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10 Memoirs That Explore the Mother-Daughter Relationship (in remembrance of Debbie Reynolds & Carrie Fisher)

Shortly after the deaths of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds on subsequent days, Susan Dominus examined the strained relationship between this mother and daughter in the New York Times: Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, a Mother-Daughter Act for the Ages. Dominus writes:

There is something about celebrity mother-daughter acts like the one lived by Ms. Fisher and Ms. Reynolds that capture the imagination in a way that famous father-sons simply do not.

I’d say we can leave out the words celebrity and famous. Even the most ordinary mother-daughter relationship is archetypal, fraught with push-pull, attract-repel, love-hate, bond-reject, up-down, engage-disengage, support-undermine dynamics.

The HBO documentary Bright Lights, first aired on January 7, 2017, further reveals the intertwining lives of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

And here are 10 memoirs that focus on the relationship between mothers and their daughters:

Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick

Returning to My Mother’s House by Gail Straub

Don’t Call Me Mother by Linda Joy Myers

The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr

Then Again by Diane Keaton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson

Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

Mother Daughter Me: A Memoir by Katie Hafner

We’ll Always Have Paris: A Mother/Daughter Memoir by Jennifer Coburn

 

© 2017 by Mary Daniels Brown

Last Week’s Links

Writing Your Way to Happiness

Here’s a summary of scientific research suggesting that “the power of writing — and then rewriting — your personal story can lead to behavioral changes and improve happiness.”

Special Report: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? The Magic of Narrative Medicine in the ED

The special report discusses how the use of storytelling in medicine, known as narrative medicine, helps physicians better serve patients.

The Year of Conquering Negative Thinking

Here’s a New Year’s challenge for the mind: Make this the year that you quiet all those negative thoughts swirling around your brain… . constant negativity can also get in the way of happiness, add to our stress and worry level and ultimately damage our health.

This article offers not only scientific research to back up its premise but practical steps you can take to deal effectively with your own negative thoughts.

3 Reasons You Don’t Need Experience to Write a Damn Good Story

The most common advice aspiring writers hear is “write what you know.” I’ve always been suspicious of this admonition, since I believe in the power of research. Here thriller writer Brad Taylor explains how to use research to write convincingly about topics you have no personal experience with.

Infant Brains Reveal How the Mind Gets Built

This article reports on recently published research into how the human brain develops, It’s a long but fascinating read.

 

© 2017 by Mary Daniels Brown

Share Your World – January 9, 2017

Share Your World – January 9, 2017

If you lost a bet and had to dye your hair a color of the rainbow for a week, what color would it be?

Right now I’d probably go with lime green, as the Seattle Seahawks are in the playoffs.

At any other time of the year, I’d probably go with purple because it’s my favorite color. I don’t know how I’d look with purple hair, but it couldn’t hurt to find out.

(This color would wash right out if I didn’t like it, right?)

If you could choose one word to focus on for 2017, what would it be?

Writing.

I’ve decided that 2017 is the year I actually focus on my writing instead of continuing to say, “Someday I’m going to devote the time and effort necessary to hone my writing skills and actually write some pieces worthy of being put out into the internet world.”

What was one thing you learned last year that you added to your life?

Never take friends for granted.

I really learned this lesson a long time ago, but last year it was reinforced for me a few times over.

If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..?

Pineapple, a delightful combination of sweet and tart (although I’d have to work hard on the sweet part).

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for more of the same last week and am looking forward to more of the same next week.

And I hope everyone has a great upcoming week!

© 2017 by Mary Daniels Brown

Last Week’s Links

‘Mysterious power over humanity’: How cats affect health

Have you ever thought about all those cat videos you seen whenever you check Facebook? In this article for CNN Alice Robb talks with Abigail Tucker, author of The Lion in the Living Room: How Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World, about:

the disturbing similarities between cats and lions, the reason cats failed to uphold the Rabbit Suppression Act of 1884, and the somewhat baffling question of why people put up with them.

