Memoir Unit Blog #1

     If my life was chronicled as a memoir, I would include when I worked at a summer camp for eight weeks last year. This was a boy scout camp called chief logan reservation. I worked as a merit badge counselor for the nature area. This meant that I would teach young scouts about the local plants and wildlife. I would teach them how to recognize and identify different plants to avoid such as poison ivy, but also edible plants such as raspberries. I learned a lot through scouting and by working at this camp I was able to pass on what I had learned to others. It was a really good time for me and a great way to spend my summer. I made a lot of great friends. I plan on returning this summer and will be even better now that I have the experience of last summer.

Memoir Unit Blog #2

      I do not believe that what Pat Conroy said was true for my memoir. I'm reading Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. There has not been anything truly torturous in his childhood. He felt left out by his peers in school. He had a lisp and could not make an 's' sound, instead making a 'th' sound. He was embarrassed about this and avoided saying words with the letter s in them. He was likely teased by other students for this and for being different in other ways such as enjoying "girl activities" like baking cookies and singing. I do not think that he had a tortured childhood. However, these difficulties helped him learn about the world and shaped him into the man he is. I think everyone experiences some sort of torturous event as a childhood but the extremity of these varies greatly and one does not need to be a child soldier or similar traumatizing event to write a good memoir.