|
This is to invite you, dear reader, to take part
in a creative project.
The task is simple: write a paragraph about a family
member, from a generation that preceded you.
Do you remember how good it felt, as a child, to
be told a story? What I’m suggesting is that
you to turn to your family’s past, and ask
yourself: “Tell me a story”. Don’t
think too hard about who you’re going to pick,
and why… Besides, nothing prevents you from
writing as many such stories, about as many people,
as you like!
It’s a short story, just a paragraph –
as small or as big a paragraph as you’d like
it to be. I will tell you more about what I envision
doing as I collect all of these paragraphs coming
from different people (yes, I’m asking you
to send me what you write). But, first, I want to
share with you “my” paragraph.
She was married very young, to a much older
man, somebody who was maybe old enough to have been
her grandfather. Her sister married a man her own
age; so why was this odd match made? Was it to ensure
that she would be well provided for? If so, it didn’t
work. Her husband died a couple of years after her
third daughter, my mother, was born. She raised
her daughters in a small apartment, with help from
the extended family. As her daughters entered the
modern world, she became more and more of a relic,
still young in years, but haunting their homes like
a shadow of the past.
My recollections of my grandmother are that of
an ancient person with whom I didn’t have
much contact, somebody who was living physically
close, but felt like she was living in a galaxy
far, far away in terms of culture and lifestyle.
It’s been really striking for me to realize,
one day, that she must have been in her early to
mid-fifties when I first knew her. An ancient person,
a relic from a long-forgotten time!?
Writing about my grandmother’s life in such
a concentrated form helped me be more emotionally
aware of what may have affected the arc of her life.
She did not have much interaction with the world
outside her family. Told in detail, her life story
may not make for gripping drama. But something happens
when you capture a person’s life within a
few lines. Events are jumbled together in a fast
pace. One thing seems lo lead to another, and some
meaning appears. If there was any kind of a drama,
of a defining moment, in this person’s life,
it is highlighted. Just the same way as what’s
important to you in a movie is highlighted when
you give a friend a brief description of what the
movie is about.
This is what I am asking you to do as you write
a paragraph about somebody in your family. In doing
so, I believe you’ll capture an archetypal
dimension of this person’s existence. Even
a bland life is an archetype, as opposed to, say,
the archetypes of an adventurer, of an achiever,
or of an outcast.
After I wrote “my” paragraph, I showed
it to several people. Some of them felt moved by
it, finding a lot of drama and evocative power in
its brevity. Others felt there was something lacking
in it. I want to share some of the latter with you
– not for the sake of critiquing what I wrote,
but to point out that my way of writing a paragraph
is not the only way to do so, and to encourage you
to find your own way.
“I like the lyrical flow of your piece as
it is, but I don't know who the players are. I believe
the more specific you get about your background
and your family - the better… People require
a certain amount of context to understand a story.”
“I think that your story is a bit too brief
... we don't know why this woman became a 'shadow',
nor why she married him, do you know? Or is it that
it's one of those things you'll never know? And,
we don't know the level of hardship, struggle. A
single apartment with help from relatives doesn't
tell enough of the story.”
So, when you write your own paragraph, feel free
to make it a much longer paragraph than mine, and
to give as much detail and texture as you deem appropriate.
What am I going to do with these stories you’re
going to send me?
I would like to gather a lot of stories in one
place. I have a hunch that something may happen
when we read all these stories together. My hope
is that, beyond the particulars of each story, it
might convey a sense of the mythopoetic quality
of our lives: a larger-than-life dimension that
is present in even the most ordinary of lives.
We may find in our own lives an echo of the issues
our forebears grappled with: victories and understandings
that they passed along to future generations, that
help us stand taller, on their shoulders; as well
as wounds and unresolved issues we’re still,
in some way, grappling with. It may help us see
our own lives within the broader perspective of
the flow of generations in our family.
There’s no guarantee that putting all of
these pieces together will produce something that’s
greater than simply a collection of disparate parts.
A friend’s reaction sums it up: “I like
the idea, although I am not too sure what the result
would be like. It might be a wonderful way to read
about the diversity of humanity and its experiences,
or it might just be too complex and confusing.”
There is a simple way to find out: let’s
just do it.
Write a paragraph about a family member, from a
generation that preceded you. And send it to me.
By the way, if anonymity makes it easier, feel free
to ask that we only identify you with your first
name and first initial.
If you are so inspired, feel free to share more.
That is, in addition to the paragraph itself, you
can write about what this process means to you,
what came up as you were writing…
You can also send photographs (scans).
|