How We Got From Doc Brown to Walter White

Eva Amsen on “the changing image of the TV scientist”:

The change in TV offers insight into the image and impact of scientists today, say communication scholars. Although recent headlines may have been dominated by people who bend scientific facts into the molds of their personal ideologies, surveys reveal a deep public esteem for scientists. Viewers now want and demand their scientists to be realistic, and what the viewer wants, Hollywood delivers. As a result, scientists on screen have evolved from stereotypes and villains to credible and positive characters, due in part to scientists themselves, anxious to be part of the action and the public’s education.

You’re an Adult. Your Brain, Not So Much.

A look at how the human brain matures and when the brain can be considered mature. Investigation in this area might have profound implications on policy issues such as when people are old enough to vote or to be held accountable for committing crimes.

Praise Is Fleeting, but Brickbats We Recall

Have you ever wondered why you and other members of your family remember experiences so differently? This article explains why: “almost everyone remembers negative things more strongly and in more detail” than they remember positive experiences.

Why time management is ruining our lives

“The quest for increased personal productivity – for making the best possible use of your limited time – is a dominant motif of our age,” writes Oliver Burkeman.

Personal productivity presents itself as an antidote to busyness when it might better be understood as yet another form of busyness. And as such, it serves the same psychological role that busyness has always served: to keep us sufficiently distracted that we don’t have to ask ourselves potentially terrifying questions about how we are spending our days.

 

© 2017 by Mary Daniels Brown

Share Your World – January 2, 2017

Thanks to Cee for this week’s challenge, Share Your World – January 2, 2017.

Would you prefer to receive a unicycle, bicycle, tricycle or motorcycle?

I’m so out of shape that I’ll probably never be able to ride a bicycle for much distance again in my life. So last summer my husband and I bought battery-powered bikes. The battery provides the umph to get up hills. I was hoping we’d be able to ride the bikes around right away, but riding this bike is so different than riding an ordinary bicycle that I never got comfortable enough to ride it very far before the end of summer. Next spring we’ll take them out again, and I hope to get proficient enough to enjoy riding around the area during the summer and fall.

What is one thing you’d like to accomplish this year?

I am determined to work on my writing this year. To help actualize this goal, I have signed up for a 52-week challenge of publishing something (we choose whatever kind of writing we want to do) every week during 2017. We’re just now completing week 1, but so far I’ve kept up!

What was one of the highlights of 2016 for you?

2016 ended up being a topsy-turvy year for us. I think the highlight was the fact that it ended. There were also a couple of other highlights at the end of the year: spending Thanksgiving week in Long Beach, WA, with our daughter (even if it did rain almost all week) and having our daughter spend Christmas Eve/Day with us. But I’m glad to be in 2017 now.

Would you prefer to fly a kite or fly in a hot air balloon?

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to ride in a hot air balloon. I keep dropping hints, but so far none of them have materialized.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for the start of a new year, with new opportunities. I’m looking forward to trying to keep up with my goals for reading and writing throughout 2017.

 

© 2017 by Mary Daniels Brown

Share Your World – 2016 Week 52

Thanks to Cee for this week’s challenge Share Your World – 2016 Week 52.

share-your-world

What’s your favorite ice-cream flavor?

I only get one? Impossible!

I have various favorites:

  • chocolate (alone and in combination with other good stuff)
  • mocha (esp. jamocha almond fudge)
  • blueberry
  • pumpkin
  • peppermint (seasonal)
  • salted caramel hazelnut

If you were to treat yourself to the “finer things” what would you treat yourself to?

Like a lot of other people, I’d want someone to cook and clean for me, if funds were unlimited.

view from airplane

But my biggest “finer thing” is travel, especially international travel (although I still have a lot of things left to see in the U.S. before I’m through). I want to go back to Ireland, and to Stonehenge, and to Italy, and …

Have you ever been drunk?

Yes, a couple of times back in my college and early adult days. Honestly, it’s not an experience I have any intention of repeating. I can’t understand why people would frequently and voluntarily make themselves feel that awful, and the next morning is even worse.

