John’s Memoir
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the exotic and dangerous. Enjoy!
Breaking the Ice
Memories of cold weather and his boyhood friends came out in John’s memories of small town winter adventure. “Mom didn’t find out until much later,” John declared after he told us his terrifying tale of his “gang” and their winter escapades. John, or Blade, as he was known back then, grew up in Streator, Illinois in the 1940s.
As young daredevils will do, he and his friends used to go looking for some activity to stir the adrenaline and the blood in that sleepy, small town—especially in winter. His gang of friends included Shorty, Rib, Pony and Harry. They would gather at a pond near Shorty’s farm, bringing their ice skates for a game of hockey. They used tree limbs for hockey sticks, a flattened tin can for a puck, and their skates were the kind that clipped onto their sturdy work shoes.
As the game progressed, it became a bore and they decided to move to the center of the pond, smashing a hole in the ice and taking turns jumping over it. While this does not make a great deal of sense to most of us, the boys were enthralled by the heart-stopping challenge.
Logic tells us that if the ice is thin enough to smash a hole in it with a tree limb, it is probably pretty unstable to begin with! They heard a series of loud cracks and scrambled to the pond edge for safety. Harry went through the hole in the ice and the boys formed a chain held together with their hands and tree limb hockey sticks and managed to drag him to safety.
John (Blade) doesn’t remember what any of those boys told their parents that evening, but bets that it was a pretty far stretch of the truth. As he admitted freely, his mother didn’t learn the facts of that day’s near calamity until much, much later. Probably when he was too old to punish!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Evolution of a Neighborhood
Sophie’s Memoir
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the sinister and dangerous. Enjoy!
Evolution of a Neighborhood
Sophie was born in Hegewisch, a unique east side Chicago neighborhood which has a small town, community atmosphere. When Sophie lived there, the neighborhood was mostly made up of Polish immigrants and their succeeding generations.
Sophie was reluctant to write her stories at first, thinking she was being “boastful,” but her story is one of the rich history of a gritty, industrial neighborhood and the families and working people who lived there. Sophie lived in her family home for 70 years before moving into a senior apartment house to be closer to her grown children. She was born in that Hegewisch bungalow, went to school in the neighborhood, eventually married and the two generations lived together. Three children came along and were raised in the sturdy brick bungalow as well.
This was the heyday of the Chicago steel industry. Almost everyone in the area either worked for the mills or worked for a business supported by the mill workers. The air was thick with the noise of a heavy duty industry, as well as the haze of filthy air. Everyone had a good job. Work was plentiful, union contracts assured that the steelworkers made a good living. Multi-generations of families signed on at the mills right out of high school. The alderman fielded constant complaints about the noise and dust.
Over time, the air became cleaner and the noise abated. The steel industry was grinding to a halt and the mills eventually shut down forever, forcing Hegewisch to reinvent itself. The alderman wryly joked that the complaints about noise and pollution were replaced by complaints of unemployment. Yet the neighbors remained close and united.
Sophie was married by this time and had her three children. She cared for them and kept house during the day, but went to night school several evenings each week. It took her eight years to get a college degree, majoring in English. She got a good job downtown as an editor for a trade publication and was the major breadwinner for the family for 20 years. She is a widow now, still turning out great writing—now the stories are about her life!
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the sinister and dangerous. Enjoy!
Evolution of a Neighborhood
Sophie was born in Hegewisch, a unique east side Chicago neighborhood which has a small town, community atmosphere. When Sophie lived there, the neighborhood was mostly made up of Polish immigrants and their succeeding generations.
Sophie was reluctant to write her stories at first, thinking she was being “boastful,” but her story is one of the rich history of a gritty, industrial neighborhood and the families and working people who lived there. Sophie lived in her family home for 70 years before moving into a senior apartment house to be closer to her grown children. She was born in that Hegewisch bungalow, went to school in the neighborhood, eventually married and the two generations lived together. Three children came along and were raised in the sturdy brick bungalow as well.
