A Modern Memoirs Sabbatical

Sabbatical. That was something I’d only heard of in academia, when my friends who were professors would take off to Italy or Hawaii or South Africa. But a business sabbatical?

I had worked at Modern Memoirs for 15 years already when the founder and president, Kitty Axelson-Berry, retired and sold the business to Megan and Sean St. Marie. It was a major transition, and there were a lot of unknowns. I stayed on as director of publishing, since I really enjoyed my work and knew I was needed.

Within about a year, Megan, my new boss, told me she was thinking about some way in which to honor my longevity in the business. That said a lot about her as president of a company, since I barely knew her. “How about at the 20-year mark?” she asked. “In 2024 it’ll be 30 years for the business and 20 for you.” That was still several years out and elusive to my thinking. I just nodded my head. Maybe a party, I suggested. (Yes, they threw me a party!) But she was thinking of something even more significant. A sabbatical.

And actually, whether Megan knew it or not, this was an extension of the company culture initiated by Kitty Axelson-Berry. With her no-nonsense, get-it-done attitude, Kitty was also humorous, authentic, ethical, generous, and she intuitively instilled a family-friendly environment before that term was even coined. It was a small, growing business back then and we juggled a lot, but we were also given regular, dedicated time to work on our own personal projects in the office. We had team meeting lunches. If things came up in my family, Kitty would shoo me out the door: “Go be a good mother.” When she herself went out for café meetings, she’d say, “I’m being a good friend.” When I developed back problems, she gave me a month off and a local gym membership so I could use their pool for recovery. (This is the main reason I improved, and I still go to the pool twice a week.)

It is these values that make all the difference in a company culture. In the past five years, Megan has illuminated these values, combining her speed-skater motivation with compassion, lead-by-example management, and a collaborative, inclusive style. So when she presented a brand-new sabbatical policy in January of 2024, just as she said she would, I surely felt honored. The language in her letter speaks for itself: “We are very glad to mark this milestone for you with a sabbatical that will allow you to immerse yourself in the kind of heart-led work that you have enabled so many other writers to enjoy for the past two decades.”

“Self-reflection is as important a phase of human development as learning to crawl.”

This opened a door. What if I did that kind of “heart-led work” on my own? What if I got to create some kind of memoir? Well, let’s be practical: just one part of my life, not the whole thing! Five years? A decade? After all, Kitty had managed to write a memoir about a decade of her life, and I witnessed the creation of that book, with all its ups and downs. But all of a sudden every client’s voice came to me with a barrage of doubts and questions I’ve heard over and over: Isn’t this vain? Who really cares? It’s all about me! I’m not a writer! Who’s going to read this? Is it any good? Etc. etc. etc.

I had to give myself the talking-to I’ve told many, many clients: Self-reflection is as important a phase of human development as learning to crawl. Your children or maybe your children’s children will care. And yes, it’s all about you, but there’s so much they don’t know about you! You don’t even have to consider yourself a “writer” to express yourself in words. Ray Bradbury said, “Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens.”

With that, I am arriving at a plan for a March/April 2025 sabbatical. Some of my thoughts:

I hope to write about a time in my life that I consider to be the most explorative—young adulthood. I also hope to experiment with alternative forms of memoir. People often ask me, “What is a memoir? What should it include?” And I have always said, “It’s whatever you want it to be.” Of course I’m not talking about a bestseller, commercial memoir. That has some formula to it. But your own memoir? Make it yours. Could I do that? I love the idea that memoir can include poetry, prose, journaling, essay, short story, artwork, song, and even dance, all the things I love in life!

A few books come to mind that have influenced my thinking on form and style: Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar. Bone Black by bell hooks. The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr. Anything by Anais Nin. The Afterlife by Donald Antrim. Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.

I plan to write every day. Read every day. Walk every day. Swim twice a week. I hope to mix in some personal interviews with a few family members and friends about that period of my life, reconnect with these people, perhaps go deeper with them. I hope to include some photography on location.

After writing all this, I’m feeling shy and protective, and I don’t want to say much more about what my intentions are. Spontaneity is my greatest ally. But I do want to thank you, my bosses past and present, and all of you clients and authors whom I have witnessed, walked alongside at times, and who have inspired me with your determination to get a few (thousand) words on paper and create the tangible, priceless gift of yourself. I know it isn’t easy. But I have seen the rewards. I’ll give it a whirl.

***

A note from Modern Memoirs: Rest assured that business at Modern Memoirs will continue as usual while Ali is away in March and April 2025. Though we will miss her, careful planning has ensured that the rest of our close-knit team is ready and able to handle the full range of her responsibilities. We are all committed to ensuring the smooth progression of client projects as we wish Ali well in her creative pursuits during this well-deserved sabbatical. —Megan St. Marie

Reflections from Modern Memoirs Client Brian L. Dunsirn

Brian L. Dunsirn is a repeat client with Modern Memoirs. In 2000, he and his brother commissioned the publication of I Dunno, the memoir of their father, Bob Dunsirn. In 2024, Brian L. Dunsirn returned to publish his own Commissioned Memoir entitled The Sky’s the Limit. The recent project took one year and two months from the day we started it to the day books arrived on his doorstep. We asked Dunsirn to reflect on what the publication process was like for him both times, and what it has meant to share these books with others.




1. What has been the importance to you and other descendants of your father to have his life stories gathered and preserved in a book?

Brian Dunsirn: I feel fortunate that we were able to capture many of the incredible stories from my father’s life. Picking up his book and rereading chapters reminds me of his humble beginnings and how he forged ahead in difficult times to ultimately achieve the American dream. His life was a catalyst for me to achieve and to believe that anything is possible, especially during times of difficulty. I highly value his memoir because it was something he completed at my request. It was done for his children and their families, reminding them of the values and goals he believed in.

2. How did you want your memoir to be similar to his? How did you want it to be different?

Brian Dunsirn: In many ways my father’s memoir was a history of his life challenges. It also communicated his love for his family. The rough childhood and war years had an impressionable impact that shaped his drive and desire to survive. I wanted my book to reflect how I was able to take my dad’s foundation and build on it, both with love of family and entrepreneurial drive, to succeed in business. The objective of my book was to help my grandchildren understand that although we faced challenges along the way, we learned from those struggles and built a lasting legacy of love, financial success, happiness, and a true belief that “the sky’s the limit.”

3. How was your book enhanced by having your wife, Susan Dunsirn, contribute chapters?

Brian Dunsirn: It helped convey how we worked with each other to achieve family goals and aspirations. Partnering together to write my memoir was similar to how we partner in life. Love for each other and support of our daughters, and now of our grandchildren, provides satisfaction beyond our dreams.

“Recalling the many people throughout my life who helped me along the way was incredibly fulfilling.”

4. In the preface to your memoir, you say that the title, The Sky’s the Limit, is a metaphor for your entire life. How is that so?

Brian Dunsirn: My personal philosophy is that anything is possible if you have the passion, skills, and drive to achieve. Learning how to fly an airplane at the age of 44 has enhanced my life in many ways. It reinforced my belief that “starting with the end in mind” has consistently produced results for me and my family. Founding, growing, and eventually selling several businesses allowed me to learn what is ultimately possible.

I Dunno (Modern Memoirs 2000), the memoir of Bob Dunsirn, Brian Dunsirn’s father

5. You jumpstarted your project by writing with Storyworth. What made you want to move beyond that platform to engage Modern Memoirs’ services, including interviews, editing, and design?

Brian Dunsirn: Ever since helping my dad with his memoir in 2000, I had a desire to document my own life stories. Eighteen months before contacting Modern Memoirs, my daughter gifted a Storyworth subscription to me. I wrote a few paragraphs to each of the weekly questions sent by Storyworth. At the end of the year, I had a collection of around 50 short life stories. Although interesting, there was no real connection between stories, just questions and answers. I wanted something more comprehensive, a novel so to speak. I knew that Megan and her team could help me with this challenge. I created an outline of the major parts of my life that I wanted to communicate to my audience of family, friends, and business associates. We used the collection of Storyworth questions and answers as a foundation for many of the chapters in my book.

As I look back at the experience of publishing The Sky’s the Limit, my initial desire was to help my family understand what I did to achieve success and happiness in my first 65 years of life. I didn’t expect the feeling of satisfaction received from the process itself. Recalling the many people throughout my life who helped me along the way was incredibly fulfilling. As I presented final copies of my book to many of these “life-long friends,” they were thankful for the recognition, and I was pleased to communicate my appreciation.

Liz Sonnenberg is staff genealogist for Modern Memoirs, Inc.

Meeting My Grandparents Through Family Stories

A Blog Post by
Publishing Intern Lily Fitzgerald

Publishing Intern Lily Fitzgerald’s maternal grandparents, George and Dolores Furtado, 1979

“They would have loved you.”

My mom and I were looking at photos of my maternal grandparents, George and Dolores Furtado, when she said these words to me, her voice soft and wistful. One snapshot was taken at my aunt’s wedding, showing my grandfather, tall and tanned in a grey suit, and my grandmother in a floor-length pink dress. My mom remarked on how fashionable my grandmother was and said, “She would have loved that you sew and would have taken you shopping for clothes all the time!” She also reminisced about my grandfather’s love of cooking and said he would have prepared my favorite foods, like lobster and shrimp. “I wish you’d had the chance to meet them,” my mother said.

“They would have loved you.”

Both of my maternal grandparents died before I was born, and my grandmother didn’t live long enough to meet any of her grandchildren. She passed away in 1987 at the age of 57 from pancreatic cancer, and my grandfather died in 1993 at the age of 63 from prostate cancer. Their children miss them every day, and, in a different way, those in my generation who never met them miss them, too. With no grandparents to spoil us grandchildren, or to tell stories of the past, my sister, cousins, and I grew up with a sense of loss. But no matter how empty the spot at the head of the family may have seemed when I was growing up, my mother and her siblings helped fill the void with memories and stories that brought my grandparents nearer to us all.

My grandfather was born George Furtado in 1929 and was raised on the island of São Miguel in the Azores. His family were rabbit farmers, and he came to the United States at fifteen after his father passed away. Settling in Somerville, Massachusetts, he began working as a barber and training to be a carpenter. My grandmother was born Dolores Cravo in 1930 and was raised one town over from Somerville in Cambridge. She was the daughter of two Portuguese immigrants and grew up surrounded by the Portuguese community there. She went to technical school for design and then worked with a fashion designer in Boston, where she would plan outfits and help models get ready for fashion shows.

George and Dolores met while my grandfather was playing soccer with his friends. My grandmother and her friends were walking in the area and decided to watch the match. Family lore has it that when their eyes met it was love at first sight. They started dating, and then they got married in 1952.

My grandmother planned to continue working for the designer after getting married. Then she got pregnant within the first year of marriage, and my grandfather was drafted to serve in the Korean War. Due to his absence, my grandmother had to stay home with their first son as she waited for the day her husband would return.

George Furtado during his service in the Korean War, c. 1953

My grandfather’s army service in Korea was anything but easy. He rose in the ranks to become a sergeant and was in charge of tanks, but my family never knew much about his experiences until after he died and an uncle told them the truth at his wake. They learned that his team was captured by the enemy and held in a prisoner-of-war camp. We believe he was the only member of his squad to survive, but he never talked about his time in Korea due to what would now be called PTSD. However, he was awarded many medals for his service and was proud that he served our country.

After the war, my grandfather returned home to his wife and child and bought a three-family home in Somerville. While he worked, my grandmother stayed home with their growing family, which would eventually include six children. They sometimes struggled with money, but they always managed to scrape by, providing their children with a safe and happy life. They worked hard and found comfort and hope in their Catholic faith.

“…memories can change the way we see the world and help us understand those around us and those who came before us.”

