip to the Toy Museum at the base of the huge castle in Prague, Czech Republic. At the time we visited, the museum displayed an amazing collection of Barbie dolls in honor of her…

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Nostalgia: How Important to the Memoir Writer? Reader?

One of my colleagues, Deb Higgins, sent around an email that has evidently gone viral.  It depicts lots of items remembered only by Baby Boomers and their elders. I used the skate key picture from that email as an illustration for Lanie Tankard’s guest blog on Touchstones. But I thought you might like to see…

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Touchstones: Keys to a Great Memoir

Guest blogger Lanie Tankard returns today to talk about memories of her childhood using  “luminous particulars”-a phrase borrowed from Jane Kenyon and Ezra Pound via my former colleague at Goshen College Ann Hostetler. Lanie’s word for those wonderfully evocative objects is “touchstones.” If you enjoy this beautiful essay, you may want to read her first…

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