THE COAST NEWS
B2
JAN. 25, 2013
Dems host Richard Lederer COAST CITIES — Richard Lederer, noted writer, speaker, teacher and broadcaster who created “A Way With Words” on PBS public radio, is bringing his wit and wisdom to North County. Lederer, best known for his books on word play and the English language and his use of oxymorons and
puns, will be the featured speaker at the Democratic Club of Carlsbad-Oceanside at 10 a.m. Jan. 26 at the Carlsbad Woman’s Club, 3320 Monroe St. The radio personality and historian will offer a treasury of fascinating facts about the feats, fates, families, foibles and firsts of our American presidents.
He will also have his latest book available for signing. His column, “Looking at Language,” is syndicated in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States. The event is free, as is parking. For more information, visit DEMCCO.org. During Tuesday’s “Writing Our Lives” workshop, leader Sandy Carpenter (far right) gives feedback to Richard Foster (at table, center) on his story about working in the cafeteria during college in the 1960s. Photo by Rachel Stine
Forget nouns and verbs, workshop asks seniors to write out their lives By Rachel Stine
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CARLSBAD —Everybody in the “Writing Our Li ves” workshop at the Carlsbad Senior Center kno ws that Ed Arms was born in a c hicken coop. As Arms tells it, about 80some-odd years ago on his family’s farm in Tennessee, his mother woke up in the mid dle of the night with la bor pains. She was 13-years-old. “She didn’t know she was pregnant,” Arms said. Naturally, her family had no idea either. He said that the house didn’t have indoor plumbing,so his mother tried to con vince her sister to go outside with her . After her sister “refused to have anything to do with it, ” she ventured outside to the nearby chicken coop to deal with the pain. Around 2 a.m., she gave birth to a tin y baby amid the barnyard fowl. Arms shares this story every year or so during a session of the weekly workshop. “Writing Our Lives” is designed for local senior s to compose stories a bout their lives and shar e their writings aloud, and as a result, members share intimate details of their lives with people the y would have otherwise never met outside of the group. “People get to kno w each other in depth because they are being told the life stor y,” said Sandy Carpenter, the group’s leader. “How many friends do you have that you know about grammar school or their fir st love or their marriage... And yet, we know all these things about all these people.You’d be surprised about what they are willing to tell.” Carpenter has been leading the group for the past year and a half , and has been a member of the group for over a
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wade through transferring this, inheriting that, changing ownership of the ne xt thing. Who, they asked, as if it were written in Chinese, is “Nancy Jean Gillette?” It’s not Nanc y Rose Hart, is it? “No. That was my mom.” Surely you can’t be the same person as Jean Hart Gillette. That is far too great a leap of logic and besides — and they made this part cr ystal clear with f acial expressions and tones of v oice — your are probably just trying to steal this paltry amount of mone y from
decade. She provides writing tip worksheets each week, and offers critiques when ask ed as participants read their stories each week. But the workshop,which is held every Tuesday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Car lsbad Senior Center,is hardly a writing class. “We don’t sit do wn and talk about nouns and v erb,” said Carpenter. “I think it’ s kind of like a club, it’s a social
older…you’ve got a long w ays to look back. You kind of want to put it into perspective,” explained Carpenter. “It’s more like a ther apy session than instruction, and that’s the beauty of this class, ” said Joe Plassmeyer, who has been part of the g roup since 1991. Given that the participants range in age from 60- to over 90-years-old, many of the
I think as you get older... you’ve got a long ways to look back.”
Sandy Carpenter Senior Writing Group Leader
experience as m uch as an ything else.” During Tuesday’s session, the participants shared stories ranging from tales of long-lost friends and neighbors to descriptions of the incr easing burdens of writing holiday cards. Jean Craig’s story of her brother’s voyage from England to Canada in 1954 illuminated her family’s experience immigrating in the w ake of World War II. She described how the third-class conditions she and her brother experienced on their separate voyages seemed luxurious compared to the rations her family had been living on. “We were so glad to get out of England, we didn’t care,” Craig said. In addition to getting to know the small group of 20 participants,many of the members explained that tur ning their memories into stories has allowed them to preserve their pasts. “I think as you get
stories share the common threads of deaths of close friends and r elatives and the experience of getting older. “Someone dies, and (writing about them) kind of k eeps them current,”said Plassmeyer. Writing for the workshop not only helps the attendees savor their own memories, but also share their lifetime’s memories with others. Most of the long-term participants end up turning their compiled stories into books, and share them with f amily and close friends. One of the workshop’s participants,Tami,who didn’t want to give her last name, said that since joining the w orkshop in 2004, she has composed a 215page book a bout her life and given copies to her family members. “We all have different stories to tell, and I think it’s a gift to give them,” she said. The workshop is open to new members, and more information can be f ound on the city’s website.
some hapless senior and w e cannot be liable. I found myself required to practically frame my marriage license and hang it ar ound my neck to prove that Nancy Jean Hart truly and legally became Jean Hart Gillette, and is one and the same person. It’s exhausting. Now for my sad confession. To honor m y mother, I named my daughter Nancy Hart Gillette. It seemed so dear at the time. Unwittingly, I set my child up f or all this same legal fun and v ery probably, a great deal more. Someday, someone will appreciate (as I did until no w)
that three generations share a special name, but today’s fraudfilled,suspicious,litigious society has sucked all the joy out of such maudlin, affectionate and highly confusing nonsense. I am beginning to finall y understand why parents are chosing Zyddnee, Kcristii and Shawneequa rather than Susan, Ann and Mar y. Never mind that no one will ever spell them right.The banks are most grateful.
Jean Gillette is a freelance writer with a minor identity crisis. Contact her at jgillette@coastnewsgroup.com.