Memories

As part of our research process we have learn’t from our Alchemy classes as well as our guest speaker Joan Conolly that research or learning does not necessarily come from written documentation but from mental memories too. Our task is to learn a skill from a previous generation that will have meaning to us, before it is lost. Sometimes we take certain skills for granted and have managed on through the years dependant on others and thus have not taken the time to learn new things, specially if it is a skill that cannot be self taught and lives in memory.

My Nana, my father’s mother lived in the period of the Great Depression thus as my Papa was away at work everyday she managed the house. She had to learn how to budget daily in order to get by each month. She also knitted to earn a little extra money during those times, and as my father never learnt these skills to pass onto me I want to learn how to budget strictly and to knit.

My mother can sow fantastically, and used to make all mine and my sister’s clothes when we where little. It was cheaper and as a young couple my mother needed to make extra money when she had me and my sister (we are 1 year and 4 months apart) as she had to stay at home to bring us up. She baked birthday cakes to sell too. They were all different shapes and forms. Some of my best memories are from our childhood birthday parties, she baked Whinny The Poo cakes, cakes in the shape of a swan or in the shape of the year we were turning. Thus I want to learn both these skills as they have a great amount of value to me and are filled with amazing memories.

For those who are following our blog and are wondering what relevance this has to the World Cup 2010, well it doesn't, it has relevance to us, the researchers, as we need to learn about ourselves before we can learn about another field thus it will help us, even in a small unknown way, so please bear with us :)

Casey