Memoirous

When is a truck not a truck— When it kills 84 revelers after a fireworks display On a busy boulevard When is a plane not a plane— When it is used as a missile and Flown into tall buildings When is a train no longer a train— When it becomes a bullet bomb Underground Mail, parcels, parties Bible studies, peaceful protests University classrooms Can you think of any other ways Where everyday life, the ordinary Has been co-opted? Where something Like eating at a restaurant, watching a soccer game, Walking your dog, attending a concert Have been turned into the most horrific Moment of your life— Can you imagine? Think, think again . . .  seaside promenade, palm trees, rollerbladers, ice creams stands =all take on new meaning

9/11: A day for Re-Framing our Memory Even the use of 9/11 is short-hand, a way to immediately conjure up an image with the reader. No matter if you were alive then or just born, now, 12 years later, one can easily have a memory or, at the very least, a working collective memory of what happened that day. It is engraved on the conscience of the 21 st century. Much of my work has been with flash memoir. I’m sure the memory of what happened that day has shifted down through the past decade plus. From my book Freeze Frame: How to Write Flash Memoir I talk about the Challenger study. snip-- The day after the Challenger disaster Emory University professor Ulric Neisser asked his students to write down their feelings. I’m sure this was cathartic for them. But also, interestingly enough, before they graduated a few years later he asked them to again write personal essays about the Challenger disaster, specifically about what they remembered about that day. He found th...