transcribingmemory

Third Week of April 1935 Excerpt

Sunday, April 21, 1935 It being a beautiful day we wore our new clothes and felt pretty and saw “The Wedding Night” and “Society Doctor.” We went out for our usual walk and met them. Drobey wouldn’t speak a word so I gave up. I don’t know what’s wrong I wouldn’t go to the minstrel…

Dedicated to Stanley Midura

My timing was bad when I brought the newest passages to her. I was giving her her 8:00 pills – bedtime pills – and I had given her her dessert and my cat was meowing in the hallway…Usually the process of reading these diary entries takes a half an hour – and I’ll be honest,…

Third Week of April, 1935

Easter shopping makes one so tired. I bet she looked dazzlingly all decked out. A boy from a class they had together the previous year died. She doesn’t tell us how. She writes something about Caveman, but I swear, it is in code! She talks a lot this month about winter weather in April and…

The Gift That on Most Days She Hasn’t Lost 4/3/16

The Gift That on Most Days She Hasn’t Forgotten 4/3/16 As she continues to translate the prayer From Polish to English One of the ones her father taught her In his slow and deliberate way My mind is not with her. Neither knowing Polish or the lord, I use the long time as she closes…

Second Week of April, 1935 Excerpt

Sunday April 14, 1935 When Caveman talks to me he always looks at Jeanette. I’m going to tell him someday. They’re out now, after we came home. Mother went to the opera. How does that sound? It’s at the high school. I had a lovely time with Jenete buzz, buzzing. The dad and I had…

Babu and Her Father

When I showed the second week of April to Babu it was really the last passage, Sunday, that we spent the most time on. At first I tried to prod her about Drobey AKA “Caveman” and I think the only way I’ll ever know is if I ever find the previous year’s diary. All…

Second Week of April 1935

Babu is so engrossed in a book she can’t do her homework. I looked it up and it was hard to find but it seems to be “There’s Always Tomorrow” by Ursula Parrott, a romance novel. 🙂 She gets her rose shaded glasses and finds out her eyes were pretty bad. To think she sees…

Maps to Where She’s Been

April is National Poetry Month! My mind seemed to have forgotten by not my fingers. I’ve been producing a lot of poems lately. I thought I’d share! Maps to Where She’s Been She fears the murky places in her memory, Places she can no longer go. Ancient cartographers would have simply scrawled “There be dragons”…

Excerpt from the first week of April

Tuesday April 2, 1930 Oh but I am an awful person. I’m so jealous of Jeanette. You know Diary, how popular she is. I wish I could be! Oh I’ll never click. She has a whole train of attendants and what have I. She jumped 4:2 today. Wonderful! I better start training for running and…

Ode to Miss Short – and – Might as Well, Miss Caswell

Babu read out loud: “Miss Short embarrassed me. She called me a tomboy for sitting on the arm of a chair.” She looked up at me with eyebrows scrunched and lips pouted. A pointed look. It said: “See what I mean?” Maybe a modern teen would just say “da fuck??” I’m sending this out as…

The First Week of April, 1935

April fool’s day pranks – Babu fell for one but didn’t enact her own. Her teacher embarrasses her again – but it’s not an April Fool’s joke, it’s her M.O. Babu laments her lack of popularity and her abundance of zits. Fooey ! She is beautiful, kind, interesting, and smart. People clearly love her and…

Excerpts from March

In my last post I didn’t share all the adorable Babu quotes for March because there were some entire passages that I wanted to share. Saturday, March 16, 1935 I loved today. I was mostly sun shining and oh so warm. All the kids were out playing. Sophie was in bed because she got an…