Post #41 – Memoir Writing, Journaling – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
Recording our Journey: One Memoir Vignette at a Time
We’ve arrived at the end of Day 4 of a 7-day journey to celebrate the approach of Kendra’s 60th birthday. We hope your feet aren’t as tired as ours. Kendra had a beer at dinner and couldn’t decide if she should drink it or pour it over her toes (drinking won.)
Attention Memoir Writers: The World’s First Blogger Was a Woman and We Were in Her Home
Before I explain that statement, let me tell you a little about our day. I suppose we could call this our celebration of Hyde Park. We headed over to Springwood this morning, the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
This was his primary home throughout his life although it only officially passed to him when his mother died, four years before he did. The dominant force of his mother is present in every room. You feel that her strong spirit is there still. And, as with Edith Wharton, we learn much about the person through the home.
FDR’s library is housed on the same grounds and was a treasure trove of information. We ran out of time to complete our tour of it this morning and went back at 5 pm to continue walking through the rooms.
“We’re Going to the CIA?”
Why did we need to leave? The next day’s adventure was calling. We had a 12:30 reservation at the CIA. This is where a memoir writer knows that context is everything. When I first told Kendra, “We’re having lunch at the CIA,” she turned to me with a puzzled look. “I thought we were staying in the Hudson Valley area.” I laughed and clarified, “The Culinary Institute of America.”
In case you don’t know, Kendra’s a real foodie. Her mother loved to cook and instilled in Kendra that same passion for food. So I knew lunch at the CIA would be a real treat. And it was. I had reviewed all the menus ahead of time and made reservations at American Bounty, the most gluten-free, vegan-friendly of the four restaurants. Kendra feasted on pan fried soft shell crabs over seafood risotto, roasted tomatoes and carrots with lemon chive butter. I chose the spring vegetable tasting with its grilled asparagus, braised artichoke hearts, wild mushrooms, cipollini onions, and pea shoot salad. The food was prepared and plated by the students and served by still other students. At the CIA, they learn the entire range of skills. (In the photo, I’m sitting in my partner’s place hence the soup sampler with wild mushroom, cauliflower and lobster bisque as well as the roasted beets and goat cheese salad with oranges, pistachios, and a balsamic vinaigrette reduction.)
Back to the First Blogger
Right after lunch, we moved on to Val-Kill, home of Eleanor Roosevelt. When we heard from the National Park Service guide that Eleanor wrote “My Day” — her syndicated column — every day, six days a week, from December 1935 until her death in 1962 (missing only the four days after FDR died), I turned to Kendra and commented, “She was the first blogger.” Since she also managed to write a number of books, including three memoirs, Kendra responded, “We’d better get busy. If she could do all of that, we need pick up our pace.”
Autobiographies are only useful as the lives you read about and analyze may suggest to you something that you may find useful in your own journey through life. Eleanor Roosevelt.
I like to think that if Eleanor Roosevelt lived now, she would be blogging everyday, or at least six days a week. So she well might have been the first blogger if only the technology existed in her day.
What do you think? Do you have another “first blogger” to nominate?
Join us tomorrow as we continue with Day 5 of journaling our way to Kendra’s birthday.
You may also be interested in:
Journaling Our Way to Kendra’s Birthday: Day 1
Journaling Our Way to Kendra’s Birthday: Day 2
Journaling Our Way to Kendra’s Birthday: Day 3
Journaling Our Way to Kendra’s Birthday: Day 4
Journaling Our Way to Kendra’s Birthday: Day 5
Journaling Our Way to Kendra’s Birthday: Day 6
Journaling Our Way to Kendra’s Birthday: Day 7
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