You are an open book. To be able to be pulled backwards and recollect everything you have accomplished, loved, fought for, forgot about until now is all that a memoir is. This kind of easy writing, whether heartbreaking, joyous, or humiliating, allows a person to talk about the past in order to really begin to live in the present. People want to learn about real people, real life experiences, and hear real stories. Stress, family break-ups, and financial hardships are a few of the hardships that people deal with in order to “get away” from the real world. They want to real deal—the movies to be less romanticized, T.V. shows without the scripted hot lover and a drama queen, and commercials that involve real people, real problems, and real situations. The recording of Antoinette Franklin and her niece, Iriel Franklin talking about the hit of Hurricane Katrina really put into perspective the real kinds of situations and challenges people might face that others love to hear about the power these victims had in overcoming these tragedies
A memoir is a walk down memory lane, a piece of work, and a kind of writing anyone is able to write. Unlike a fictitious, short story, this type of writing has to have meaning; something that has happened to you that has had an affect in shaping the way you are today. I very much agree that movies more and more are being romanticized to the point where you don’t believe what’s really going on. I really enjoyed the clip about the hardships two victims, family members, had to overcome after Hurricane Katrina. Antoinette Franklin possessed a sort of powerful essence that you could hear when she spoke of how she has not yet broken down, but only because everyone around her has been doing that enough. Her voice, as she speaks, sounds sweet, crisp, but of exertion; exhaustion from mourning, heartbreak and lack of accomplishment. Everything her family has built was stripped away at the blink of an eye. I think writing a memoir would be an effective way of bringing back memories filled with different kinds of emotion to make sense of where you are, where you've been, and who you are as a person today.
Do people ever critique a memoir being that it is a personal account?
At what age/crisis/style of writing can a memoir really be considered a memoir, and not just a non-fictional story?
In what ways have people, experiments, and challenging times shaped the way you are today?
