The Church of the Memoir

Experimental collages expanded with significant phrases

I’ve been reading even more voraciously now that I have more time…and have the luxury of letting one book or idea lead to another. I can sit at my home computer and put in requests to the local library system. Now, in addition to lots of memoirs, I’m re-reading Graham Greene’s, THE END OF THE AFFAIR, Annie Dillard’s THE MAYFAIRS, Kathleen Winter’s ANNABEL—about love, relationships, identity. I use writing to figure out my own life since college, and after quitting my health care job it’s usually at least a page a day…figuring out my meaning of my own life. With Greene’s novel, I see so clearly now how authors use the characters to work out different aspects of their own questions, in this case about the meaning and use of belief in god. I see that he gave his first name, Henry, to the mild husband of the woman whom the narrator, Bendix, loves. The character with the flawed face, in denying the existence of a god who would burden him, makes the female character believe in the bargain she has made to give up her love, if he is only spared death.

My friend's daughter in the Army in war

Now I have the time freedom to wander and learn…more focused than in college. Reading about Greene, thinking about books, making a course of study that changes direction from day to day. A  link to Susan Cain’s TED talk on the Power of Introverts, and how solitude is an important aspect of being able to work creatively justifies my seeming anti-social behavior.

Another Quilt Block, so relaxing to play with color and texture!

-->

I treasure a Meyers Briggs that identified me as someone who was content to sit back and let others lead…until my particular skills are needed. I’m not pushy, and I don’t need to make a lot of money, as long as I am healthy, safe, warm, well fed, and have access to books and art supplies. I took a class a few days ago on publishing in today’s techno-market, and realized that I don’t have a sufficient market, and the technology is not sufficiently-advanced to do the combination of Doll Making as a Transformative Process book and class that I envisioned. An interim project is working on a memoir of sorts, of my own life and my ancestors, using images, fabrics, writing I have collected. I think there are computer programs that I would like to master, that will help with my evolving path…Every picture tells a story and every story generates pictures.  Stay Tuned!

The new series of fabric/mixed hangings, using my own and my family's history