This was the heyday of the Chicago steel industry. Almost everyone in the area either worked for the mills or worked for a business supported by the mill workers. The air was thick with the noise of a heavy duty industry, as well as the haze of filthy air. Everyone had a good job. Work was plentiful, union contracts assured that the steelworkers made a good living. Multi-generations of families signed on at the mills right out of high school. The alderman fielded constant complaints about the noise and dust.
Over time, the air became cleaner and the noise abated. The steel industry was grinding to a halt and the mills eventually shut down forever, forcing Hegewisch to reinvent itself. The alderman wryly joked that the complaints about noise and pollution were replaced by complaints of unemployment. Yet the neighbors remained close and united.
Sophie was married by this time and had her three children. She cared for them and kept house during the day, but went to night school several evenings each week. It took her eight years to get a college degree, majoring in English. She got a good job downtown as an editor for a trade publication and was the major breadwinner for the family for 20 years. She is a widow now, still turning out great writing—now the stories are about her life!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Building a Dream, One Log at a Time
Carl and Annie's Memoir
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the sinister and dangerous. Enjoy!
Building the Dream, One Log at a Time
How many of us can turn our life dreams into our life story?
Carl and Annie knew they wanted to build a log home in the wonderful, Wild West, far from town and the intensity of city life. No neighbors, no clocks, no schedules. Year after year, they loaded up their RV and headed toward the sunset searching for just the right location for their dream home.
They both worked hard at jobs that did not hold their hearts—he a maintenance engineer for the town they lived in and she an administrative assistant.
Finally, they came upon a piece of property that fulfilled their every wish. A little spot near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the foothills, but rugged enough to satisfy their wilderness quest. They purchased it and began looking into log home plans.
The kit was ordered for their three-bedroom home with a large great room and massive stone fireplace. The truck delivered all the components for their new home, struggling up the gravel road to the building site. All the materials were there. Now all they had to do was to put them together!
Retirement still loomed a few years ahead for both of them, but they want to be ready when they are finally free to enjoy their wilderness years. The RV was provisioned with everything they might need for a few months away from civilization. Carl and Annie headed west, with their border collie, Herbie.
Knowing the nearest grocery or hardware store is more than 20 miles away, they tried to think of everything. They arrived at the building site and began clearing the land to lay the foundation for their new home. Using over a month of their accumulated vacation time, they got a good start on the cabin. They journaled the progress and took pictures each step of the way.
There were a few neighbors within a short distance, and Carl learned to appreciate their knowledge and help while Annie enjoyed getting advice on the wilderness existence from the local women. Even Herbie made great friends among the nearby dogs. One was part wolf!
When Carl and Annie attended the Lifestories workshop, the home was almost complete. It was early spring and they were each due to retire within a few months. They are ecstatically looking forward to the rest of their life’s journey together.
While most of us expect to enjoy the accoutrements of our modern world, Carl and Annie find peace and serenity with the simple pleasures of nature.
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the sinister and dangerous. Enjoy!
Building the Dream, One Log at a Time
How many of us can turn our life dreams into our life story?
Carl and Annie knew they wanted to build a log home in the wonderful, Wild West, far from town and the intensity of city life. No neighbors, no clocks, no schedules. Year after year, they loaded up their RV and headed toward the sunset searching for just the right location for their dream home.
They both worked hard at jobs that did not hold their hearts—he a maintenance engineer for the town they lived in and she an administrative assistant.
Finally, they came upon a piece of property that fulfilled their every wish. A little spot near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the foothills, but rugged enough to satisfy their wilderness quest. They purchased it and began looking into log home plans.
The kit was ordered for their three-bedroom home with a large great room and massive stone fireplace. The truck delivered all the components for their new home, struggling up the gravel road to the building site. All the materials were there. Now all they had to do was to put them together!
Retirement still loomed a few years ahead for both of them, but they want to be ready when they are finally free to enjoy their wilderness years. The RV was provisioned with everything they might need for a few months away from civilization. Carl and Annie headed west, with their border collie, Herbie.
Knowing the nearest grocery or hardware store is more than 20 miles away, they tried to think of everything. They arrived at the building site and began clearing the land to lay the foundation for their new home. Using over a month of their accumulated vacation time, they got a good start on the cabin. They journaled the progress and took pictures each step of the way.
