The “Mem” in Memoir
“Often my mother and I would stroll down Dwight Street and stop at Klibanoff’s Delicatessen…Just a few doors down we entered Ruby’s Market…When we were finished, we walked a few more blocks to Magaziner’s Bakery and ordered a couple of cupcakes and a half loaf of seedless rye bread…Crossing the street we landed at Shankman’s Pharmacy…”
This short excerpt describes my memory of a typical 1950’s stroll with my mother in my childhood neighborhood in Springfield, Massachusetts. How did I remember it enough to describe it in such detail? I used some of the techniques which mnemonists employ to remember the exact order of cards in multiple shuffled decks, a long list of names, or the exact images in a scene, but at the time, I didn’t know I was doing it! Long before I read Joshua Foer’s Moonwalking with Einstein, I was creating what he refers to as “memory palaces” to store these images relating to certain points in my memory. My ability to hold on to and recount these precious images played a large part in relating the story of Sidonia’s Thread, which describes growing up with my single mother and the events that shaped our lives.
It has only been in the last millennium that humankind has lost the art of memorization. Until then, it was considered an art, a sign of civility and culture. With the creation of books and recently, the development of smart devices like computers, tablets, and smart phones, memories stored in the brain’s hard drive were no longer needed. Our reliance on these tools that are standard in today’s world has led to a diminution of dependence on our internal tools to remember the facts about the earth around us.
When writing a memoir of events that took place over a half century ago, I had no choice but to prod my personal recollection of events and of places, which in many cases, no longer exist. So let me guide you along the process I used to remember this little scene from Sidonia’s Thread.
First, I used the Osgood Street apartment building in which I lived as a child as a “memory palace,” the space in which I stored the images that evoked the memories of the streets, shops, and people that inhabited the six block area I called home. I imagined I was strolling down the same streets as I had when I was eight years old. My journey began at the front door of the building and continued as I walked up to the corner of Osgood and Dwight Streets.
As I walked south on Dwight Street, the first image I recalled was one of a corned beef sandwich on rye bread with a dill pickle, more the smell than the sight of it… Klibanoff’s Delicatessen. Next, the image of a box of Rice Krispies appeared, its name in big bold white letters, as I entered Ruby’s Market, our neighborhood grocery store. Walking down the same side of Dwight Street, I envisioned the industrial bread slicer at Magaziner’s Bakery and then I instinctively crossed the street to buy my toothpaste at Shankman’s Pharmacy.
The images evoked made it relatively easy to go back to my early daily life and remember the places and people I met. Often, I would have to begin anew at the Osgood Street apartment building and repeat the journey to prod my memory, but each time, I attempted to stretch my skill to include another neighborhood image, like the giant poster of a smiling Miss Rheingold (“My beer is Rheingold the dry beer”) or the men gathered in front of Chernick’s Kosher Meat Market.
Perhaps you have forgotten some details of your childhood that you would like to remember but find it to be a formidable task. Try this simple memory exercise and see if it works for you. Send me a message to let me know how you do.
