I've always felt a little queasy about using my family in my essays. I've wrestled with the issue of letting them read the text first, before it goes out of the house. Does this undermine the essay? Am I pre-censoring? Should I be brave rather than worry about what all anyone is going to say to me at Thanksgiving?
Well, then my good writer friend Lisa Romeo sent me this link.
Clearly, the answer is not in pre-publication. It's in post-publication. Let the subjects talk back! I love it.
I may change my mind the day my children start posting their own versions of my essays. But for right now, I think it's genius.
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I'm just hoping my own kids don't get hold of this link!
ReplyDeleteI actually might take advantage of it myself. I went for "family morning" at my ten-year-old's school yesterday. Class essays were available for parents to read. A line from my daughter's essay on our trip to see fireworks on Long Island: "Then my mom said, 'Leslie, carry this chair!' It was really heavy! I lugged it across the sand and it made me think of the olden days when women had to carry water on their backs to provide for their families."
ReplyDeleteI think I need a forum for response. I mean, it was a BEACH chair!