Life Story Links: July 6, 2021

“There were so many stories in just her life alone. And what about all the lives before and after her? The mothers and daughters that had bred her, that had bred me, that I myself would breed? I sat there fingering the crinkling, yellowed diary with new energy now and lost in thought.”
—Carmit Delman, Burnt Bread and Chutney

Foster’s Freeze ice cream stand in Cloverdale, California, photographed by John Margolies, 1991, part of his Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

From the Research Files

GRIEF, A TIMELESS EMOTION
Holding onto everyday items as keepsakes when a loved one dies was as commonplace in prehistory as it is today, a new study suggests. “Even the most mundane objects can take on special significance if they become tangible reminders of loved ones no longer physically with us,” archaeologist and author Lindsey Büster says.

MEMORY WORKS
After reading Lisa Genova’s new book Remember, I wrote about why understanding the basics of how our brains encode memory can help us both remember the things we want in the future and retrieve precious memories from our past.

Our Lives in Stories

A BLACK FAMILY KEEPSAKE
“All That She Carried focuses on a worn, cotton bag given to a girl by her enslaved mother before the child’s imminent sale. The sack would re-emerge decades later, adorned with [an] embroidered family history.”

VULNERABILITY AS A TOOL
“The thing that’s so difficult about personal essays is that they’re awfully personal. There’s an answer to this conundrum, and it has to do with cows.” Jess Zimmerman on being vulnerable in first-person writing.

THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF STORY SHARING
“I had all the material for my book, and I needed to guard my time to write it. But she was reluctant to give up my undivided attention.” Debra Dean on the complex relationship between subject and biographer.

“A RIP VAN WINKLE HOLIDAY”
Pam Pacelli Cooper reflects on how different this Fourth of July is from last—what was lost, what’s still here—and why it’s important to preserve our memories “before they are papered over and lost forever.”