« Not just a doll anymore | Main | Thesis Proposal Presentation »
April 26, 2006
Remembering
My grandfather passed away last Friday. He was a remarkable man - his obituary can be found here.
I was in Maine for the past few days to attend his funeral, and I just wanted to share a couple things that struck me.
The first is how important it is to remember to tell people how much you appreciate them and what they have done for you, particularly older relatives and friends. I was fortunate enough to have told my grandfather about this when I returned from Israel during winter break. And so while I will miss him very much, I am confident he understood much of what he meant to me.
The second is how important it is to record family and historical stories. My grandfather was a great storyteller, and many years ago, when he noticed how much my youngest brother enjoyed listening to his stories about travelling and living in Palestine, my grandfather recorded them onto a bunch of audio cassettes and sent them to him. Given the access that all of us at IMD have to various media recorders, we should all remember to take the time and try to capture these stories before they disappear with their tellers.
Posted by rosenblj at April 26, 2006 10:34 AM
Comments
I am sorry to hear your loss of grandfather. Two things you mentioned made realize I need to express my appreciation for people more and how greatly gifted we are as interactive media students to have various ways of record and reproduce our stories and tell the them to people. I think I need to apply what I learned from our division more to daily life for the people around me. But in a good way. :)
Posted by: doox ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/rosenblj/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 27, 2006 10:04 AM
When I think about my own grandfather/grandmother who passed away when I was a little kid I feel sad for not having records that I can listen to as a grown-up. I believe I have much better understanding of their lives now. I feel I can really listen to their stories.
Posted by: doox at April 27, 2006 10:16 AM
Couldn't agree more with both points Jess. And would also suggest this recent article in the WSJ on "The Benefits of Sharing Family Stories of Hard Times":
http://www.marial.emory.edu/about/news/Wall%20Street_Dec22_05_Fivush.htm
Presents a compelling argument for this kind of storytelling.
Posted by: sfisher at April 27, 2006 07:19 PM
I am very sorry that your grandfather has passed, but glad that you have his recordings. I recorded brief video of my only surviving grandparents (85 and 96 years old) laughing and talking and I realized that I don't have any of their stories on tape and now they don't really tell me any stories. They both used to and they are very vivid in my mind: stories of two world wars, famine in Europe, depression, civil war and junta, all things I didn't experience, but left their deep mark onto my family.
At the same time, records of people who have passed may bring back traumatic vivid memories. I often wonder how wise is it to mess with the brain's natural defense to repress. I still bump into email from my friend John as I search my mailbox by keyword for unrelated things, and I must say that finding his emails even though he no longer exists is a hard slap on the face. I could survive not seeing him, but never talking to him or listening to him again? Pictures are one thing, but words, whether written or spoken truly keep one's soul alive.
Thank you for reminding us to pay attention!
Posted by: marientina at April 28, 2006 12:54 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)