Writing Your Life Story Part 2: Using a Search Engine As Your Muse

Chihuly's Blue Star

Chihuly’s Blue Sapphire Star © 2014 Bo Mackison

This Memoir Project, the second project in a series of twelve, uses popular research tools to prompt your life story writing.

Using the internet for fact-finding can help recall information that jogs your memories.

Here is a simple technique for turning a search engine such as Google into your own personal muse.

  • Pick a memorable year in your life. Choose a significant birthday – maybe the year you turned Sweet 16, or the year you reached adulthood. Or choose a notable year – the year you married, moved across town, or across the country.
  • Pick one category or several. Research the best fiction and non-fiction books for that year. Also try the award-winning movies, the best albums or singles, and the most popular television shows.
  • Look at sites where you not only can find top 10 lists, but also a summary of the year’s news highlights, sports winners, and popular culture.
  • Researching the decade can make it easier to find information in one place. Here are a few links to get you started:

1960s: collection of music, books, movies and more from the 60s

1970s: the super seventies in music, literature, popular culture

1980s: an encyclopedia of music, cinema, and news for the 80s

1990s: nifty nineties’ top books, movies, happenings

  • What jogs your memory? Write what you remember. You aren’t creating a history book. You are recalling your memories the way you–and only you–remember them.

I chose 1976 as my memorable year.

It was the year I graduated from college, started my first job as a physical therapist, moved into my first apartment, and got married, all in 6 months time.

Since I have always been an inveterate reader, I checked out the top books in fiction and non-fiction. No memory jogs there.

I looked at the list of the top 10 TV shows. A few of the them are now classics–Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, M*A*S*H– but I wasn’t inspired to write.

However, my muse did awaken as I read over the list of popular music for 1976. Most of the singles were familiar. I played a few of the songs on YouTube and memories came flooding back.

One of the more popular songs of the year, Can’t Take My Eyes off of You by Frankie Valli, was the first song played at our wedding reception, our first dance. Suddenly I had a story I wanted to remember.

Here is an excerpt from “The First Dance”:

Bob and I met when we worked together at the university cafeteria. He worked so he could earn beer money. I worked so I could eat. When we decided to get married, there was the typical planning. My mother offered to help.

“What kind of band do you want? We have friends who have a band. They play anything. Waltzes, polkas, even your kind of music.”

I was wondering exactly what kind of music my kind of music was, but she didn’t wait for an answer.

“He can dance, can’t he?”

It was a question I had considered. I also tabled the discussion before I had it. Why ask the question? I already knew the answer. No, he couldn’t dance. To keep wedding plans from getting overwhelming, I took evasive tactics.

“No problem, Mom. We’re both rusty, so we signed up for dance lessons.”

I had seen the sign on the bulletin board at the hospital where I worked. Six classes – six different dances. The city college was offering classes and the classes were cheap – a buck a class a person. It sounded like a great solution.

Our enthusiasm was high as Bob and I attended the first class. But after an hour practicing “1-2-3, turn, 1-2-3, turn, guy-smash-girl’s-foot, 1-2-3, turn” we’d both said things we wished we hadn’t, and three of my toes were throbbing and bruised.

Even so, we were young and optimistic. Surely the second class would be better. Not really. We were young and inexperienced, and we knew nothing about the connection between dancing and natural ability. I would have had better luck dancing the cha-cha with a chihuahua, but there wasn’t one available.

Neither of us were naturals on the dance floor, but we weren’t stupid. In fact, we had a lot of smarts. And as a dear mentor once told me, part of being smart is knowing what you are not good at – and not doing it.

We nixed the cha-cha and the waltz, and decided we could fake the polka with enthusiastic lunges. As for the traditional first dance, we wimped out, much to the chagrin of our mothers. No waltzing around the dance floor.

We chose a song that had a slow beat, and did the slow dance reminiscent of those self-consciously done during high school dances in a decorated gym. Bride and groom in each others arms, gazing into each others eyes, swaying to the music, and shuffling in a circle while never lifting our feet from the floor.

When the music stopped, everyone applauded. We sighed. And smiled.

That slow dance has served us well for more than 35 years.

Here are a few tips for giving search engine research a try.

  • Pick a year. Research the Top 10s. Look at the popular culture or a price list of basic needs–a loaf of bread, milk, a first class stamp, a new auto or home.
  • Consider printing the lists to keep in your memoir stash for future reference.
  • Read through your research lists until an item triggers a memory. If necessary, play a few songs on YouTube or watch a few clips from movies or television shows.
  • Write down at least one memory. Don’t worry about perfect sentences or how the words flow at the beginning. Just get the memory down on paper. You can always rewrite later.

In the next part, I’ll introduce a photography project for collecting memories. It’s quick, easy, and you’ll love the keepsake results.

