What is more analog than writing in a diary? She wrote every day in a journal that marked out the date for her in short passages about four lines long. For over 80 years. She still writes every day. Not only is the pen to paper analog, but her words and her time was analog….
Tag: local history
Febuary, 1934 Excerpts
Thursday, February 1st, 1934 I stayed up until quarter of twelve reading “Love Lightly.” It led me on and on, but of course I can’t stay up forever. Sunday, February 4th, 1934 She flung discretion to the winds. That’s the way I felt today. I never enjoyed dancing and Jeanette like I did…
Understanding – The “Serenity Prayer” is not just for addicts.
She comes out from the bathroom after her nap and says: “Feels like I’m getting…” There is this impossibly long pause. My mind fills with sentence completers that I have trained my mouth not to say: Out of breath? Sick? Closer to death? She has said each one of those to us before. She picks…
Febuary, 1934
She stays up late reading “Love Lightly.” She squirms under the stern gaze of Mr. Fitzgerald, (I get the feeling he is a principal.) She is not happy about getting a C in History and like most teens blames it on her teacher. She goes to see “Moulin Rouge” with Franchot Tone (not Ewan McGregor)…
6,000 Birthdays
When Babu read the passage about FDR’s birthday being celebrated with 6,000 parties I wondered out loud: “Why?” She asked about what his reaction to that was in her journal and she talked about the fact that a record of his reaction must actually exist. She was right. Ok, Babu. I get the point. I…
Excerpts from January 1934
Supernatural Play: Monday, January 22nd, 1934 “Cris” came to see me, and we searched for spooks in the attic and cellar. I took her home and ran all the way back. Free Speech: Wednesday, January 3rd, 1934 You know, Diary, when the “club” gets talking, we pick the dizziest subjects. Imagine, “dentist,” “tonsils,” “opera!” …
The Difference a Year Makes
This couldn’t have worked out better. If I didn’t transcribe half of 1935 and then switch to 1934 I don’t think I’d see the contrast. I wrote in the previous post she writes younger, well obvi! But it just goes to show how fast we grow. She writes more playfully and imaginatively. (Not to mention…
January, 1934
Howdy, time travelers! I have wrapped up July 1935 and here I am, back in the cold but in 1934. I wont lie, I’m looking forward to being back in summer but I am so excited to have found an even earlier journal. The two most exciting things about it so far? One, to really…
The End of July, 1935 Excerpt
These three passages show Babu as an easily forgiving person, as someone who loved to have noise and entertainment around her, and as someone who held herself to high expectations maybe she’s never felt she’s reached. They also show her as an average, highly dramatic teenager. A typical summer day: Monday July 29th, 1935 It’s…
“I don’t remember being fat…”
Something about two of her passages or July made me a little angry. Body image issues at their finest. Mother says I must do something cause I’m getting fat. I’m starved but I won’t eat anything tonight. And then two days later: I think I ought to go on a diet. So unhealthy. (Please note,…
The End of July, 1935
Summer. Still summer. She goes to Hampden Ponds, she goes swimming, she goes to the library, and helps around the house with chores like ironing. Her cousin Edna is staying with them while she begins a new job locally and settles in. She is wearing out her welcome and part of what’s causing a new…
What You Get for Being a Naggy Wife
I have been diligently working on an overhaul of my writer’s space in my room preparing for “the next stage.” It quickly occurred to me that the best use of space was to use furniture that was already in our house, furniture that is not ours but that we’ve been tripping over for over a…
transcribingmemory 