Personal Reflection
When I initially started this project, my first thought was that the more stories I record, the more I would gain a deeper understanding of my family. However, after my last interview, I realized that some of the stories were central to my new understanding, and gave me a sense of completion for this project. Before this project, I had only heard a few stories about my mother’s childhood, and I have truly enjoyed being able to hear stories that affected my mother and my grandparents.
This project has not only let me understand more about my grandparents, but I have realized how I personally connect to my family, and how many of the things that my grandmother enjoyed are things that I love to do today. Listening to these stories has made me feel like I know her as a person, even though I never got to meet her. I feel a comfort with the fact that I know who she was as a person and my actions reflect in the stories I have heard of her. This process has also raised questions for me, as what I thought I knew about my grandmother has completely changed. If she were still alive, I would want to ask her why she didn’t let my mother stay with her in England. I would also want to ask her about the little things, what struck her about literature that she wanted to study it, and how she could defy her parent’s expectations of her.
This project has been a great experience, mostly for myself, but I feel that even my mother has gained something through telling me these stories. After one of our interviews, she said: “I never really thought about this before now.” Although this honors project has finished, I will continue to ask my mother for stories as I want to continue learning about my family and their history. As Stuart Nager says,“We are all made up of stories.” I have gained a stronger connection between myself and my grandmother after hearing these stories and I will carry these with me.
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Open in new tab Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?
Throughout my life I have always dealt with the feeling of not knowing where I belong. I was born in Germany, but my family moved to New York City when I was five. None of my family is American, yet I feel that New York is my home, as most of the memories and stories that I have come from my life here. This is a personal project for me to learn more about my family history and stories that my mom has from when she was younger, and from when I was younger. I will be interviewing my mom at dinner and recording the stories, translating them from German and then editing them into a collection of short stories. Recently, I have felt disconnected to my German “side” and I hope through exploring my background and family I will feel a stronger connection to both my homes.
What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project?
As a completed project, I will have arranged and edited these stories in a sort of book for myself and family members. In addition, the book will include a reflection on how this project has influenced me. I will also have a PDF version of the stories and reflection, posting it on the blog so that others can read it too.
Who is your Honors Project Teacher, and when do you plan on meeting?
Chris Keimig – Lunch on Wednesdays.
