Everyone has a story to tell. At the weekly Write Your Own Story (WYOS) gatherings at the Main Street Community Center, they can also write it down. The class was set up to encourage people to get their life stories on paper so they would be available to their children and grandchildren. These personal stories add a vital layer of history to the family legend, and offer the readers new insights into how and why things happen as they do.
But it’s not an easy task. The notion of starting a memoir at the beginning and writing the whole thing in chronological order is a bit like trying to eat an elephant with a fork. It’s such an impossible task just thinking about it can keep us from starting.
On the other hand, we’re used to sharing anecdotes about specific events or experiences. It’s how we get to know one another. The WYOS program is designed to take on the job in small, easily managed chunks – to make putting pen to paper a rewarding experience and not a daunting obligation.
Each WYOS session begins with a brief discussion of the day’s topic(s). Everyone writes for half an hour. Then each reads their story in turn, without interruption. Mutual support is the watchword – no “workshop style” attacks on grammar, storyline or fact-checking.
The stories are read aloud in a safe environment –what happens in the classroom stays in the classroom. Of course, there are times when a story is too personal. The writer may be uncomfortable about reading it aloud. The decision not to share is always respected.
Sharing your story can be very helpful to others, as your experience triggers long-forgotten memories. Another benefit of the process: the discovery that your story is not unique, that others have lived through similar things. You are not alone.
Over time the WYOS writers have shared stories of survival. One wrote a harrowing story about the time she and her children hid in a basement closet as a tornado blew overhead. Another told the story of a kid she didn’t know who dangled from a tree limb in the background of a group photo of her singing group. Only many years later did she look back at the picture and realize he was her husband as a boy.
One described the way Halloween is celebrated in Tunis, the country where he’d grown up. Another recounted her father’s stories of fighting during the “Battle of the Bulge” during WWII. Someone described the first time they’d seen a new high-tech gadget being promoted at the time: the ball-point pen.
A year or so ago, in addition to the two personal experience topics, a third was offered: fiction writing. From the beginning, there has always been another option. If the topics at hand don’t inspire, the storytellers are free to choose another. Some of these stories have brought great insights to the group, as well as laughter at times.
The Main Street Community Center’s weekly “Write Your Own Story” program has helped people put their own stories (memoirs) together for the better part of a decade. It’s been on hiatus since March of 2020 because of the Covid 19 restrictions against group congregating. But WYOS began again as of April 7, with modifications: masks must be worn at all times, a six-foot minimum social distance is maintained, and everyone entering the Main Street Community Center is screened by a staff member.
Unlike composition or creative writing classes in an academic setting, emphasis is on the story itself, the who, what, when, where and why. There is no pressure to be precisely grammatical, no academic critique. While there may be questions and comments around the table, feedback is aimed at helping the writer find what worked best or to see where more detail is needed.
Often, when a receptionist at the Main Street Center’s front desk first invites a visitor to attend the workshop, the response is, “Oh, nobody would be interested in my life story. And besides, I’m not a writer.” Of course they’re wrong on both counts – everyone has a story to tell.
We’ve all had adversity to overcome. We’ve all experienced unfairness or illness. Was there a famous outlaw on your family tree? Or someone who explored the West with Lewis and Clark? Perhaps someone you’re related to someone who invented something we use every day. Time to share those old-time recipes for traditional holiday meals so they can be treasured by chefs of the future.
If you are interested in joining the class, it meets every Wednesday from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Contact Main Street Community Center to get registered: 618-656-0300 or info@mainstcc.org. If the class doesn’t fit in your schedule, grab some paper and start writing your own memories. The Community Center has a book of prompts you may purchase for a nominal copy fee that can get you started. You won’t be sorry for sharing your memories with your loved ones.
Pat Hughes leads a weekly class as a Main Street Community Center volunteer. She is the author of “Bloody Hell and a Slice of Pie.”
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