Preserving Your History

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum is collecting history by archiving stories from September 11, 2001. Everyone has a story from that day. Everyone was touched in some way, no matter where in the world they were. Add your story and make history.

Make History! Share your 9/11 story

Has the Mutual of Omaha Aha Tour come to your hometown yet? Check out their tour schedule to see if the van is going to be near you. They are going around the country recording people’s aha moments. Do you have one you’d like to share?

Here’s their definition of an aha moment: ” a moment of clarity, a defining moment when you gain real wisdom – wisdom you use to change your life.”

You don’t even have to record your moment in their van. You can record it at home and simply upload it to their site. Join hundreds of others and share your wisdom with the world.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) –” I’ll never forget holding World War II medic Tony Acevedo in my arms. He wept and convulsed for more than 10 minutes, his body constricting and tightening in a way I’d never seen before. “I’m sorry,” he said, repeating, “I’m sorry. I want to say more, but I can’t.”

This is written by Wayne Drash, a correspondent with CNN, writing about American POW’s who were held at a slave labor camp, in Germany, known as Berga an der Elster. A slave labor camp that, until last week, had never been recognized as such by the Army.

He ends his report with this: “My final message is to my generation and the next. Don’t be so quick to shove grandpa and grandma into a nursing home. Sit down with them. Listen to them. Hear their stories. The greatest generation. They’re cut from a different cloth and we’re losing them too fast.”

Read the full story here.

It’s Father’s Day next week. What a perfect time to sit down and ask your dad….what? What are the things that you would need or would want to know if he wasn’t around? Do you know why he lives where he does? Do you know how he met your mother? Do you know what he was called when he was a kid?

There are so many different guides that give you questions to ask in an interview. But one of the best is from StoryCorps, the NPR sponsored radio show that records people talking about their lives. You can download their list of great interview questions from their website.

Take your dad to a quiet room, set up a camera or a tape recorder and start. It doesn’t even need to be all about him. My favorite question is what is your favorite memory of me? My dad told me many times about his favorite memory of me when I was 3 years old. We were in a hotel room in Florida and I was feeling sick. He was sitting with me trying to feed me chicken noodle soup. I looked at him and said “Hello cuckoo-face.” A fairly average moment, but he loved it. And he savored it enough to tell me about it years later.

Start your own conversation.

Do you have a story to tell? Have you thought about writing it down but talked yourself out of it? “No one would want to hear my story.” Not true! Maybe you just need some help to get started.

I would recommend you pick up a copy of “My Words Are Gonna Linger – The Art of Personal History” the anthology of life stories put together by the Association of Personal Historians (of which I’m a proud member). There are 49 stories gathered or written by the members of this organization. These tales range from lighthearted to deeply moving and personal. All show why it’s important to tell your story. (While you are at the website ordering your book, you can also pick up some practical tips for writing life stories. )

Your story is important. Get busy.

My great-grandfather, Ed Rinne, was born in 1880 in Illinois.  As  a young man, he spent a short time farming with his father in Alabama.  I am lucky to have an audio interview with him done sometime in the late 70’s when he would have been 90+ years old.  But I was shocked when I listened to him talk about his time in the south. He uses the the word “nigger” repeatedly in telling this story.  I vacillated about posting it.  Would listener’s understand the language usage in the era he grew up in?  He clearly is not using it in a pejorative sense. As a matter of fact, he has scorn only for the white southerners.  But it is shocking to hear, nevertheless.

This has been an issue in the past with Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. As well as Shakespeare’s language in The Merchant of Venice that is derogatory toward Jews.  Are we using any language today that will be shocking to our great-grand kids? Should we, or even could we, hide or sanitize our past use of language?  Here is his story as he told it, warts and all.  (Note: The “they” he refers to at the end are the white towns people.)

Papa Rinne on working in Alabama

Dear Ella,
You probably don’t remember much about your trip to Disneyland in April of 2009. 13 grueling hours of lines and concrete and brief, wild rides. The highlight of the day was your visit to the princesses. Your Aunt Pam waited in line for almost 90 minutes for you.  Just as you were about to go in the tent, you looked thoughtful and asked, “Do you think the princesses like spiders?”  I replied, “Good question! You should ask them. They’ve probably never been asked that before.”

You met Belle first. Clearly dazzled, you lobbed her a softball by asking if she liked butterflies. “Oh yes, I like butterflies.” Gathering steam (and encouraged by your aunts), you very seriously looked her in the eye and asked what was really on your mind. Do you like spiders? Belle stopped and then replied that she liked some spiders (a very diplomatic response) and you seemed satisfied with that.

Do you like spiders?

Ariel was next.  You were very troubled about Ariel’s daughter Melody. “Your daughter Melody became a mermaid. She left you.  Are you mad at her?  Do you still love Melody?”  I think Ariel was a little taken aback at how concerned you were.  “Melody is my daughter. I will always love her even if she’s far away.” Maybe you’re prepping for the day you become a mermaid and leave your castle for the big wide sea.

One more thing. When you rode the roller coaster at Space Mountain, you screamed throughout the ride for your mother (who was in the car in front of you and might as well have been on the moon).  As the car slowed at the end, you said in a trembling voice, “That was really scary.” After a tiny pause, you brightened. “Can we do it again?”

These memories are a treasure to your parents and aunties.  We hope they will be for you, too.

I have been boring friends and family for several years with unsolicited advice re: “record your parents”, “go see your great-aunt and here, take some questions to ask her”, “this is a momentous day for you; maybe you should write something about it for your grandkids”.  To which the response has been ‘uh huh’, ‘okay’ (translation: uh huh), ‘good idea’ (translation: okay, uh huh), and ‘I’ll get right on that’ (translation: leave me the **** alone).

So I was delighted when my friend D stopped by the house two days before she went to see her elderly parents. “I want to interview my parents.”  After being revived from my faint, I lent her my old Hi-8 camera and the book “Listening is An Act of Love” published by StoryCorps that contains, in the back, three pages of questions that will get even a reluctant mother talking.

Upon her return, I got this email, “I got my mother and father to sit for THREE interview periods.  I hope to heck it recorded and it had light and sound, I haven’t played it back yet.  My mother said she would be quite upset if it didn’t work because she wasn’t about to repeat it again!  My dad turned out to be quite a talker, go figure!”

We’ve got an edit date next week to look at the tape and duplicate it for her sister and nephew.  I am so excited that, at least for one friend, I no longer have to repeat myself.

Beg or borrow a camera and get out there!  Check out StoryCorps for suggestions.

Mutual of Omaha is running a series of ads about people’s “aha” moments.  This clip is about Bob, a man finally writing his memoirs.

“I always wanted to be sure the truth was told about my life. And I realized, the only one who was going to make that truth was me.”

Watch Bob explain his “aha” moment.

Do you long to tell your story?  Do you have a story that you would like to tell?  Make this moment your ‘aha’ moment.  Write your story, tell your story, leave your story for your family and friends.

Calling all Washington State history buffs.  Now available on-line are oral histories of Washington citizens who’ve had an impact on the state.

Sponsored by the Secretary of State’s office, histories included are from Krist Novaselic, the Nirvana bass player and Adele Ferguson, the first female member of the Capital press corps.  But my personal favorite is the personal history of former Justice Charles Z Smith, the first black member of the state Supreme Court. He is one of the trailblazers that has opened doors for so many others. Read about his road to the Supreme Court.

More profiles are being compiled and will be released soon.