write down my parents' stories

If anyone here wants a list of questions to begin with, email me at jmauldinheiner at verizon-dot-net. I’ve got some good lists, as I’ve been collecting questions for over a decade. Also, there is a LOT of good questions here:
www.mylifestory.org
and you can join as a guest and browse them.

1. write up a list of questions.
2. acquire one of those little tape recorders.

I think that a face-to-face interview will be the best. Though I don’t know how easy it will be to get to dad. Maybe I will email dad the questions instead? Or maybe a combination of both. Perhaps I should email the questions a week or two in advance so they have time to think about them and pick out the best stories, instead of just being put on the spot. Yeah!

everyone go give my mum cheers and comments! tee hee hee. she’s my favourite. i love net-savvy parents.

in an old photo album yesterday. She told me about her life in 1992. Now I need to write them down in story form.

Some years ago for Christmas I did a family book. It took months of pressure on my family, poor things, but I finally put together a book of family stories, including some of my Mom’s and Dad’s.

Another time, I set up a family listserv with the sole purpose of getting them to write stories. The idea was that I’d post a question or topic (from my ever-increasing collection) and everyone would write for ten minutes on it sometime that week. This was successful only for a short time, as my siblings are absurdly busy and my parents’ computer kept glitching.

Still…I have these questions and they seem to need to be put to good use. Right now I’m exploring two possibilities for workshops, and in the meantime, I’m posting them at irregular intervals here for anyone to use as they choose.

A friend of mine interviewed my mother for a high school assignment asking students to research those who had lived through WWII. My mother, being of Czech descent, experienced some of the most horrific events of our world’s history, and my friend Holly captured all her stories on a little tape. After my mother’s funeral a few years ago, I found the tape still in a drawer of mine. Too terrified to play it, it sat for years before I had the guts to hear the haunting recording of my deceased mother’s voice. My plan is to somehow record the tape onto CD and save her verbal memory for me when I’m old, for my nephews and their children, and maybe for my own children. I am afraid that the tape will be destroyed in the process, though, but it’s important enough to try!

In light of the fact that (A) I had no idea my parents did not have a church wedding and (B) I have a sneaking suspicion my parents are intentionally watering down their stories of their youth, I must get started on this immediately.

when i was younger, my version of nighttime stories was to ask my father to tell me about his family and being home in denmark

i remember always imagining there to be a place in his mind that was like an endless library, and he would choose a book from one of these imaginary shelves. even when he took his time to think of something, i felt like the number of stories he had was infinite

i realise i really need to do this one

i interviewed both of my parents several years ago on different occasions so now i have to take the very rough notes i made and put them into prose format that makes sense. i should get my parents to read what i’ve written to make sure it’s accurate. i should do this before it’s too late!

i’d like to compile my parent’s stories and our family traditions. it’d be good if this book was done by christmas, and each member of our family could get a copy!