Break the Rules! A Travel Memoir with a Twist of Zen
The one rule he didn't break was to put a finite time period on his memoir. He did this precisely. Mark Richardson's wrapper story covers the couple of weeks during which he rode his motorcycle from...
View ArticleIs a Travel Memoir Really a Memoir?
In fact, in my perfect world, the book store would have a whole bank of memoirs and autobiographies, including sub-sections for Coming of Age, Overcoming Hardship, and Travel memoirs, to name a few....
View ArticleTeaching Memoirs, Meeting Locals, Making Memories
All the memoir classes I had taught previously were broken into two hour segments. This workshop would go for eight hours straight, so one challenge would be to tailor the course to this new format....
View ArticlePrinceton Student transfers to the School of Hard Knocks or Learning Kung Fu...
Recently, I saw a memoir "American Shaolin" by Matthew Polly, a young man who dropped out of Princeton to study Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple in China. I was stunned to learn the place was real and...
View ArticleSeeking Truth in a far off land, “American Shaolin” Part 3
In the 1960s, Timothy Leary suggested "Turn on, tune in, drop out." Many young people, myself included, were seduced into thinking that these three steps would lead to wisdom. For several years I...
View ArticleSpiritual memoirs, interview with author Rick Skwiot
His quest was somewhere between the fast living of Henry Miller and the soul searching of Somerset Maugham, and contained some of the elements of my own travels. It's too late to interview Maugham,...
View ArticleCultural Crossroads: Memoir of An American Princess In Japan
Each time I turned the page, I learned more about how people must learn about and get along with each other. In each contrast, whether between sexy single and married adult, Japanese and American,...
View ArticleSpoiled brat? What does spoiled even mean?
During Lisa’s reaction, readers must make a choice. We could either say, "Dear Lord. It’s only a night with an inconvenient sleeping arrangement. Get over it." Or we could cheer for her, the way her...
View ArticleInterview with Memoir Author Lisa Fineberg Cook
I have never been particularly concerned with hiding flaws. I think flaws make people more interesting and because I look for humor in just about every situation, flaws can be especially funny. As far...
View ArticleIf Not Conflict, What Fierce Determination Drives a Memoir?
Anatolian Days and Nights is good evidence of the importance of this quest. Like the hero in Somerset Maughm’s The Razor’s Edge, who left home in order to find his truth, Joy Stocke and Angie Brenner...
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