Complete this sentence: My favorite supposedly guilty pleasure is…

Dark chocolate. And ice cream. And dark chocolate ice cream.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend (if we leave out the horrible Seahawks game), and I’ve enjoyed kind of lounging around this week. But I’ll be glad for the start of the new year, when we will focus on eating more healthily and I will try to get back into the groove of serious reading and writing.

I hope everyone has a good week. And Happy New Year!

 

© 2016 by Mary Daniels Brown

News you can use: Infographic walks you through 10 questions to detect fake news | The Seattle Times

Can this infographic help students spot a phony news article? Test it out with your students, kids or friends and let us know in the comments.

Source: News you can use: Infographic walks you through 10 questions to detect fake news | The Seattle Times

Check out the PDF in this article. This exercise isn’t just for students.

Carrie Fisher, a Princess, a Rebel and a Brave Comic Voice – The New York Times

She entered popular culture as a princess in peril and endures as something much more complicated and interesting. Many things, really: a rebel commander; a witty internal critic of the celebrity machine; a teller of comic tales, true and embellished; an inspiring and cautionary avatar of excess and resilience; an emblem of the honesty we crave (and so rarely receive) from beloved purveyors of make-believe.

Source: Carrie Fisher, a Princess, a Rebel and a Brave Comic Voice – The New York Times

Share Your World – 2016 Week 51 – Favorite Holiday Edition

Thanks to Cee for this week’s challenge, Share Your World – 2016 Week 51 – Favorite Holiday Edition.

share-your-world

What is your favorite holiday?

Age has made me appreciate every day instead of favoring some days over others. However, I guess I can say that I now enjoy Christmas Eve a whole lot since we’ve moved to Tacoma and can spend the evening with our daughter. For many years she lived in Washington state while we lived in St. Louis, but since we’ve retired to Tacoma we get to see her often, especially on Christmas Eve/Day.

What types of food is associated with your holiday?

We usually have roast beef, although occasionally we’ll go with lamb or turkey. Confession: we usually get the food from Trader Joe’s and only have to heat it up. But right now our daughter is in the kitchen using the food processor to make cranberry relish. Later she will be making mashed potatoes with purple (my favorite color) potatoes. Life is good.

Do you travel for your holiday?

Nope. We have it right in my living room.

Is it a religious or spiritual holiday?

Only in the sense that celebration of love and family is spiritual.

Is there a gift exchange?

Oh yes.

How long does the celebration last?

About 24 hours, from Christmas Eve afternoon to Christmas Day afternoon.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Each and every new day.

 

© 2016 by Mary Daniels Brown

Last Week’s Links

We may be able to tap into our memories from infancy

Our inability to remember incidents from the first two or three years of life is known as infantile amnesia. It’s possible that such memories are lost, but some recent research suggests that we might be able to recall those memories with proper prompting. The research was done on rats, and much more research is necessary to discover whether the results apply to humans as well. If they do, it may be possible to devise ways to block out traumatic early memories.

Writing our life story — memoir or autobiography?

Put simply an autobiography tends to be a linear record of the events of our life and requires attention to the accuracy of the memories and the detail of each event while a memoir is more free form and is usually based around a theme or themes that have meaning for us in some way.

This article offers some advice on how to write about personal experiences in a way that connects them “with the bigger picture of human experience or history.”

Telling Their Life Stories, Older Adults Find Peace in Looking Back

Whether they are writing full-blown memoirs or more modest sketches or vignettes, many older people … are telling their life stories. Some are taking life-story writing classes at local colleges, libraries and adult learning centers, while others are hiring “personal historians” to record oral histories or to produce videos that combine interviews, home movies and family photos. Some opt to write a “legacy letter,” which imparts values to the next generations.

This article explains how autobiographical writing can help people gain perspective on their lives and come to acknowledge and understand how past experiences have shaped their lives.

Can a Rosy Outlook Ward Off Illness?

Some recent research suggests that optimistic women tend to live longer than less optimistic ones. This article is informative nut just for these research results, but for its look at how to interpret research reports. Learn why these study results are limited by the participant pool and why they may or may not be applicable to people generally.

© 2016 by Mary Daniels Brown