Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Audrey McInery (left) and Dottie Temby enjoy sharing the memories they've stirred in their autobiography writing class.

Telling one's own story gives meaning to a life

By Sandy Sims

Friday mornings at the Saratoga Senior Center, six to 10 people gather around a long conference table, take up their pens and paper and write about their lives in an autobiography class led by volunteer Emily Hendrickson, who also teaches in the reading and writing lab at De Anza College.

"This is important work," Hendrickson says, "because when you write about your life, you see that it has meaning." She explains that many people want to write about their lives but feel unable, so she finds ways to help them write.

During the course of the class the participants do 10-minute nonstop writings that they read aloud to each other. One such writing was about funny experiences with sports. Class members read to each other about skiing in Lillehammer, losing the top of a bathing suit while water skiing, riding a racehorse bareback, swimming in San Diego and being a couch potato.

Then there are the more serious subjects such as how it feels to be a woman. "Since we write about all kinds of experiences and then share them, we get to know each other quite well," Audrey McInerny, the Senior Center's activities director and class participant, explains.

"All of a sudden what I've written clicks when I read it out loud," McInerny says.

For an at-home assignment during February, the class wrote about love. They brought their work to class and read to each other on subjects like getting a Valentine from a second-grade heartthrob, a first kiss and remembering a close friend.

To help them become more creative and in touch with who they are, Hendrickson has them do nonwriting exercises as well. They have created personal collages where they rip pictures from old magazines and paste them on cardboard. "The idea," Hendrickson explains, "is to find pictures that jump out at you." This helps them think about who they are, what's important to them. Britt, who has multiple sclerosis, shares her collage and points out to the others all the legs she has pasted on her board. "It's because I don't have good use of my legs," she says.

Hendrickson will take the class to West Valley College for one session "so they can look around the trees and river and the rest of the grounds to find words to describe nature."

McInerny, who has never written before, believes this will help her be able to describe the ranch where she grew up. She wants to write about her family history. "My family doesn't have a clue about our pioneer background. If I don't write it down, it will be lost forever," she says.

"The class is not just limited to Saratoga residents," Hendrickson explains. "Anyone can participate." The class is ongoing, so a new person can join at any time.

For more information, contact the Saratoga Senior Center, 868-1257. The address is 19655 Allendale Ave., Saratoga, CA 95070. The Senior Center even boasts a Web site.

[ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ]