MEMOIRS OF SCHOOL STREET VILLAGE

Thanks so much for the great response to this blog!
A special thank you to those who have passed it on to others. We are heading quickly to amazing page visits to this blog! Welcome to folks from all over the country and other countries as well, including Lisbon!!

The "Village", as it was called, is located in the northwest corner of the city of Taunton, Massachusetts U.S.A. It covers about 1 square mile with the center being School Street. A large portion of the Village population was Portuguese when I was growing up.

This blog covers a lot of the history of the Village, much to do with my years as a child there: 1940 through the late 1950's. I do have many wonderful photos and information prior to that that and will share those as well. Always looking for MORE PHOTOS AND MORE STORIES TO TELL.

If you would like to send photos or share a memory of growing up in the Village
e-mail me at spinoart@comcast.net
feel free to comment on the posts. Directions are on the right side of the blog posts. Jump in, the water is fine and it is easy!!!


I will be posting photographs but not identifying individuals unless I have permission or they are a matter of public record. It you wish to give me permission, please let me know.

I am looking for any and all photos of the Village...

Please note: the way blogs work is that the latest post is first. It you would like to start from the beginning of the blog, check out the post labels on the right of the blog and go from there. Thanks.


Friday, February 27, 2015

"STORY CATCHING"



"Every experience I have ever had, everything I have
ever thought, said or done, and every person I have
ever loved has contributed in some essential way to the
human being I am today. Had one stroke of the brush touched
the canvas in an altered manner, or splashed upon it
a darker or a lighter color, I should be a very 
different person now"

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte: Syrie James.


           Why tell a story?  Why go to all that trouble in a project that will take you over?



   




Telling a story makes your mark, that of your family, and of your time. No one will ever make that mark again...ever.  Your times are disappearing and are full of lessons and love as well as  hardship and tears.  The crux of the story is in how that hardship was overcome.

I write Memoirs of School Street because the Village on School Street is gone and I am old. Encapsulated in my head and heart are all the STORIES. What I do not know, I  find out.  As I and my friends went our separate ways traveling across the borders of the Village, the Village wrapped us in threads of gossamer.  I and others have been attempting to rewind those threads again, uncovering the treasures collected in the strands of those years.  When we speak, it is always the same mantra...who will understand?  Who remembers even now? How blessed I am to be able to collect, along with such wonderful Keepers as Arlene Gouveia and Charles Crowley, so many of those times recording them for posterity. If for nothing else, the ride has been spectacular!

The Village lives in us, still.  The values we shared, the honor of being part of it hopefully will inspire our readers, other writers.  I wish I had started much earlier, for I am sure that much has been lost  never to be found. That is why I wrote this blog post.

I,  and those who share with me, are the Keepers, they are present in each generation.  Pat McNee who has the great web site you will find below calls it: "story catching"...  I like that.  Do not underestimate your task of being such a Keeper, such a story catcher.  Charlie Crowley was a magnificent in that role.



Memory is a marvelous and precious gift. It is a running movie in our heads and hearts.  Sooner or later in each life there is a yearning to know where one comes from, to know your parent's story, your grandparents and so on. It must be a DNA gene that get activated for the motherland, even if it be right here in America.

Sometimes, the need to know THE STORY comes sooner, sometimes later. It is good when our young are taught to appreciate this in their school years while primary sources, like parents and grandparents, are still around to share. True, now and then such documentation goes into a box in the attic (heaven forbid it should be thrown out!).  At another future time, however, the hands and minds of our children, grandchildren and beyond will go searching for THE STORY.




Writing the story of my own families was full of unanticipated and satisfying dividends. It took years to compile since it was complicated- but it was accomplished.  Some read it, some did not.  Still, it is there awaiting more discovery. When re-reading it the emotion still packs a powerful punch.

The tools to write your story, a gift for yourself and your family are close at hand.

 The first: your imagination, the second your curiosity, the third your willingness to not quit.  That last will not be a problem as this task soon becomes an itch to learn more and more.  You are led on and on with each discovery. You follow the thread.

The other thing that happens is that you find family or reconnect with them. Do not underestimate this for it is the strength that keeps one going and a source of joy.

Other tools: a computer, a pen and pencil, a good strong notebook you will take everywhere with you.  Your own memory will need mining and the gold that comes forth will come up anytime it wants, prodded by who knows what.





 You will know and learn all of that.  To help you are two incredible sites 
for you to watch at your leisure. They are listed at the end of this post.
Bookmark them for you will go back to them often.

You need not record tediously on your old typewriter.
 If you are not versed in using a computer, learn.
If you are a senior, seniors are encouraged to learn new skills, this is one you will
find opens up the past for you!





The first site could be the only site you need. It is chock full of sources, direction and information.
           I am even now learning from it. I wish it had been around back when I started.
                         


This site below is the story of a town that no longer exists. You can see why it resonated with me.



......................................


After all of the discussion above, I would like to now get to a personal example of telling a story which has been shared with us by Tauntonian reader Stanley Pierce.   See the next blog post
for the Biography of Stanley Pierce and His story, a perfect example of story catching at its best.
Get ready for a dose of the past full of remembrances, a story to inspire and get you going.    








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