There were a few neighbors within a short distance, and Carl learned to appreciate their knowledge and help while Annie enjoyed getting advice on the wilderness existence from the local women. Even Herbie made great friends among the nearby dogs. One was part wolf!
When Carl and Annie attended the Lifestories workshop, the home was almost complete. It was early spring and they were each due to retire within a few months. They are ecstatically looking forward to the rest of their life’s journey together.
While most of us expect to enjoy the accoutrements of our modern world, Carl and Annie find peace and serenity with the simple pleasures of nature.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Between Two Enemies
Beatrice’s Memoir
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the sinister and dangerous. Enjoy!
Between Two Enemies
While we hear a lot about the wartime atrocities in Europe and a fair amount about those that took place in Asia, we seldom hear of the tribulations suffered in the country of Greece. Beatrice’s most horrific life memories occurred while she was a girl of 20, living in her home country of Greece at the foot of Mt. Olympus. A law school student, she was the oldest of four daughters. Her family suffered the invasion and occupation of the Italian army, one of the Axis powers, and then occupation by the German army. Occupiers in these circumstances are not kind or benevolent, but often cruel and violent, lording it over their captive populations.
Beatrice’s father was a lawyer in their community and did all he could behind the scenes to thwart the invaders and make life more difficult for them. One day he left the family home on horseback to go to work at his law office. He was captured by the Nazis and jailed.
His wife and daughters were frantic when they found out he was being held in a dark, damp cell, being interrogated by the Nazi captors and had to sleep on the cold cement floor. He was held for several days and then released, but he was broken in body and spirit. Shortly thereafter he contracted pneumonia and passed away within a few weeks of being released. His wife wore black the rest of her life.
After the war, Beatrice, her mother and sisters left the war-ravaged country of Greece for the United States where she finished her law degree and was a champion for justice her entire career.
She still gets choked up over this bit of life memory and expresses heartfelt gratitude for the privilege of living in America and raising her own family here.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Summer Camp
Cindy’s Memoir
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the sinister and dangerous. Enjoy!
Summer Camp
A highlight of the summer in Sterling, Illinois, in the 1970s when Cindy was a young girl, was the week long stay at Harvest Summer Camp in a nearby state park area. Canoeing, swimming, hiking, camp fires and camp songs filled the week with memories. Starting as soon as summer vacation began, Cindy and her friends began speculating on which cabin they would be assigned to. Would they get a top bunk or a bottom bunk? Most important of all, how many cute boys would be staying at the boys’ camp on the other side of the property!
Cindy and the other campers earned their fee to summer camp by selling large cans of potato chips to friends and neighbors. These pint-sized potato chips peddlers blanketed the town of Sterling in the spring to try to earn their way to their magical week at camp.
One summer the nearby creek was running high and fast from recent rains. A few of the counselors and about ten of the girls decided to “run the rapids” of the fast-flowing creek in inflated inner tubes. They were having a marvelous time splashing and laughing when a frightening mud creature appeared out of the woods. This human-looking being was coated with mud from toe to tip of hair and growled and snarled with great menace. Screaming and crying, the girls, counselors included, scrambled for the opposite bank, terrified.
The mud creature began to laugh out loud. She was none other than their friend, Suzanne, who declined to go tubing with the group, but rolled and coated herself in mud to pull off this super-successful prank.
Cindy remembers that nobody was angry. They all had a good laugh. And that was the year she asked her parents if she could stay for TWO weeks.
Marvelous memories. Sweet moments to savor.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Carter's Memoir
Carter’s Memoir
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the exotic and dangerous. Enjoy!
Life Along the River
Memories of life along the Mississippi River often include the devastating effects of frequent flooding.
Carter began writing his memoir of that time in his life and wasn’t quite sure where his writing would lead him. His work on his own life stories soon dovetailed into a 1940s history of the western Illinois county where he was raised on the family farm.
The town and surrounding area of Savannah, Illinois, was a close-knit community and it wasn’t possible to tell his own stories without making them part of local history and lore. His memoir turned out to be a local history of rugged people in an uncompromising environment. Events, both happy and challenging, and stories of his neighbors and his town during the era of his boyhood are included in Carter’s stories. He plans to donate the completed memoir to the local historical society when he is finished writing.
