Working with people in the final stages of their life must be very
powerful...and rewarding. Dan Curtis, a personal historian and
documentary filmmaker in Victoria, Canada has been doing that for
years. He established the Victoria Hospice Life Stories program where
people who are in the final days of their life can share about their
life journeys. The program has just been recognized for its fine work
with Recognizing
Enhanced End-of-Life Care for British Columbians. This
award is sponsored by the BC Hospice and Palliative Care Association
&Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem and comes with a
$5,000 grant to be used to further support the program at Victoria
Hospice.
Congratulations to Dan and the program! This is yet another
demonstration how life story preservation and personal history greatly
matter. Dan has a very informative blog and you can visit it at dancurtis.ca/posts.
April
26, 2010
How I Took A Left Turn To Albuquerque
Albuquerque
has become my home town. I've been seduced by the "Land of
Enchantment". New Mexico is a great place to live. For someone like me
who has been a bit of a gypsy over the years to finally settle in one
place is unusual. My dad was a career Air Force pilot so we moved a lot
as a kid. Then out of college I began working in radio broadcasting, a
career that spanned over thirty years and 5 different radio markets
(two of them twice!).
It was almost by accident that I ended up moving to Albuquerque the
first time. I traveled from Oklahoma to visit a college buddy who had
found work at a new rock station in Albuquerque in 1979. Turned out
they had an opening for the overnight DJ slot and I got the gig. So my
visit resulted in employment. I was just a year out of college and
hungry for any radio work. I stayed 8 years and worked my way up the
ladder to the position of Program Director. Then I proceeded to move my
wife (and eventually 2 children) around the country with stops in
California, Florida and Michigan as part of the journey. But we always
wanted to return to New Mexico (where my wife and her family are from).
We've been back 13 years and career paths have evolved, but I still
love this state and the "Duke City". Great weather, mountains, green
and red chile and just a vibe I enjoy. The city has lots of history,
too - it's now officially 304 years old (get some historical background
here).
For fans of the iconic Bugs Bunny cartoons you will enjoy this video
clip - "I knew I shoulda' taken a left turn at Albuquerque!"
April
22, 2010
Celebrating Earth
How far have we come in 40 years of "Earth Day" celebrations? (ABC news article) Are you more
eco-conscious? I believe that all of life is sacred and connected,
therefore it is natural for us to treat all life with respect. But that
means taking it into our daily decisions and choices.
Today you might want to write about what nature and Earth Day mean to
you. How have you seen our world change in the last 40 years and how
have you changed the way you relate to nature?
April
20, 2010
Dia del Libro - World Book Day
April 23 is a symbolic day sometimes referred to as Dia del Libro.
On this day books are
celebrated in many European and Latin American cities. The
tradition grew from a celebration on the feast of St. George (the
Dragon Slayer) in Catalonia and the giving of a red rose for each book
sold (more here from UNESCO about World
Book Day). This tradition will be honored here in Albuquerque, New
Mexico at the National
Hispanic
Cultural Center (more). On Wednesday, April 21, the
Center will host a free
public event with readings from historical, political and literary
texts of Mexico's Independence of 1810 and the Mexican Revolution of
1910.
This is both a cultural and literary event for our area - but you can
celebrate World Book Day, too. Spread the word and read from a good
book. Or even better, make the commitment to do some writing on your
story and to some day have it printed to share with family, friends and
future generations.
April
18, 2010
I’ve been a baseball fan since I was a young boy. The year
that it really hooked me was 1967. We were an Air Force family and
moved around a lot. That year we were stationed at Little Rock Air
Force Base, just outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, in the town of
Jacksonville.
1967
was sixth grade and being 11 going on 12 I lived vicariously through
Major League baseball players. I was convinced that would be my
destiny, too. It was a dream that remained a fantasy by the time I was playing
High School ball. There I sadly realized the great gulf of talent between me and
potential pro players. But in the Fall of ’67 it didn’t
matter. I was still young enough to be idealistic, envisioning myself
patrolling left field at Fenway Park and catching balls ricocheting off
the “Green Monster”, just like my hero, Carl Yastrzemski.
The other day I discovered someone else
like me. I’ve never
met the man, but he writes a brilliant blog and has now
published a book that frames much of his life, lessons and values in
the context of baseball. Josh
Wilker struggled through a lot of his early
life to find his niche, but clearly this writer is in his element with CardboardGods.net.
I found him from a New
York Times article written by Greg Hanlon, Through
Baseball Cards, a Meditation on Life. When I
hyperlinked to Wilker’s blog his post for that day (April 15,
2010) was about a re-issue of Yasktrzemski’s 1960 rookie card. That
revealed his passion for the Red Sox. Yaz
is “his man”, a mythic figure who grew up rooting for from
his rural Vermont home. But even more poignant was how the
baseball card reminded him of a summer he spent with his grandfather.
It’s a jewel of a story, one of many that focus on his life,
events brought to the surface by his musing about various baseball
cards he collected from his youth in the 1970’s. Hence the
name “Cardboard Gods” for the cards and players.
The title of his book is Cardboard
Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards and
is available online at Amazon and elsewhere.
Income Tax Day is rarely a time for celebration. But it often will get
you contemplating finances. And thinking about that can get you
circling the "wagons of your memory" about jobs, goals, income, hopes,
dreams and so on.
