JOURNAL ALONG: year-long writing MEGAAA thread

September theme: FULL CIRCLE

September prompt (documenting/scrapbooking/journaling):

Here we are then, wanderers of a new, milder, perhaps even kinder season. No more heatwaves (or cold weather down under), no more blistering sun (or chilly mornings). These are times of quietening down and embracing something more bearable. September marks a wonderful opportunity to take moment to look back and contrast our past with the present. Do you perceive the glimpse of a full circle moment in your life? Do you feel it deep in your bones that you're the "mother of the family" now that the children have gone back to school, being reminded of seeing your own mum standing at the stove or picking you up after school? How does it feel to be the one in charge now? How different is the routine from your childhood from yours as a parent now? Do you notice in the everyday or in your parenting philosophy that you've embraced your own childhood in some points - and possibly broken away from others? For those who don't/no longer parent, how are you in the current season of your life the product of your childhood, family and general past? Do you notice things that are definitely embedded and woven into the fabric of your family? Maybe you've kept your grandmother's Sunday plates? Are you still cooking old family recipes? Is it in the way you feel comfortable at home: a little retro touch with older furnishings to "warm up" the place along the more modern stuff, habits you have that mimick your (grand)parents', your need to hang onto books/greeting cards/appliance boxes like you remember your (grand)parent doing, etc. Are you an early Christmas/Thanksgiving prepper just like your parent was? Do you like to dress up and go on date nights with your partner just like your parents used to? There are so many possibilities! We're exploring the way in which we have made something from someone else we used to look up to part of our own everyday identity in this month's writing. If you feel inclined, don't hesitate to also write how you differ from these people as well, particularly if you feel like it was a change that was necessary to live better, break away from a habit or cycle that wasn't completely healthy. If you want to get a little lengthier with your journaling this month, you should consider exploring how you "inhabit" the key people from your childhood today: it is likely you've picked up a little something from each person who helped raise and mould you. 

Go beyond the prompt: Embrace the contrast between present and past! This is a great prompt to dig out an old photo depicting this full circle realisation. Try to take a photo that will show the likeness and/or difference with you today. Embrace the self-timer or ask a loved for some help to capture this if needed. If you don't have photos from the past to rely on, try to think outside the box. Can you find vintage pictures online? Can you source down retro ads or illustrations that will give the right vibe? 

Catching up and finally getting around to the "lost" July prompt. 


July theme: REPAIR

July prompt (documenting/scrapbooking/journaling):

Historically, the stories that have been recorded were the ones deemed worthy of recording. This mostly focused on the more established, white, male figures. In the shadows and lost to pages of history, you will find a lot of women, people of colour, poor working class folks. Scrapbooking and documenting in general has been a blessing to repair some of these stories and reconnect with our pasts in ways that we can't using public historical records. It's a work of transmission that goes beyond the frontiers of the privileges of exclusivity. For todays prompt, I'd like to encourage you to focus on some sort of work of repair. You may take this as a task to do some historical repair and write about one (or multiple) anecdote(s) of the women in your family that no one has actually penned down yet, preventitive repair (talking about current stories and "small" roles you and/or your loved ones have that will be lost to history if nobody takes the down to record them: do you you volunteer? If so, what exactly do you do when you volunteer? How has it impacted your outlook on the world, made an impression on your different life skills?) or a more literal focus such as things you're repairing right now in your life: renovations, home change, trying to make amends with someone or coming to terms with something, being the diplomat in a family conflict, maybe you're performing some sort of repair function at work (does it entail helping out with something/situations that need fixing?), flea market bargains you enjoy giving another life to, healing from an accident or illness that has taken longer and still affects you, etc. However you take this prompt, let theme of restoring carry you. This is about shedding light on what's often left in the shadows only to be ultimately completely forgotten whether you're the subject of it or someone else.

Go beyond the prompt: Restore photos that you wish had been better and can't replace. Whether it's scanning old photos so there's a safe digital cloud as a backup just in case, repairing damaged photos with some Photoshop magic, checking if a hard drive with memories stored on it still works and bringing it to a professional technician if it doesn't, backing up your photos from your current drive, turning pixelated photos into black and white to minimise the grainy effect and finally scrapbooking them, getting that digital photobook you made a while back finally printed and sent to you, etc. This month's prompt is all about getting active and doing that photo thing you've been putting off.