The mission of Legacies is to – Rescue History. Where many clearly see the value of writing their story, the story of a loved one or family – the third stage of the Legacies model, the earlier stages of organization and research are just as important and integral to the process. Some clients come to the organizational step literally from the ground floor, hauling out the boxes and sitting on the floor or at a table sorting, tossing, identifying piles of documents and photos without names or dates – chaotic and disorganized.  One individual didn’t know he had an entire box of one family line for he had never opened the box that came from “Who knows where.”  Another, after years of feeling inundated, now has her family lines numerically filed for easy access as further research and writing begins.  “I now know what and where the information is.  It’s heaven having all my archival tools at my fingertips.  I didn’t know there were systems to get me organized.” How often have you thought of attacking the boxes that shouted for your attention?  How often do ancestral faces call out to be identified, recognized, and brought into new light making them part […]

Where do you find inspiration? For those tending the up and coming generation, many stand like generational sentries illuminating a past and instilling values for a ‘future yet unknown’,  delighting in grandchildren who see the world through unblemished eyes. How about those lucky enough to travel, gathering sights and sounds from exotic ports of call? For this ‘time traveler’, my inspirations come in many forms, from recognizing the link(s) between our gray skies and global warming, to congratulating myself for figuring out where my contacts went in Gmail, to wondering why my Christmas cactus blooms in June. Inspiration is everywhere.  It’s in the books I read where my habitual underlining looks like – redacting – but at least I can read why something caught my inner muse. I wish there was time and space to share all the layers that Derrick Jensen in The Culture of Make Believe reveals.  His writings explore the lines of thought and experience that connect the atrocities of our culture throughout history.  Extraordinarily well written but at times difficult to grasp. Words intrigue me.  A simple word like ‘lists,’ took me down the proverbial rabbit hole to explore why, at least in our family, we jot down […]

​Mary’s got her groove back.  Her blog groove that is.  Writing most days, I’m well-oiled to share a mixture of learning and discovery with those in the Legacies community.  Each entrepreneur needs to find the right vehicle to reach their audience, and since, I don’t do windows, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or tweet et. al., for I find my well, my writing resources are fuller and richer than present channels offer, the Reflections blog was re-born. Welcome. Like the lyrics from Carousal “June is Busting Out All Over,” at the same time that nature reveals herself in full color, this story-filled girl can’t keep her ideas down.  Working with so many distinctive storytellers these past years has filled my files with tremendous insight and expertise in the art and craft of story-telling, capturing, writing and producing, and has brought incredible joy. Life as a writer can be creatively isolating at times.  But without the sounds of the city, I’m surrounded by big skies and quiet days and dark night; Cedar Waxwings enjoying the pine fruits; Coopers Hawk being attacked by a family of Red-winged Blackbirds as she gathers her rodent dinner; the periodic sighting of a Hummingbird; the birth of four House Wrens in my back door wreath;  frogs […]

The following ideas are only the beginning of practical and creative possibilities to capture and catapult stories forward for future audiences. The Spiritual Those in hospice care understand the depository of the heart. Some mysteries will be answered.  Some will remain unanswered.  Some will open old wounds.  Some will heal. The Gathering of the Tribes Narrative Transport (N.T.) Oral History. N.T. is a theory used by psychologists suggesting that stories told through generations do more than present a picture.  Telling of stories by our elders adds a dimension of respect thus an element of memory and recall.   Take advantage of family gatherings of all kinds when by the touch of a button, history is recorded. The Practical Local, state and national libraries and historical societies welcome family stories and collections.  Explore The Church of Latter Day Saints, the Library of Congress, search Family Tree Magazine and Cyndi’s List for hundreds of outlets to find and place stories, and of course visit Ancestry.com to uncover all kinds of links to your lineage.  Don’t disregard past newspapers, magazines, historical novels, or organizational documents that recorded in detail elements of a family history. Old School Written communication still rules!  For centuries stories have resided in attics and basements, […]

Recently at a networking meeting, a woman mentioned that an album created for a deceased loved one was put into the casket—for safe keeping. That was a new one for me. Were her stories gone forever? Before printing, before virtual communication, stories were kept alive orally. Across cultures, shamans, troubadours, minstrels, yarn spinners, tale spinners, orators and narrators held prominent roles in tribes and nations, passing on their skills to the next generation. In this oral history tradition, “storytelling was never done for sheer entertainment, for the stories were a record of proud nations. Stories contained information about values, ways of life, patterns of environment, growing seasons, and religious detail,” writes Ojibway author Lenor Kesshig-Tobias in All My Relations. Story redundancy was key to their value over time as they were repeated through decades with little variation. Embedded in the tradition were the words used and the time told. Seanchai (Irish), Shamachie (Scottish), Cantadora (Mexican), Cuentista (Tejanos/Texans of Mexican background) to name only a few, sang their history forward. But in our fast paced world, is the role of the designated storyteller lost? Who are the present day conduits of our story? There are a multitude of vehicles to pass on […]