E is for “Encouragement," By Virginia Murrell

This class has been an encouragement for me to write my memoirs. I meet other people who enjoy writing their memoirs and a fellowship has come about in the class.

I found after my grandparents and parents died that I became interested in their lives, but now they were gone and couldn’t answer my questions. So I am writing my memoirs so that at some later date, my children and grandchildren may be interested in my life story. Some of us have found that our families are not that interested in our memoirs at this time.

I get many ideas for my writing by listening to others in the class read their stories. The class provides me a place to read my memoirs. I enjoy sharing my writing with others. When I hear others read their stories, I am touched by their lives. This also encourages me to write more.

Also I get feedback from the teacher, Bonnie, and the other students. Corrections are good feedback to get from the class. I was uneasy about writing. I really struggled to write my papers in college, so I was not comfortable about writing. But with the encouragement in this class, I feel much better about writing. My main focus is to get the memories on paper. If I do a good job, it is an extra bonus.

Having the class to attend helps push me to write my stories. If I didn’t have the class, I would procrastinate. I am so happy with the stories I have written and I have many more in my head waiting to be written. I need the class to continue writing my story.

We all need encouragement from time to time. I love this reminder that our class is one of the places where we can find it. It’s also good to remember that if we don’t write our stories our children and grandchildren may never know what truly mattered to us. Thanks, Virginia, for this word of encouragement! ~ Bonnie

D is for “Delightful,” by Dora Silvers

Dora took the challenge of writing something for the letter “D,” and came up with this “delightful” reminder of how lucky we are to have Dreamy Dora in our class! ~ Bonnie

          In our memoir writing class we share delightful memories of our parents and grandparents. They delight our hearts, but sometimes there is a dash of dreadfulness. There are far away places where our classmates lived or vacationed at various times. Now, we are the grandparents sharing the antics of our dandy grandchildren. Sometimes there is a bit of danger. Photographs made their stories a distinct image in our minds.

        From grandfather clocks to our digital cameras, we have come a long way from our grandparents. Times have changed; our memories can be computerized and recorded for generations to come. We walked in our classmates shoes for awhile and traveled to distant places with their memories.

        The view from Sun Valley Idaho was so breathtaking. It was beyond description. The photographs brought the distant place into direct focus. We were able to travel in our imaginations on Amtrak to Denver, enjoying the dramatic view of the Rocky Mountains. Over the loud speaker on the train came the delightful voice of John Denver, singing “Rocky Mountain High.”

The members of our class have so many different experiences to share. It actually makes a delightful afternoon in our memoir writing class. You can call me “Dreamy Dora,” as their stories are a delightful dream for me.

C is for the “Classroom," By Alice Santillan

This piece is by a student who only came to our class for a few weeks. Alice, if you happen to read this, please know that you would be welcome to come back to join us again. ~ Bonnie

          As I considered attending this class, I kept wondering if it was for me. I have had some entertaining and uncomfortable episodes in my life, and wasn’t sure I was ready to write or share them with anyone.

        As I sat in class, listening to everyone express and share their stories, conversations and their great camaraderie, I began to think that the class could be fun for me. Maybe this class would be educating and exciting and maybe I would discover myself! Wouldn’t that be fun!

        The class is composed of both men and women who have shared their anecdotes with us. It was interesting to hear each story. For some, the stories were sad. Others were documentaries. Still others were comedic and I enjoyed them all.

        There have been some stories that have been published so we have a few authentic authors in this class. Imagine that! What a great compliment for these students. Congratulations!

        Our teacher is extremely caring and helps us out readily. She is a very enthusiastic teacher and very well versed. Thank you, Bonnie Mansell. Congratulations to you, too!

        This is my first attempt at writing, so I’m sure it’s not adequate. I have only been in this class twice. I am still learning, of course, and would like to continue, just to see what I can deliver.

B is for “Bonnie’s Bunch”, By Randy Brandemihl

This short piece is especially poignant because we so recently lost Randy. It is a good reminder that life is short, and we need to cherish our time with those who mean the most to us. ~ Bonnie

When I joined the senior memoir writing class, I found something that had been missing in my life, a group of real and beautiful friends. They were much like a military boot camp, Boy Scout pack, or any group of friends that I’d known in my younger years, who gather together to share and practice their common interests or needs.

But these people were more important because as you grow old, these groups no longer exist for seniors. That’s why this group of friends is special, so special that it is irreplaceable.

We’ve shared our entire life experiences, love, family, heartaches, joy and victories and, yes, on occasion, the loss of one of our own. And, like family, when we must part the pain will be unbearable for us all.

It is for this reason that I’m thankful for every day I spend with this beautiful bunch of friends. . . Bonnie’s Bunch.

A is for “Acceptance,” By Kathy (Kacie) Cooper

Here is the first in a series of ABC stories from our class (after my introduction and Jeanne's overview). I hope you enjoy this delightful story from Kacie. It's such a great expression of who she is and what she has found in our class. You can't help but "love" a line that says, "acceptance actually is love, but it's not as mushy"! ~ Enjoy ~ Bonnie

          Is “Z” the first letter of the alphabet? No. “A” is, and they put it there for a reason. When something is rated excellent, we always go back to the beginning of the alphabet, to that first letter, to that “A.”

        It’s a good system. It wouldn’t sound so good if people found out that the rating for their favorite restaurant was a “Z” because that is the end, the last letter. So it is fitting that “A” is always considered the best, as this class is. Of all the classes I have taken in my lifetime, I would easily give this class an “A” simply because it stands for something which I have been searching for all my life: acceptance, something most people would be grateful for even if they were without “love” because acceptance actually is love, but it’s not as mushy.

