A new and interesting project has fallen into my lap, and I'm so excited I'm going to tell you guys about it! Maybe it'll inspire your own juices. Or maybe you'll think it's silly. Let's see, huh?
First, some background info. My big Italian family decided to have a big Italian family reunion of sorts. It wasn't a legit family reunion where we sought out all of the DeRubi known to man or anything like that. Just an excuse to get everyone in the same place together. Mostly it was a bunch of grumpy, smoking old men eating their sausage and peppers and laughing at one another.
We even had an Italian flag frozen in an ice sculpture.
We really like being Italian, in case you didn't notice.
Sarah came to a family get together of ours. She didn't know so many types of noodles could exist in one house at the same time.
I guess in that way we're sort of stereotypical. We're always loud and everyone's in everyone else's business. We're pretty close knit. I mean, I saw my cousins as much as I saw my own sister, so in a way, they're like my little brothers. And that's how this idea came about.
My cousin says he wants to compile all of our old stories and pictures together and create a book from it. He's found a small publishing company, and it's not really publishing it so much as it is just printing the book, 15 copies or so, and just handing them out for the family to have. He handed out a letter to all of the family members, asking for submissions. Any stories they are particularly fond of, any pictures they want to share, that's what we want. We, because I've become the co-pilot in his operation.
I guess I'm so excited for this is because it comes in the wake of our grandmother's death, and when she died, a lot of stories and pictures we were never exposed to came out. We want more of that. We want it all before it's lost, as so many have already gone with my grandmother, things we'll never get to hear now. And preserving that is so important to us.
I'm having breakfast with my cousin tomorrow, and we'll talk more about the details. I don't know exactly how we'll accomplish this or in what manner it will be written or put together just yet. I'll keep you guys updated as it comes, how would you like that?
Would you undertake such a project? What sort of things would you put into your family's own story book? Do you have any ideas how to execute such a project?
This sounds like fun! :) My sister and I have been trying to do something like this with our father's stories in Cuba, but we have been failing miserably, we have even told him we'd get a recorder he tells the story then we will write it! He simply laughed and walked away to watch his novela...
ReplyDeleteBut hey this sounds like a great idea you should go for it! My sister and I are still trying with our dad (still hoping one day he'll just cave and help us out heeheehee) but he is so stubborn, wonder where we get it from... :)
You should really just sit him down and tell him how much this means to you. I bet if he knows how serious you are about it, he'll want to give them to you. They're probably just hard for him to tell, or he doesn't want to look back.
ReplyDeleteThing is, Sarah's grandmother recently heard that the Dutch-Indonesian culture is fading away for the very same reason: parents and grandparents aren't telling their stories, even when the new generation wants to hear them. :/