A Letter to Two e-mail friends today 4/28/26

Perhaps this is true of you as well; I have some indelible memories that I have carried with me throughout my life. Some are like stories - they have a plot, setting, characters and a thematic unity. Others are fragments, like a short view of something, a quick snapshot - no plot, no event, just, perhaps a view of someplace, a quick interaction of some kind, an impression.

The longer memories that have been honed over time into structured narratives I have written about over and over again in my diaries or in my blog. These I am collecting and have collected in the past into printed out paper versions which, upon my death, will go into the shredder, but I don't care because they just have to come out. Some have titles like "Black Water" and "Texas Cowboy" "Denouement"

I was thinking today about Mike Birbiglia and Kathleen Madigan, as well as Nate Bargatze, my favorite stand-up comedians. They turn those personal anecdotes into humorous tales, much like Mark Twain did. Mine are never funny, just simple narratives.

The benefit of an English Literature education: I am thinking about the Canterbury Tales. You would never read this unless you were an English Lit major, I am sure. It is the individual tales of a group of Pilgrims on route to the Holyu Land. Same thing with Marcel Proust "Remembrance of Things Past - (6 volumes!!) Another example that comes to mind is from the world of poetry - Spoon River Anthology: In case you never ran across this one, each short poem is a grave stone summary of that person's life in 4 lines!

A cranky awful poetry teacher that I encountered at the last degree I took at the University of the Arts was famous for a book of poetry he wrote in the style of Spoon River Anthology but each poem was about someone who died in the Great Fire of Peshtigo 1871. More than 1,200 people died in that fire.

These examples are to me (and many other students of English Literature) splendid and unforgettably evocative depictions of the human experience.

Today, I was thinking about these and also about how my parents never really told stories about their lives and they had interesting and adventurous lives. Many of my friends have said the same thing about their parents and grandparents. Perhaps it is because so often when old people reminisce, younger people grow impatient and annoyed and shut them down.

Once I was at the photo counter at our local pharmacy and an old man was picking up photos and he tried to show one to the counter clerk of when he was in the navy and they were searching in the arctic for a piece of a Russian spy satellite that had crashed, or been shot down. The clerk was so annoyed, so I jumped in and let the old man tell me and show me his photo. In my personal life, I have experienced this as well. For example I have learned NEVER to try to tell my daughter any personal anecdote. She used to become instantly annoyed, and she would punish me by cutting me off and not communicating for a long time. I realized that it was because the story is hers now, not mine. I have a friend like that. She will interrupt an anecdote and say "Get to the point!" We have had words over this because I have listened patiently to discourses on home decor and family issues, but she hates stories, so there is no quo prid quo. I am lucky because I have the outlets of diaries and other people who enjoy story telling as much as I do (both e-mail friends and life friends) and I have the blog. Happily storytelling flourishes in our culture in general and podcasts are a modern example of that although I have never heard one yet.

If you ever think of a memory that has stayed engraved in your memory over your lifetime and you wish to share it, I would love to hear it.

wrightj45@yahoo.com

p.s.New York Times used to have a little section that was tiny stories about brief interactions on the streets of the city - very enjoyable! <