Summary:
Jerry Waxler writes about memoirs and how they are beneficial to both the readers and the writers themselves. Jerry lists different examples of memoirs and how they are influential and purposeful. It’s relating to stories and experiences that other people have written about, but more importantly it’s relating and sharing emotions. Jerry, also talks about personal experiences and research that have led him to believe writing a memoir is a therapeutic event. Jerry explains that Memoirs can be used to help a writer make better sense of there own past, thus learning more about themselves as a human being. There was also an audio portion of the assignment in which a niece was talking and asking questions to her aunt about hurricane Katrina. It focused primarily on the aftermath of the storm which caused the niece and aunt on the audio tape to be relocated to Houston. Some of the questions where about how the situation had made them both stronger individuals and helped them to learn more about themselves and people in general.
Response:
I found these writings to be very interesting, also emotionally stimulating (especially the audio portion about relocating after hurricane Katrina). I agree with jerry and feel that memoirs can be very beneficial and also therapeutic. This seems to be especially true in the case of the writer, more so than the reader, which I found strange because people usually write for the purpose of readers. Memoirs though, seem to be an entirely different case from most forms of writing; they are a service to the writer and therapy for the mind. I agree with Jerry’s overall message although I found his projection of it to be kind of smug. The audio of the Aunt and Niece however was very powerful. It’s very difficult to even imagine what both of them have experienced and although it helped me understand, I could never truly know how it feels to be in there shoes. I do feel through my own interpretation that they learned so much about themselves and others. They’ve seen first hand that even after a massive tragedy people can still grow stronger through finding love and enlightenment.
Questions:
1. Would writing a memoir put stress on an individual to have their future events and moments in life always reach an unachievable standard worth writing about?

2. Could writing a memoir sometimes be a harmful experience to some one who doesn’t want to re-live their past?

3. Is jerry Waxler a well known writer?