If
you are still struggling with how to make sense of the memories in
your life so that you can get started on your life story I heartily
recommend you discover the very helpful e-book so many others have
found useful (myself included). Michael Boyter's MemoryGrabber
is easy
to use, thoughtful, full of encouragement and practical lessons and
exercises to get you started. There's a money-back guarantee - although
I rarely see anyone ask for it as the book is so helpful and affordable
(less than $15!). I've helped sell this product for Michael for a
number of years now and use it to help those who want to go further in
preserving their personal history. Find out more
here.
April
11, 2010
Car Karma
I said farewell to a good friend yesterday morning. As the tow truck
driver loaded my 2000 Ford Mustang onto the flatbed I found myself
reminiscing about the time and many miles we'd spent together. I like
to think I'm not overly attached to material things, but this was a fun
car.
I wasn't even looking to buy a
Mustang back in 2005. But as fate would
have it I was working a radio remote in Santa Fe, encouraging listeners
to come to the rodeo grounds where several dealers had brought used
vehicles to sell. It was a big sales event and the dealers had pooled
their media dollars to advertise the event. I was on location in an
attempt to bring our listeners out. It's quite common in the industry
to do these types of remotes. While I was there I had the opportunity
to walk around and "scout" vehicles. I was doing it so I could
personalize my live breaks. I saw the white Mustang and thought,
"that's a nice ride".
As it turned out I expressed my interest to the person in charge of the
coordinated media and promotion and they got the dealer to let me drive
the car back to Albuquerque with the promise of returning it the next
day. A great sales technique and it worked - I fell in love with the
car on the 60 mile drive back home and enjoyed it even more on the
return trip. I was sold.
Over the years I've owned several cars, some nice and some with more
"wear and tear", if you get my drift. This particular car was one of
the best I've owned. And I drove it a lot. It was sporty, fun, had a
great sound system and was a real upgrade from teh 1985 Thunderbird I'd
been driving. But back in February on the way home from a family
gathering I let my son drive and I rode "shotgun". Somebody ran a red
light on our turn left. Fortunately my son's quick reactions stopped us
before we got t-boned (which surely would have put me in the hospital -
or worse), but the oncoming car still tore off the front end. Thank
goodness no one was hurt. There were also witnesses and we did the
police report and my teenage son got a life lesson in what to do at the
scene of an accident.
The car was eventually declared
a total loss (insurance companies don't
like to pay for high repairs), so I've said farewell to my pony car. It
was fun while it lasted. I've closed the chapter on that car, but also
formed some solid memories from our five year relationship. Most of us
have had more than one car. Did you form any relationships with them?
Here's an exercise for you. Write about a car you've owned. How did you
buy it? What was it like the first time you drove it? What eventually
happened to it? Were there any memorable trips you took in it? Were you
ever in an accident with that car?
April
5, 2010
Lou Reed Takes a Walk on the Centenarian Side
The rock singer/songwriter Lou Reed (remember the Velvet Underground?)
is now
doing documentaries and he's premiering one on his cousin,
affectionately known as Red Shirley. The 28-minute film focuses on
Shirley Novick on the eve of her 100th birthday. Her lifestory is
explored, including how she left Poland at 19 to travel to Montreal
with just a few dollars and a couple of suitcases. She quickly learned
French and the mandolin. She also later moved to New York. The film
features original music by Lou Reed and you can view the trailer here.
April
1, 2010
Passover Celebration Goes Digital
A new way to commemorate the Passover Festival is the cyber-assisted
digital preservation of a family's commemoration of the Passover story
(when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt). Each year this
significant event in the history of the Jewish people is honored with
the Seder meal. Behrman House, a Jewish educational publisher in New
Jersey, has been offering a digital preservation for families who
gather at this time. It is a personalized Family Haggadah and using
modern technology (YouTube, Facebook, digital and printed book) people
have a new way to preserve their family gathering and festival
commemoration. Berham House project coordinator Jessica Gutman even
designed a version for President Obama and the first lady, complete
with pictures of their family and readings that relate the story of
freedom from slavery and the American Civil Rights Movement (a
modern-day re-telling of the Biblical Exodus story).
Working with people in the final stages of their life must be very
powerful...and rewarding. Dan Curtis, a personal historian and
documentary filmmaker in Victoria, Canada has been doing that for
years. He established the Victoria Hospice Life Stories program where
people who are in the final days of their life can share about their
life journeys. The program has just been recognized for its fine work
with 
I wasn't even looking to buy a
Mustang back in 2005. But as fate would
have it I was working a radio remote in Santa Fe, encouraging listeners
to come to the rodeo grounds where several dealers had brought used
vehicles to sell. It was a big sales event and the dealers had pooled
their media dollars to advertise the event. I was on location in an
attempt to bring our listeners out. It's quite common in the industry
to do these types of remotes. While I was there I had the opportunity
to walk around and "scout" vehicles. I was doing it so I could
personalize my live breaks. I saw the white Mustang and thought,
"that's a nice ride".
The car was eventually declared
a total loss (insurance companies don't
like to pay for high repairs), so I've said farewell to my pony car. It
was fun while it lasted. I've closed the chapter on that car, but also
formed some solid memories from our five year relationship. Most of us
have had more than one car. Did you form any relationships with them?
Here's an exercise for you. Write about a car you've owned. How did you
buy it? What was it like the first time you drove it? What eventually
happened to it? Were there any memorable trips you took in it? Were you
ever in an accident with that car?