Next: Part 3, Keepsake Photo Booklet

Desert Art – Chihuly’s Neodymium Reeds and Black Niijima Floats

Chihuly's Neodymium Reeds 2013

Chihuly’s Neodymium Reeds © 2014 Bo Mackison

I love botanical gardens, I love the desert, and I love Dale Chihuly’s huge glass art installations.

When I discovered that the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix was hosting another Chihuly exhibition I made plans to attend. As members of the Gardens, we made advance reservations for the 4 pm to 8 pm slot on a recent Friday evening. Choosing the later hours gave me opportunity to photograph the many exhibits during daylight, at dusk, and in the dark when the sculptures were illuminated.

Chihuly's Neodymium Reeds 2013

Chihuly’s Neodymium Reeds © 2014 Bo Mackison

In Finland we started making these long, cylindrical pieces that looked like spears. This was an exciting new form. It was the first time we ever made anything like that. Sometimes I call them spears and sometimes I call them reeds. They can be taken anywhere—they can go outside. They are very strong pieces, and they are very dramatic. ~ Dale Chihuly

There were at least a dozen installations, large installations featuring intricately shaped glass art.

Since I had the luxury of time, and perfect weather, I studied each installation from several different perspectives. I tried to see each installation as a whole, from a distant path or in the desert setting amidst saguaro and organ pipe cacti. Then I experimented, moving closer and closer until I could take a close up of a part of each installation.

Chihuly's Neodymium Reeds 2013

Black Niijima Float © 2014 Bo Mackison

This particular installation featured reeds and floats.

There were nearly a hundred glass reeds in varying hues of purple, and in opalescent, dotted, and clear glass. There were several globes, Black Niijima Floats, set among the reeds.

Half Globe

Half Globe © 2014 Bo Mackison

The black floats were among my favorites.

I loved how the globes captured the reflections of the adjacent purple reeds, the overhanging palo verde, and the cacti.

Chihuly Globe

Chihuly Globe © 2014 Bo Mackison

I’ve never done anything like the Floats. They are probably the most monumental-looking, since there’s no reminiscence of a container shape. Just because they are so big, the Floats are technically, or let’s say physically, the most difficult things that we have ever done. Even though a sphere or a ball is about the easiest form you can make in glass, when you get to this scale, up to forty inches in diameter, it becomes extremely difficult. ~ Dale Chihuly

It is an amazing concept, studying these black floats, these perfect globes shimmering with gold and silver leaf, and visualizing their creation as blown glass.

More  Chihuly: Cattails in the Garden

Writing Your Life Story Part 1: Introduction to Writing

 

Driving Home © 2009 Bo Mackison

Have you thought about writing your life story?

“Nope, way too hard,” you think.

That is exactly what I thought, too, until my 88-year-old mother unintentionally gave me the nudge I needed.

My mother has always been quite secretive about her life, never one to share stories.

On a recent visit, she mentioned running into an old friend. I didn’t recognize the man’s name. Finally, my mother divulged that he had been an old beau whom she had known for years before she met and married my father. I remarked that I knew little from that time of her life and she announced that she could list all of the boyfriends she had ever dated. As she started reciting names and memories, I grabbed a nearby notebook and jotted down her list. In ten minutes I learned more about her late adolescence and early adulthood than I had learned in the previous five decades. And it was effortless.

Later I prompted her on other topics. “What trips did you take before you married?” “Who are the five most famous people you’ve met in your life?” Each time I asked a question, she responded with a list full of quirky details. By the end of the weekend, I had several pages of stories featuring my mother.

I also had the opportunity to try the listing method for retrieving my own memories.

My younger daughter worked at a movie theater for many years, and she had unlimited access to movies. One evening, as she was going to another show, her third that week, I remarked I’d seen perhaps a half-dozen movies before high school graduation.

“Really? You only went to six movies as a kid?” She was shocked by the thought. “What did you see?”

It only took me a minute to recall the movie titles. They were highlights of a childhood when movies were a huge treat. Amanda sat down in amazement and asked me about my movie experiences. As she listened, her eyes widened in surprise at the differences between the movie experiences in the 1960s versus today.

After I recalled my memories about movies seen in my youth, I wrote a list and added details.

Here is an example from the list “Movies I Saw in A Theater as a Kid”

Movie Memories © 2010 Bo Mackison

. . . when my friends and I were just sixteen, and beginning to accrue driving privileges, the movie Romeo and Juliet was released with much hype. To our dismay, it was not playing at the local movie theater. No, it was at the off-limits drive-in theater on the edge of town! I had never been to a drive-in movie and doubted I’d get permission to go.

