This week’s roundup includes links from fellow members of the Association of Personal Historians and other professional storytellers.

Our top 4 #legacy links for the week ending Friday, June 3, 2016

1 - Read this “flash memoir” for a quick dose of inspiration.

I have written about life vignettes: scenes from a life and other short biographical stories that distill memories and provide a glimpse into an individual's life. Sarah White of Stories Well Told goes a step further and delves into what she calls “flash memoir”: 

brief essays that capture a small moment of time, but invite contemplation. They work in a “flash,” like a lightning bolt that suddenly illuminates a landscape.

Read contributor Kay Frazier's flash memoir, “Balloons Are for Kids” for a quick dose of inspiration.

2 - There's always one commencement speech from graduation season that resonates far and wide.

Pam Pacelli Cooper, president of Verissima Productions, shares a 2016 Colgate University commencement address from Dr. Omid Safi of Duke University, in which he eloquently—and with great humor and warmth—speaks about the many definitions of success, love, and justice. “Welcome into the circle of compassion,” he tells the graduates. And he leaves them, and us, with much to ponder—including, as Pacelli Cooper does, about the vital role memories of hardship and pain play in our own legacies.

If you are short on time, fast-forward to the 36-minute mark, when Dr. Safi is introduced.

3 - There’s power in a 3-word sentence.

Sometimes people just need a little reminder, and storyteller Nikki Groom delivers:

4 - Did the epic “Roots” remake retain its original potency?

I have DVR'd the series, and the blockbuster remake is still available for streaming. Journalist David Zurawik offers his take in the Baltimore Sun, and opines that

perhaps the greatest storytelling triumph of “Roots” is that Haley wrapped all of it, from the inverted captivity narrative to the Kunta Kinte hero quest, in the structure of a family saga. “Roots” is essentially a cosmic version of the kinds of stories told at family gatherings about those who came before us...

I'd love to hear your take on the remake: Was the more graphic violence redeemed by the storytelling? Did the miniseries have a strong impact on you?

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