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The Orange County Register
MEMOIRS
FROM PAGE 1
adulthood, she found writing was a tool for self-exploration.
"One of the things the writing has been so good for, it's a therapy," Bukaty says. "Vague and faint memories become clearer, and the clear memories become vivid."
Von Heintz, Bukaty and other memoirists are tapping into a cultural current. For several years, frank and often funny memoirs about family dynamics such as David Sedaris' "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" and Augusten Burroughs' "Running With Scissors" have brought new readers to the genre.
Just last month, the Oprah Book Club broke away from classics in order to read James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces," a harrowing memoir about addiction and recovery.
The popularity of real-life stories can also be seen (or heard) on the radio in segments from the StoryCorps oral-history project on NPR's "Morning Edition." and in stories on PRI's "This American Life," also on public radio.
There are lots of reasons for renewed focus on ordinary people telling stories from everyday life, say memoir-writing instructors and students.
"Alongside e-mails and text messaging, oral communication is on a parallel track," says Jerry Binder, a memoir student who also teaches at UCI Extension. "You see it in storytelling festivals, "The Prairie Home Companion,' poetry contests, elders telling stories in hospices."
Betty Edwards, who teaches life story writing in Coastline Community College's Emeritus Program, thinks it has to do with the democratizing effect of the Internet.
"I think we all see ourselves as pundits or sages. I think it goes along with the blog movement. There's less a feeling that people who are names are important," she says.
And it's no coincidence, they say, that many of the consumers and producers of life stories are baby boomers, a generation that came of age with self-help books, therapy and journaling.
"I think it has to do with our culture and our willingness to be more confessional and to up the ante by letting people into our lives," says Martha Fuller, who teaches memoir-writing at UCI Extension. "Twenty years ago, people didn't want to divulge such details."
Not everyone who's writing a life story is aiming for the best-sellers lists, or even for publication.
Mary Ann J. Barnett, 80, of Newport Beach began taking Edwards' class at the Costa Mesa Senior Center in 2002 so she'd have a record of her life for her descendants.
Her stories revisit an older Orange Country, where she grew up on her parents' citrus ranch and helped light smudge pots on cold nights. She got caught once throwing oranges at passing cars when one turned out to belong to the principal.
"I wrote about going to the Balboa Rendezvous Ballroom on Saturday nights when I was in high school," she says. "The next day, all the boys who were drunk at the dance would be at the communion rail. They were little hypocrites."
The stories read like a string of anecdotes until she found a theme to tie them together. "One day it dawned on me," she says, "as I blossomed, Orange County blossomed."
The writing teachers and their students believe that anyone and everyone can write a memoir.
"Everyone has a story," Fuller says, "You could not not have a story if you survived childhood."
Says Edwards: "My feeling is that everyone can write an interesting story, but you have to focus it."
When Von Heintz, of Long Beach, first enrolled in Fuller's class in 2003, several years had elapsed since she'd performed. She knew what she wanted to write, but she didn't know how.
"Right away in the first class, she totally opened the floodgates," Von Heintz says of Fuller. "She said, 'Just write. Sit down and write it. You don't have to know where you're going.' "
Over time, Von Heintz began to focus on the relationships that developed between "Amy," the persona she created as a dancer, the other dancers and club employees, and customers some of whom fell in love with Amy.
To write honestly, she found she had to relive the emotions she experienced.
"I found myself dreaming about these people again. I had to put my head back to those days," she says. "I learned through it and was able to understand things that I was doing."
She's nearly finished with a first draft, and she hopes to polish it, send it to literary agents and see it published.
"Right now, for me, the process is very rewarding," She says. "I don't think the product would be worth much if the process wasn't enjoyable."
CONTACT THE WRITER: {714) 796-6087 or vtakahama@ocregister.com
[[image]] KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE REGISTER
FOR THE GRANDKIDS: Sang Bukaty, 60 of Newport Beach writes about growing up in Korea and playing the cello.
Memoir classes offered in O.C.
Memoir, autobiography and life story classes are available around Orange County. Here are a few:
UC Irvine Extension offers "Autobiography, Memoir or Short Fiction" taught by Martha Fuller from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesdays, for 10 weeks from Jan. 11-March 15. Information: (949) 824-5414 or log on to unex.uci.edu
Coastline Community College's Emeritus Program offers a free class for seniors at the Costa Mesa Senior Center from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays. The next session starts Feb. 1. Information: (714) 241-6213.
Cal State Fullerton Extension: Detailed program information for winter classes will be available on the CSUF Extension Web site by Nov 28 at www.csufextension.org.
Information: Margaret Luzzi at (714) 278-7644 or mluzzi@fullerton.eduTranscription Notes:
Asian woman smiling and faded picture of a violin/viola in front of her.