        Some folks aspire to be rich and famous. I feel I’m both. Since joining this group I have acquired many wonderful friends and through the telling of my stories I have become famous with this group of encouraging, thoughtful listeners.

        It all began the moment I walked into the class. “Read your story,” our teacher, Bonnie, said, and what a reception I received! At first, I thought my reading would be critiqued, but it wasn’t. I didn’t think that I would improve without it. I have taken several creative writing classes, script writing for T.V. and several English classes. 

       My one creative writing class was identical to Billy Crystal’s Throw Mama from the Train, where everyone was putting each other down for their writing. There was no acceptance in that class. But in this class I have found an abundance of acceptance. Through this acceptance I feel that I am understood. Since signing up for this class I have written more stories than I ever have in my entire life. That acceptance has freed me to be more creative, resourceful, free, aware, inspired, ambitious, artistic, friendly, accepting and oh so very happy.

        One day I read the play I had written for Cerritos College. The people in this class were so receptive to me. They praised me on the voices that I used for the play. They laughed; they marveled; they bragged about me. It felt great.

        Not only do I get my stories written and told, but I end up feeling really good about me: not a bad thing at all!

ABC's, By Jeanne Seldon

I hope you enjoy this very creative piece which captures the essence of our class in such a fun way!   -- By the way, I love all of these, but I think that "K" may be my favorite. Which one is yours? -- Bonnie

A    Is for awakening as better writers, by writing weekly with a good teacher.

B    Is for belonging to a group of supportive writers.

C    Is for considering new ideas and choosing new topics for writing each week.

D    Is for deciding what we think is important to write about from our lives

E    Is for exploring our thoughts and expressing our ideas through our writing.

F     Is for finding our voice as writers and for expressing our feelings by writing.

G    Is for growing as writers and gaining insights about our lives as we write.

H    Is for hearing the ideas of other writers as they share what they write.

I       Is for inquiring about a variety of ways to approach our writing.

J     Is for the joy of joining a friendly group of supportive fellow writers.

K    Is for kicking ideas around in our heads until we find the best way to write about them.

L     Is for listening to others and gaining feedback about our writing.

M    Is for meeting each week to discuss and share what we write.

N    Is for needing feedback from an audience of writers to help us get better.

O   Is for opening up to others to become more comfortable about our writing.

P     Is for planning what we want to write about next and putting it on paper.

Q    Is for questioning ourselves and each other about our writing.

R     Is for reading and re-reading what we write and revising it to make it better.

S    Is for sharing our writing with others and saving our writing in our memoirs.

T    Is for our terrific teacher who really helps us to think about our writing

U    Is for understanding our lives better by writing about what matters to us.

V     Is for volunteering to share our writing in class without fear of criticism.

W    Is for writing willingly with wisdom about what is important in our lives.

X     Is for eXamining new ideas, strategies, and approaches for writing.

Y     Is for yearning to improve our writing by learning and writing more.

Z     Is for zooming in on our life experiences and writing about them with zest.

A is for Alphabet, By Bonnie Mansell

Several years ago I asked the members of our writing group to share the memories of our class in an "ABC" book, which we published as About Bonnie's Class. I have decided to go back to those stories and publish them here for a wider audience. This first entry is my introduction to the book. In the weeks to come, I will publish one alphabet story in additon to the stories currently being written and submitted. I hope you enjoy them. If you would like to add your own "alphabet memory," please do so, following the guidelines on this page.

If you are having trouble making comments on the stories you read, please send an email to me at bjmansell2@gmail.com, and I will be glad to post your comment.

A is for Alphabet

The alphabet is one conglomerate whole, made up of 26 individual items. It might be considered a storage container for its parts, or, perhaps more appropriately, a home for its family. In fact, when the individual letters are written alone or in alphabetical order, we can discern very few meaningful combinations. It is the purposeful grouping of letters, the parts of the whole, which allows us to generate sense in an endless variety of ways. So, the alphabet is dependant on its members to give it significance, and the letters are dependant on one another to create a meaningful flow of thought.

Sometimes two letters can seem to be so widely separated that they cannot possibly come together to create meaning. “A” and “Z,” for example, are polar opposites. There are very few words that combine these two letters. But some of those few words conjure up striking images. Azaleas are among the most beautiful flowers; the Aztecs were among the most creative and advanced people of the ancient world; and azure is the color of the clearest blue sky.

People are much like the individual letters of the alphabet. The analogy breaks down, of course, as all analogies do. Unlike a single letter of the alphabet, we each have value and meaning. But it is also true that we discover that meaning through our interaction with others. As writers we know the need for alone time. We know that we often need to free ourselves from external distractions in order to distill our thoughts into words. But we also recognize our need for community. It is in community that we express the ideas we formulate in private. And it is in community that we listen to the ideas and stories of other individuals. It is community that makes us two-way people.

Madeleine L’Engle, expresses the thought this way:

"My moments of being most complete, most integrated, have come either in complete solitude or when I am being part of a body made up of many people going in the same direction." (The Irrational Season, p. 158)

She also says that although, as a writer, she must write alone, she recognizes that her solitude must be “encircled by community.” In the memoir class many of us have discovered that we are, in fact, “encircled by community,” and that encircling has provided us with protection and strength, as well as the opportunity for personal growth. We find that our little circle is made up of individuals who may have little or much in common, yet our interaction helps us to focus on the things that unite us, rather than those that divide us. And, like the letters of the alphabet, we come together and make new meaning. Again to quote L’Engle:

"Wherever there is unity in diversity, then we are free to be ourselves; it cannot be done in isolation; we need each other." (Circle of Quiet, p. 237)