But my girlfriends and I were determined to see this movie. Perhaps it helped that Romeo and Juliet was a Shakespearean classic. Perhaps it helped that I planned to go with five other girls crammed into one father’s trusted Oldsmobile. And I’m sure it helped that my friend’s parents agreed to also attend the show and park their car next to ours.  They kept a watchful eye on us the entire evening. Jan’s dad brought his pipe, her mother brought her knitting, and I don’t think they looked towards the big screen even once . . .

I was surprised at the memories I thought I’d long forgotten. Not only was list making an effective aid for recalling details, it was easy and fun, too.

You can use the same technique to jump-start your writing. List making leads to memory making.

Here is how to start:

  • Think of a topic. Use the movie prompt or one of your own. It is easier to write if you initially give yourself guidelines. For example, instead of listing all of your favorite books, list five books you read as high school requirements. Instead of writing about a summer vacation, list the highlights of your first weekend trip to the big city. Remember, it is easy to expand a narrow topic if you are so inclined, but not nearly as easy to pick a huge topic and find the thread of the beginning.
  • Once you have a list of a few items, fill in the details. The list acts as a prompt for retrieving memories you didn’t know you remembered.
  • Be alert for ideas for new lists. Record them in a notebook as they come to you. Topics may come from family conversations, newspaper or magazine articles, radio or television programs, or your daily activities.
  • Don’t over-think this project. Keep several small notebooks or index cards in your home, car, and purse. As you recall details, jot down key words.

Are you thinking of reasons why you can’t write your life story?

Here are three things that may help you get started:

  • You are creative. Though you may fear you are not creative enough to write your memoir, you are the only person who can write about your life from your point of view.
  • You are writing for yourself. Maybe you will share it with family members or friends, maybe you won’t, but the person you are ultimately writing your memoir for is yourself.
  • Writing is a way to explore and connect with your past, perhaps even resolve issues. Your writing is what you make it. The simple act of putting down the words of your story, or doing the coming memoir projects, provides you with an opportunity to make meaning in your life.
  • This can be a big project, or as small as you wish. You do not have to write chronologically. You do not have to record every experience, every detail. Write bits and pieces, collect them in one place, and you will have a start to writing memoir. Write your life story in whatever way works for you. It is your memoir project.

In this series, I offer a dozen writing techniques and creative projects to encourage you on your memoir journey.

Writing Your Life Story is a multimedia project that will inspire you to create/write/photograph your memoir in fun, easy, and interesting bits. I hope you’ll be inspired to try the various projects. We will be writing unique exercises to flesh out your memories, shoot a few photography projects (with any camera – cell phone camera, point and shoot, digital SLR is fine) and explore other multimedia ideas in the quest to “collect your memoir”.

There are writing prompts, simple photography projects, ideas for inventive interviews, creative research techniques, suggestions on how to physically contain your memoir stash, and much more. Twice a week I will post a new memoir project. Imagine how quickly your memoir will grow, a bit at a time.

I invite you to join me in this multimedia memoir project. After all . . . if you don’t write your life story, who will?

Next: Part 2, Search Engine as Muse

You Are the Light

Copper Light

Copper Light © 2014 Bo Mackison

“Whatever you are physically…male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy–all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside.” ~ Cassandra Clare

On a visit to  White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico, I photographed a lot of white sand landscapes. I also photographed the architectural details in the Visitor Center complex, a set of adobe buildings built in the 1930s.

I was fascinated by the adobe windows and  the copper lighting fixtures. And I was doubly thrilled to photograph the window and the light with several glass snowflakes sparkling in the shadow and the light.

Loved the light — the light from the window combined with the light from the vintage copper fixture. It was a happy moment, the snowflakes, the glitter, the delicate shadows.

6th Annual Photo Alphabet – The Finale – Universe to Zip A Dee Doo Dah

U is for the Universe.

Kitt Peak

See the Universe @ 2013 Bo Mackison

No place better to view the distant Universe than an observatory on the peak of a dark mountain.

We arrived at the Kitt Peak National Observatories in southern Arizona in mid afternoon, and stood amidst the dozens of observatories, home to a variety of telescopes. Scientists from all over the globe come here to study the Universe and beyond. My daughter, who was visiting from Wisconsin, and I were eager to participate in the Night Observing Program.

Huddled together in the dark confines of a small observatory, our group of fifteen took turns peering into a powerful telescope. We viewed Jupiter and her moons, double stars, the rings of Saturn. It was a thrilling experience, especially the realization that we could see the rings of Saturn with our eyes, using only optical instruments.

It was an amazing visual connection.

