Author: TheAyeshaSite

I am really looking forward to the literary party that is Memoirfest. Not just the readings but the great Italian food. I am going to be bringing 20 Guyanese beef patties to the party this year. I’m hoping each person can sample one patty. I plan to wear a nice new Pamela Mc Coy cream faux fur replica with new jeans and a long sleeved NJCU tee!

I am planning on bringing twenty Guyanese beef patties to Memoirfest this December ’15. My mother and my stepfather are both Guyanese from a place called Georgetown in Guyana. I am going to bring my process journal to Memoirfest and read one of my two to three page journal entries! This will be the first Memoirfest I’ll be going to as an alumna!

I have been writing in my process journal Memories of Me about my experiences with mental illness from age 14 to early 30s My current age is 34 years old almost 35. My self love came unexpectedly when I turned 30. My relationship with an East Indian man that is my age named Mike was my 1st relationship with a man. He and I are still friends though we’re no longer dating we went out to I-Hop to eat about a week ago and Mike paid for both of us. He is so sweet and respectful of me. I want children one day I hope that in five years from now I’ll find Mister Right and get married and have two kids. I will be writing a book length personal narrative this “Fall” now that I’m done with college I’ll have time to pen my book length narrative, my memoir, Memories of Me.

I was at Memoirfest on Saturday May 9 from 5:30pm until midnight. My peer notetaker Thomas who is in both of my classes offered to be my ride. I shared the first three pages of my memoir, that has the title Three Half Sisters  or My Father’s daughters. I got such amazing responses and feedback from other student writers and alumni. I will keep writing forever. I will pen my first draft of my memoir Memories of Me by January 2016. I write poetry and have an idea for a children’s poetry book for young children about Self Acceptance.

I am glad to have a writing partner who has a disability like I do. I feel like Rudy and I understand our challenges and our strengths. Rudy is a good writer but he is self conscious and I struggle with fear and anxieties.

Dr. Giunta told me what I should focus on when writing my final draft of my memoir that is due May 9, 2015. I took notes during our short 15 minute meeting and I will refer to those notes when writing my final draft of my memoir. I have about 1,000-2,000 words of notes I have handwritten that I will be adding to my narrative over the next week or two. I changed my opening. We discussed The Opening in class on Tuesday and I have a good sense on what my memoir piece’s opening is going to be.

I have class on Tuesday and after class I am meeting with my memoir teacher Edvige Giunta. I look forward to going over my 2,014 word draft of my final memoir. I will write for an hour a day at the library until Memoirfest on May 9th. Memoirfest starts at 5:30pm.  Edi sent out an email today to the class to let everybody know that I need a ride to the party. I look forward to reading two pages of “Tale of Three Half Sisters” at Memoirfest and being in such good company with all the other memoir students and alumni. I look forward to seeing Cassandra Casella there. I met her at Memoirfest last December!

I will be meeting with Dr. Giunta next Tuesday after class to discuss my draft of my memoir and it is 2,014 words long. I am writing notes that are chunks of information that I want to include or weave into my narrative like my difficult relationship with my step dad Neil, my relationship with my mom, my family, my friends and other insights into my life as it was in my teens, 20s and now 30s.

I remember when I was taking Memoir Workshop with Dr. Giunta the first time because my mom Shellon was sick in the hospital. She had surgery and when she came back home she had to go back to the hospital because of an infection she got from the surgery. My mom goes everywhere with me because I think about her all the time.

Three Half Sisters will be the title of my memoir I will write by the end of this semester. My memoir piece will be anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 words long. I remember in the short book Living to Tell the Tale one chapter talks about using photographs and writing about photographs. There is a picture in an old family photo album of my three half sisters holding me when I was a baby. The picture was taken in a mosque. I don’t know but I’m guessing it’s the mosque my deceased biological father was a member of. We all share the maiden name Karim including me of course.  I am not in touch with my three half sisters and that used to make me sad but I had to accept the fact that they don’t seem to want me in their lives…