A graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg entitled The Encyclopedia of Early Earth that features a storyteller who travels the earth in search of a tiny fragment of his soul that was lost when the Medicine Man, on the behest of three sisters, split his soul into three parts.
A podcast story by Michael Lewis about the unreliability of our memory and the stories that we use to define who we are and how we are understood by others.
Another place that my mom and I visited in July of 2002 was the Michigamme Reservoir. I just noticed that my mom spelled it Mishagamee in her memory book. In the UP, summers are usually cool. But occasionally it can get pretty warm, like on the day we went to the reservoir. I still remember wishing that I had brought my swim suit. Here’s a map of the area. My mom and I only stopped briefly at it; we didn’t canoe or fish.
It’s been awhile since I posted here. I took the summer off. Now that I’m back, I’m struggling to figure out how to finish (?) this project. I want to create something with all the work that I’ve done without having to devote too much time to it.
My first step: to finish my mini-project about my mom’s memory book and the summer of 2002. I’m starting here because it’s a relatively small project and because September 30th is the 5th anniversary of my mom’s death and I want to spend some time remembering and mourning her this month.
Right now, I’m revisiting her photo book, finding footage, gathering other materials, and trying to conjure up memories from that special summer when my mom was still alive and we were together. As I began writing this last sentence, I realized that when I think about my mom now, almost 5 years after her death, I almost always think about that magical summer. Our relationship was more than the hiking and talking and eating/drinking that we did that summer, but I think I miss that time the most. Perhaps it also stays with me because I have so many photos + video footage from it?
In her photo book, my mom divides up the month into our visits to different locations around the UP: Bewabic State Park, George Young Recreation Area, Mishagamee Reservoir, Ottawa Forest and Hunter’s Point in the Keeneewaw Peninsula. As a starting point, here’s a map of Bewabic State Park:
