Association of Retired Rice University Faculty

RESCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 9

What were the turning points in your life that affected your academic career? What’s your favorite holiday memory?

The Memoir Writing Group has launched! Come join them on January 9th. Over the holidays, jot down a vivid memory of a holiday to share at the January meeting. Have a grand season of good cheer and reconvene at 10:30 a.m. CST on Wednesday, January 9tth.

Members come both to tell their stories and to write them. And they want to preserve those memories for different reasons. One person wants to share his own memories and his family’s past history with his sons and future generations.  Another is exploring the turning points in his life. The late Tony Gorry wrote to find joy and strength; you can find his memoir, Memory's Encouragement: On Language, Memory, and Illness (2017) on Amazon.

Others want to preserve the trajectory of their life’s work and research for Rice’s Archives. Rice University Historian Melissa Kean is eager to have these memoirs to assist with research in the Archives.

No matter the reasons, the group will meet regularly once a month to learn more about memoir and to talk, listen, explore, and write.

Tuesday, December 11, from 10 am - 12 pm is the next meeting in Fondren 412.  All interested ARRUF members and their spouses are invited. New members are welcome. Bring your memories to share.  The group is working on the memoir process together and they are only at the beginning.    

ARRUF member June Ferrill leads the group, bringing her knowledge of writing techniques and materials to provide options and strategies. Future plans include reading and discussing a published memoir together and discussing each other’s writings and oral histories in a supportive environment. Members will learn techniques to stimulate their memories of things past, to structure their stories and to make those stories more compelling. And they will enjoy this exploration together.  

The American writer and director Paul Auster said “Memory is the space in which a thing happens for a second time.” Or a third time or a fourth time or forever if it’s read by others, especially those who come after.