SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Historians, history teachers and history buffs hold keys to something precious: stories that can be preserved with care and honored with attention.
They know human stories are worth telling and retelling. They have studied cultural events that were breakthroughs and inventions that bridge then and now. They may have specialized knowledge of art, music, medicine, literature — both its stellar expression and expansion as well as profound setbacks caused by war, disease, famine.
History need not – and maybe cannot – be told in a linear fashion. Rather, it’s recursive. Points of entry or of curiosity vary — what interests one person leafing through an album (or in my case, a box of photos) may diverge.
And to truly grasp the import, we need to allow the formation of, what a former science teacher of mine called “the chemistry of a thought.” Yes, there is both chemical and electrical activity in the brain. No wonder we need sleep! That way, we have a way to invent our own tableau of stories.
Read on for some upcoming events that might put history front and center. Then: make your own history and attend!
A presidential program. From Bob McKimm, president of the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Historical Society: “Please join us at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at the S. Euclid Community Center, 1379 Victory Drive, for a brief business meeting followed by Tom Strong presenting a program on our American presidents and how their various illnesses affected our history.” Sounds intriguing, with an angle not often explored.
Hurry, Mayfield alums! From Wayne Farinacci, president of the Mayfield Alumni Association: “Don’t miss out! Secure your spot at the 100 Year Celebration Bash of our old high school and current middle school. Ticket sales end September 27. Tickets will not be available at the door.
Join the Mayfield Alumni Association and Mayfield Middle School Association for a Centennial Birthday Bash on October 5, 2024. Enjoy an evening of delicious food, open bar and dancing. The iconic “Disco Inferno” will be providing live entertainment (21 and over please).
Tickets are $45 per person and include appetizers, dinner, an open bar and the show. To buy tickets, please click the link below or scan the QR code available on the Alumni Association website. To purchase a paper ticket, please email [email protected] for assistance.
https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/88c566cb-0c6d-4e3d-83e5-c4a71d79f594
And prepare for more fun at the Alumni Association Tailgate Party on Friday, September 27!! Food and beverages are complimentary!!
Thought question: Do you know where the “Hillcrest” name for our seven cities comes from? Pause, breathe, no cheating.
It comes from the Hillcrest phone exchange when, back in the day, phone numbers were more easily recalled with some distinctive word/abbreviation to go with the numbers. “Garfield 1-2-3-2-3!” Sound familiar, that jingle on the TV? No, we were not calling in the cat.
True or false: A village known as Bluestone housed people whose work quarrying sandstone once thrived in the area of Euclid Creek reservation.
Okay, see if you can find the answer to that online.
Multiple guess: The city of Lyndhurst got its name from:
a. the Lynd family who settled in the region
b. a youth who entered a city-naming contest
c. the mayor of Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
Listen up. And write it down. Capture your family’s stories, and your own. Though most of us have a degree of selective attention regarding the stories of others, we can do better. Our judging brain may have a strong filter; we can rinse that out. Our feeling brain may neglect to feel as deeply as it might; rest, breathe, open your heart.
Our sensing self may not suspend itself long enough to merge with a narrator’s pauses and signals. There is time, so take it slow. But begin.
Since I have done my share of writing for other purposes, why did I not write down, in what we call “real time,” the anecdotes, stories, and wise sayings offered by my mom? Many she graciously repeated, partly to invoke the past and partly to invite her own consolidation of then and now.
Sometimes it was hard to visualize the people involved – so far away, on another continent, in a far-removed decade. I had not yet lived long enough to grasp the difference between listening and really listening. A critical breakthrough in my awareness was encountering those rare souls who are able to do the latter. They listen with their entire body, some might say they listen with their soul. If you have encountered such a rare individual, you have observed listening as an art.
Write to me! It’s lonely at the keyboard without your words to share. Email [email protected]
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