Self, Place, and Memory: How Reflecting Upon Our Stories Can Reveal Our True Selves

By Sherry Ramrattan Smith

Have you considered the significance of place in your life? Places shape the people we are - our values and beliefs, qualities and characteristics, choices and actions. Some of us return to previous dwellings just to reminisce. As we observe these places, we remember important events and reconnect to emotional points of change. When we take time to explore our memories of places, we gain valuable insight into their powerful influence on our lives.
This book explores the authors memories of seven places and presents them as short stories and vignettes.
Self, Place, and Memory: How reflecting upon our stories can reveal our true selves is the fifth book of A Considerate Curriculum Series by Sherry Ramrattan Smith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504904018

Sherry Ramrattan Smith

Sherry Ramrattan Smith has a long standing commitment to social action in equity-based curriculum development. She often uses children's stories to begin conversations about a variety of social justice topics. Sherry believes that by sharing our life experiences and posing critical questions, we can become more accepting of our differences and learn strategies to be more inclusive. Benjamin Eric Smith is a musician. Ben enjoys writing stories and songs.

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© 2015 Sherry Ramrattan Smith. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 5/6/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0400-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0401-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015905249

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Contents

Preface

The Freedom of Childhood

Proceed with Caution

Set a Goal and Stay Focused

Appreciate the Beauty and Mysteries of our Earth

Memories of Garnet

Highs and Lows of Schooling

Early Work Experiences

Epilogue

Suggestions to Readers

References

A Considerate Curriculum: A Shared Commitment Towards Social Justice

For my parents: Rose Bickram and Eric Ramrattan

Thank you. I appreciate everything you taught me.

Preface

Place is the most fundamental form of embodied experience – the site of a powerful fusion of self, space, and time.

... Casey (2009)

preface%20photo.psd

Sherry at Derrickson Place, Kelowna, B.C.

Places I remember…

Nahachewsky and Johnston write, In recent years, place and history have emerged as key concepts in the effort to understand curriculum – what curriculum contains and what it could possibly signify. There are places that are especially memorable to us. When we return to particular places, they bring back poignant memories. Some places help to shape the people we are.

I think readers will agree that when we take time to consider the context of place, it is remarkable how frequently we use the word. Ruminate with me upon some common examples. We misplace things. We say certain items are irreplaceable whereas some can be replaced. On news reports we hear that groups of people are displaced. We name places and then some time later we rename them. We visit places and organize ways to store memories of them. We escape to and from places and we daydream about vacationing in exotic ones. In some settings, we may even feel it is not or is our place to carry out certain duties. Although the word place is used profusely and in various contexts, we seldom take time to think about how particular places may influence our identities and the characteristics and traits we develop.

Basso (1996) tells us that there are occasions in our lives when a sense of place may assert itself in pressing and powerful ways. For those of us who grew up near bodies of water, we yearn for moments when we can play in the water again. For others, a photograph of a park may elicit happy childhood memories. Some of us enjoy driving back to old neighbourhoods for opportunities to observe how previous dwellings have been changed by the creativity of new owners. Such reminiscing can take us back to happy or