Old Jesse

[Wingnut]

I'm an absolutely invterate book collector (love things that have value - at least to me ... sorta like your "bad habit" of taping movies) .... and one of my very favorites is a book from the Cold Lake region of Alberta. The local seniors club got together and created it and had several thousand copies printed ... think they came out a little better than even. Each person in the area wrote an account of their life or their families. Learned a great deal about my step-father and how he homesteaded the land there ....
Sounds like a wonderful project ... and I, too, will be very interested in reading it!

pete

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I am almost positive that this book will become a series of chapters on different individuals, just as you described. I wanted to do it all about Jesse, but I have been giving it some thought.

During our first interview I found that he had a little difficulty remembering details about certain time periods, and frankly more for his sake than mine, I think a shorter version of his life and the inclusion of others, of which there are many in this area, might be in order.

You must have been reading my mind. I think a ten to twenty page chapter on twenty different individuals might be a little more entertaining as well, and I do much better with short stories anyway. Good job confirming my thoughts oh physchic one. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Wingnut]

Cindi ... the book was interesting not just for the content but also the different personalities and the vividness of the history .... first person is just so much more elemental than the canned crud they spoonfeed the kids in school. And usually you'll get the truth instead of a sanitized version or a politically correct version.
My wife tells the story of a wonderful local orchid grower south of Houston ... Carolyn (my wife) was visiting to view the orchids and procure some ... and after she picked out a couple of specimens, the lady said "wonderful, let me call my darkie to package these for you" ... and, althought it suprised (and somewhat shocked) Carolyn (imagine how quickly most people would be hauled into court on discrimination changes) ... nobody paid the slightest bit of attention to an unpoliticallycorrect 92 year old ... especially the 85 year old colored person that came over to package the orchids.
We're losing that history so fast that's it well-nigh gobne already .... and replacing it with lies, more lies and damned lies.
Best of luck on the project .... and I think that the experience will be as fantastic as the book will be. Everyone that I know that doing such research (and I do know several) is amazed.
Don't worry about the discrepencies and the broken timelines ... the tale is more than the sum of it's parts!

pete

 

[bgott]

You never know about the difficulty remembering certain time periods, sometimes that's selective memory. I know people that can't remember half their lives, usually the half they spent in the state pen. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

bgott....lmao!

Wingnut...another good suggestion, no sanitizing. Excellent.

 

[Slamfire]

If you forget the hard times and remember the joy you've had you're on the right track.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

During our interview a freind of Jesse's "Stan) showed up. Said he was a baby, ten years younger than Jesse. Lord help him when he got to reminiscing, stealing Jesse's thunder. He was asked none too gently to come back tomorrow. Smile. He doesn't know it yet, but he'll get his chance.