murder.booklocker.com

I’m of the opinion - I got it first from Judith Barrington’s book Writing the Memoir and had it reinforced in graduate school — that a memoir is more than a memory written down. It’s an evaluation of what happened from the perspective of today. I’d like to share a quote I found this morning that explains even better:

“Time changes people, places and perceptions

“One of the things I love most about blogging, is that it allows us, in a very real way, to interact with earlier versions of ourselves.  What I mean is that I can look back in time, say 4 years, to a post I wrote before the advent of children, deaths and triumphs.  That Chris no longer exists; should I mourn for his passing or be overjoyed that I have matured, leaving that man to the cold blankness of time?

“Reading that post, I can answer myself across the gulfs of time and cyberspace, and say “No, you weren’t an idiot.  You were brave enough to believe in an ideal, one that had no possibility of making a difference.  But you believed and that, is worth more than can be imagined.” (Chris Davis)