I spent maybe another hour last night adding a few more minutes of audio recorded with my grandmother in 1994 to TapeWrite. I added a bit of introduction to the recording. This follows my description of the series My Grandmother’s Stories, from Audio Tape to TapeWrite and Episode 1: Growing Up in Newark.
In Episode 2, my sister and I ask her for details of how she met her husband, Abraham…
He died before I was born, and I am named after him, so everything I know about him is from old papers, stuff I might remember my parents saying, and this recording. The photos I have of them are more from their later years.
I am enjoying the process of adding the “cards” to TapeWrite. It’s different from doing video, where you are trying to illustrate the story, here I look for references that are related (like an old image of Atlantic City when she mentions going there for a honeymoon), the few pictures I have. I also mix in a few quotes too.
The idea of the cards are partly to illustrate, but also to put key markers in the timeline, it lets people jump from segment to segment, so might be considered some kind of annotation. I’m trying to find a method as I experiment.
I have not found a way to group these stories, maybe it;s a feature I am missing. I added a tag grannystories to them all but did not find a public URL. The public profile for my “tapes” does not display tags, and there is some feature to make playlists, but my hunch is those are for viewers, not publishers.
I might have to ask Borja what I am missing.
I did forget an image, she said in her last letter to me that she included a valentine card from Abraham:
:
If I had to do it over again, I would have married you sooner, Dad
Okay, I think it’s weird that her husband signed a card “Dad” but past that, it’s a lovely sentiment. Then again, in this audio, I took note that she got married when she was only 17, and met him when he was 14. That seems pretty early as is, Abraham!
My favorite thing is that last letter she sent me, where the only thing she had to write on was a page ripped out of an address book, at age 94:
My grandmother’s last hand written note to me, ~1999
Dear Alan,
I have no stationary so I am improvale [improvising?] with what I have. Am ok, healthful, for an old lady age 94. Thought you would like the pics. Copy them and return.
Love, Granny.
I so much love that she signed this “granny” because it was my teasing nickname I would call her. I would tell her how “spunky” she was.
But the fact that at 94, she wanted her pictures returned, says she had plans to live a lot longer. She did another 4 years.
That’s my spunky granny.
Top / Featured Image: Collage of photos of my grandfather, Abraham, and grandmother, Jeannette, at their Baltimore home in 1955. Personal photos, but hey, because it’s how I roll, they are licensed Creative Commons BY.