It was a cold night on top of the 10,000+ foot peak in February. We didn’t linger outside, rather we settled in a warm classroom and listened to a short program by a visiting astronomer. I still haven’t forgotten his closing words. After describing the evolution of the solar system and showing us stunning photographs of the heavens, he simply said:

“You are all stardust. You are all bits of star light.”

~~~~~

V is for Vines.

Rusty Red

The View @ 2008 Bo Mackison

This photograph of a rusty barn, covered with bare climbing vines, was one of my early favorites.

It was also my first published photograph, printed in an award-winning magazine, Wisconsin People and Ideas. It was my first inkling that others found my photographs interesting.

The composition and subject were simple – an open window, the view partially obscured by a tangle of vines, a tin roof with rusty patina, a hint of shingles and red paint, a lightning rod to ward off danger, the bare winter branches.

A study of lines and mood, a feel of wabi-sabi. A hint of things to come, the hallmark of many of my later photographs.

It remains one of my favorites, still.

~~~~~

W is for Words and Wisdom Cards.

IMG_4512-Edit

Words © 2013 Bo Mackison

In March of this year, I created my first Desert Wisdom Card.

The card’s theme was PLAY and I included a photo of a bunch of pottery jackrabbits playing musical instruments. Every time I looked this photograph, I smiled, it was that kind of photo. I wanted to share that feeling, so I posted the photo and musings about play on my blog.

By the end of June, my first Desert Wisdom Card Set, 24 cards in all, was complete.

During the summer, I experimented with many ways to create an art edition of the Desert Cards. At a friend’s invitation, I attended a book structures workshop taught by Jackie Hefty at her Whispering Woodlands Studio, just west of Madison. I was enchanted by Jackie’s hand-crafted books, many composed with letterpress printing.

When we toured her studio, I discovered her letterpress printer — it was love at first sight!

IMG_4517-Edit

Imagination – Perseverance ©2013 Bo Mackison

When I told Jackie I wanted to print my wisdom cards, she offered to mentor me in the ways of the letterpress. I learned to set type on a composing stick, tie type, set type on the letterpress bed, and clean and work a letterpress. I printed the first set of cards, one page at a time. It was a  Zen experience. Simple yet precise, rhythmic, slow art.

I took photos to document the process, and photographed two lines of type which I had tied together. (When I set the words on the press, I separated the words and printed two words on a single sheet of paper.

Unintentionally, I had bundled the words “imagination” and “perseverance” together.

I loved the serendipity of that combination, reflecting on the journey of the Wisdom Cards — from a vision in my imagination to their physical creation, a path which required a lot of perseverance along the way.

Since publication, I’ve been honored to send 20 of the 26 sets of the hand created cards to new owners.

Recently, I printed a second series of Desert Cards.

This set of 16 cards, all new words, new photographs, can be used as companion cards to the original set, or as a set on their own. They will be available in early 2014.

The Wisdom Cards set me in motion a new path.

Inspired by the desert and her wisdom, I am currently planning new ways of combining those passions with my love of photography and wordsmithing. Complete details coming in January. (It’s going to be a very busy time in the desert.)

~~~~~

X is for eXploration.

Creative Cairn

Explore @ 2012 Bo Mackison

“The seeker embarks on a journey to find what he wants and discovers, along the way, what he needs.”
~ Wally Lamb

It was all about my constant yearning to explore.

My desire to walk the crooked path, inch along the mountain ledge, cross the desert arroyo, discover the hidden in the foggy forest, has led me to many places of discovery. Places that I fall in love with, places that continue to teach me valuable lessons, places that open my mind, my heart, my spirit.

~~~

Y is for Yucca.

Yucca

Yucca Shadow @ 2013 Bo Mackison

“It is … through the world of the imagination which takes us beyond the restrictions of provable fact, that we touch the hem of truth.”
~ Madeleine L’Engle

Yucca is my reminder.

There are sharp points along the way. There are shadows mingled with sunlight. There is beauty in the common. There is life in the desert.

~~~

Z is for Zip A Dee Doo Dah.

Canopy Hike - Swinging

Zip Line @ 2011 Bo Mackison

There are times to honor with celebration – celebrate with a song and a leap and a zip a dee doo dah!

Celebrate changes. Celebrate who I am today.

How have I changed from the person I was a year ago?

Am I more courageous? Am I open to new and exciting opportunities?  Yes, I am.

Did I learn how to gently grow my business while keeping it within my comfort zone, within my do-ablility?  Yes, I did.

Am I capable, am I strong? Yes. Yes, I am.

Not perfectly. Not without many falters and missteps. But I am calling progress what it is — PROGRESS. I am owning not only my failures, but also my successes.

It is s a time for celebration. As the time approaches to say farewell to 2013, I choose to leap upon the zip line, with a cheer for the new year,

“Zip a Dee Doo Dah!”

~~~

Thus ends my annual photo alphabet for 2013.

Thank you.

I am ever so grateful to have the privilege and gift of time to reflect over the past year, and bring these photographs and words together in an end of the year tribute. Grateful for you, my readers. Grateful for the coming of the New Year.

Farewell, 2013. Welcome, 2014.

May the coming year be one of much wisdom, delight, and blessings for all.


Happy New Year! 

~ Bo