Re: Chronicles of 7th grade
Feb. 22nd, 2008 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dmxratedI just figured that I might as well get this out of the way before I go to bed tonight.
When I started writing Chronicles of 7th Grade six years ago, I still had both my agenda book from 7th and a journal that I used to keep for weekly Group* sessions. I pulled the former item out from a box under my bed right when I got started, and I found the latter item shortly after beginning. Both of these books helped me recall stuff that I might not have remembered on my own.
While I was on my six-year hiatus from Co7G, I discarded the agenda book, figuring that it wasn't likely I would ever work on the document again. I don't know what's become of the Group journal, which was a Marble notebook where I wrote stuff (at first, stuff in general, and then just my social life).
Usually, as I go along with writing these memoirs, I randomly remember things that happened on particular days that I already covered. Just today, I remembered once on either October or November of 1998, the bus coming home went a few blocks passed my house. I got off of the bus there, Daniel walked with me back to the house, and we had a brief conversation. I don't remember what we talked about, and if I still had my journal, I might be able to place that piece into the puzzle. When it comes to these memories, though, I usually remember a particular date first, and then stuff that happened on that day.
I asked Mom about my Group journal just an hour ago, and she said that she would never throw anything of mine out. She said that since she plans to clean out my closet anyway, she'd look for it while doing so. Just for the sake of getting it over with, though, I took out the two magazine boxes next to my TV set and dug through them. Ironically, it turns out that I still have my agenda book from either 8th or 9th Grade. I also suggested that it might be somewhere in the attic, and she said we can go up there as well tomorrow.
To be honest, though, the fact that I can remember what happened on any day of the year (not always when something happened) will just be a bonus when it comes time to gathering people to contribute to the fic that I recently described. When I recall stuff that happened in, for instance, 4th grade or early 9th grade, all kinds of things come back to memory, but since I didn't keep track of each day of the year at those times, I can only recall a general time frame for any given event. That's exactly the case with most people anyway, and along with some of the more general details of any timeframe, all I'm going to request is as many events as possible and their general timeframes.
As for this "nolstalgia club" idea that I came up with... I'm not sure if it would be practical to call it that, as I would like my contributors to remember both the positive and the negative of school year 1998-99. Also, I do understand that these themes of alcoholism and gangs might be a bit dark, but the fact remains that the memories of any number of people is simply not enough material to form a story of. In fact, there were some dark aspects of 7th Grade, such as Ms. Bandows nagging me, certain kids making fun of me, disputes with my parents, a broken wrist, and worst of all, the Columbine High School Massacre.
(*Group: This took place at Stonybrook Hospital. I, along with some other autistic kids around my age, would be brought here every Tuesday night and learn how to get along in the real world.)
When I started writing Chronicles of 7th Grade six years ago, I still had both my agenda book from 7th and a journal that I used to keep for weekly Group* sessions. I pulled the former item out from a box under my bed right when I got started, and I found the latter item shortly after beginning. Both of these books helped me recall stuff that I might not have remembered on my own.
While I was on my six-year hiatus from Co7G, I discarded the agenda book, figuring that it wasn't likely I would ever work on the document again. I don't know what's become of the Group journal, which was a Marble notebook where I wrote stuff (at first, stuff in general, and then just my social life).
Usually, as I go along with writing these memoirs, I randomly remember things that happened on particular days that I already covered. Just today, I remembered once on either October or November of 1998, the bus coming home went a few blocks passed my house. I got off of the bus there, Daniel walked with me back to the house, and we had a brief conversation. I don't remember what we talked about, and if I still had my journal, I might be able to place that piece into the puzzle. When it comes to these memories, though, I usually remember a particular date first, and then stuff that happened on that day.
I asked Mom about my Group journal just an hour ago, and she said that she would never throw anything of mine out. She said that since she plans to clean out my closet anyway, she'd look for it while doing so. Just for the sake of getting it over with, though, I took out the two magazine boxes next to my TV set and dug through them. Ironically, it turns out that I still have my agenda book from either 8th or 9th Grade. I also suggested that it might be somewhere in the attic, and she said we can go up there as well tomorrow.
To be honest, though, the fact that I can remember what happened on any day of the year (not always when something happened) will just be a bonus when it comes time to gathering people to contribute to the fic that I recently described. When I recall stuff that happened in, for instance, 4th grade or early 9th grade, all kinds of things come back to memory, but since I didn't keep track of each day of the year at those times, I can only recall a general time frame for any given event. That's exactly the case with most people anyway, and along with some of the more general details of any timeframe, all I'm going to request is as many events as possible and their general timeframes.
As for this "nolstalgia club" idea that I came up with... I'm not sure if it would be practical to call it that, as I would like my contributors to remember both the positive and the negative of school year 1998-99. Also, I do understand that these themes of alcoholism and gangs might be a bit dark, but the fact remains that the memories of any number of people is simply not enough material to form a story of. In fact, there were some dark aspects of 7th Grade, such as Ms. Bandows nagging me, certain kids making fun of me, disputes with my parents, a broken wrist, and worst of all, the Columbine High School Massacre.
(*Group: This took place at Stonybrook Hospital. I, along with some other autistic kids around my age, would be brought here every Tuesday night and learn how to get along in the real world.)