When Carter was just a boy of nine, a creek running through their property flooded out the fields after the crops had been planted. One early morning, Carter’s dad, uncle, older brother and he climbed into a flat-bottomed fishing boat to survey the damage. Their mission was to see if any of the crops for that season could be saved.
Even at his young age, Carter could feel the tension as they surveyed acre after acre of flooded out fields. On top of a small rise in the earth, his father spotted a small patch of earth with the young wheat plants waving their pale arms. It amounted to less than an acre of viable potential harvest. The rough and rugged spirit of the Midwest farmer was put into words as his father joked, “That’s it, boy. That’s all yours to cultivate through the season!”
Farming has its good moments and its disastrous ones. This memory of a man’s boyhood stands out in his mind as proof of the enduring, dogged determination of Midwest farmers along the Mississippi and its tributaries.
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the exotic and dangerous. Enjoy!
Life Along the River
Memories of life along the Mississippi River often include the devastating effects of frequent flooding.
Carter began writing his memoir of that time in his life and wasn’t quite sure where his writing would lead him. His work on his own life stories soon dovetailed into a 1940s history of the western Illinois county where he was raised on the family farm.
The town and surrounding area of Savannah, Illinois, was a close-knit community and it wasn’t possible to tell his own stories without making them part of local history and lore. His memoir turned out to be a local history of rugged people in an uncompromising environment. Events, both happy and challenging, and stories of his neighbors and his town during the era of his boyhood are included in Carter’s stories. He plans to donate the completed memoir to the local historical society when he is finished writing.
When Carter was just a boy of nine, a creek running through their property flooded out the fields after the crops had been planted. One early morning, Carter’s dad, uncle, older brother and he climbed into a flat-bottomed fishing boat to survey the damage. Their mission was to see if any of the crops for that season could be saved.
Even at his young age, Carter could feel the tension as they surveyed acre after acre of flooded out fields. On top of a small rise in the earth, his father spotted a small patch of earth with the young wheat plants waving their pale arms. It amounted to less than an acre of viable potential harvest. The rough and rugged spirit of the Midwest farmer was put into words as his father joked, “That’s it, boy. That’s all yours to cultivate through the season!”
Farming has its good moments and its disastrous ones. This memory of a man’s boyhood stands out in his mind as proof of the enduring, dogged determination of Midwest farmers along the Mississippi and its tributaries.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Imogene’s Memoir
By Rosanne Gulisano
I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the sinister and dangerous. Enjoy!
Building a Fortune, Again
Imogene is one of four children of an immigrant Jewish mother and an immigrant Italian father—quite a volatile combination! She is 96 years old, looks perfectly groomed and put together and is sharp as the proverbial tack. Imogene loves to reminisce about growing up in Rogers Park, a north side Chicago neighborhood, in her lively household of parents and siblings.
Dad was a presser at Hart, Shaffner and Marx men’s clothing factory, a menial job with not much pay. Tears come to Imogene’s eyes whenever she speaks of him as he was a wise and witty man, the spirit of her family.
Her mom was a much more assertive person. Not satisfied with the meager income of her husband, she would knock on doors in apartment buildings in the neighborhood until she found the owner's apartment. She would make an offer to buy the building and, if accepted, would put come up a small down payment and move her family in. She had a knack for design and would enlist the aid of the family to glamorize and fix up the building and sell it at a tidy profit. The family moved often, the children often had to change schools, although many of the buildings were in the same neighborhood. They did this without complaint. This was the way things were in their family and that was that. They all worked hard to make the business a success.
Imogene’s mom made quite a fortune in this way, but lost it all in the Great Depression in the early 30s. Undaunted, she picked up the pieces of her shattered finances and began again, amassing still another tidy fortune.
Imogene is an avid reader with a practical, optimistic attitude. Back in 1952, a revolutionary book called The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, revolutionized her world and became a great bestseller. She calls it her “life changing book.”
Imogene is lucky. She is brimming with good health and energy. Her mind is sharp and she enjoys life. She is definitely a believer in positive thinking and puts it into practice every day of her long life. Her warm memories inspire us all.
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