Beyond their religion, my grandparents also found joy in the little things in life. My grandfather loved to prepare food, and especially seafood. He went fishing in Gloucester, he ate tinned sardines, and he tried to entice his children to eat escargot and clams. One of his favorite meals was a Christmas Eve dish called the Seven Fishes, which he prepared with shrimp, lobsters, crabs, tuna, clams, quahogs, and octopus. He also grew grapes in the backyard to make his own wine in the basement. Apparently, it was sometimes a bit too strong, and after sharing it with friends, they would stagger home. For her part, although my grandmother no longer worked in design after getting married, she never gave up her love of clothes and fashion. She always made sure that her children were dressed well and looked good, spending time sewing and shopping. Then, after her children grew up, she got a job as a nurse’s aide at Mount Auburn Hospital. There she worked in the labor and delivery unit, finding joy in caring for newborn babies and their mothers.

Although they left this world much too soon, my grandparents live on in family stories, proving that memories can change the way we see the world and help us understand those around us and those who came before us. The vivid memories my mom, aunts, and uncles have shared give me a clear picture of the loving, creative, and hardworking people their parents were. So now when I recall my mother saying, “I wish you’d had a chance to meet them,” I can say with thanks that in some ways, I feel as though I have.

Lily Fitzgerald is publishing intern for Modern Memoirs, Inc.

Reflections from Modern Memoirs Client Douglas A. Campbell

Douglas A. Campbell published his book entitled Frederick Morrison Campbell and Agnes Pearson Cancelliere: A Genealogy with Modern Memoirs in 2024. This family history took six months from the day we started the project to the day books arrived on his doorstep. We asked Campbell to reflect on what the publication process was like for him, and what it has meant to share his book with others.

1. What were the sources of the information you presented in your genealogy?

Douglas Campbell: I began with what I had heard from my parents over the years about our ancestors. After my parents died, I took custody of a shoebox and large manilla envelope that contained a disorganized trove of papers and photos they had kept. These included writings about our family from the early part of the 20th century with some specific names, dates, and alleged facts. Once I organized these materials, they provided a foundation for my subsequent research on the internet.

2. How did you go about shaping the information into the narrative you first sent us?

Douglas Campbell: I sorted the information by generations, going back as far as I could on each side, and then I wrote a narrative for each generation. This process resulted in a “bring-down” or “bring-forward” presentation that began with my most distant ancestors and concluded with my parents.

3. Upon reviewing your draft, we recommended, among other things, numbering your ancestors using the ahnentafel system, adding genealogy charts to help readers navigate the text, and reorganizing chapters to present family groups in reverse chronological order (from most recent to earliest, from well-known to lesser known). What do you see as the benefits of these changes?

Douglas Campbell: Keeping track of one’s ancestors becomes more and more challenging as additional generations are included in the “story.” Modern Memoirs made the text more reader-friendly by reversing the chronological order I had imposed, so as to begin with my parents. The addition of a genealogical chart that included a simple numerical convention keeps relationships clear.

“I learned that with hindsight even the lives of everyday people are interesting.”

4. For one chapter, instead of relying only on your own research, you commissioned Modern Memoirs to investigate an ancestor’s rumored descent from King George III and a woman named Hannah Lightfoot. How did this research contribute to the project and to your own understanding of your heritage?

Douglas Campbell: The research done by Modern Memoirs related to a claim contained in the “shoe-box papers” that one of my paternal ancestors, George Rex, was the product of a union between George III of England (while he was Prince of Wales) and a Quaker named Hannah Lightfoot. Modern Memoirs traced the evolution of this story in my family (and in others) and ultimately debunked it, putting to rest my oldest sibling’s royal ambition. How George Rex—so named—managed to come to Western Pennsylvania in the 18th century as an Episcopalian, with an unexplained source of income for life and a daughter named Hannah, to live on a large and prosperous farm, is a mystery left for future generations to solve.

5. Why was it important to you to write a family history?

Douglas Campbell: I wrote the book so that my parents will not soon be forgotten by their descendants, and so that my children, nieces and nephews, and their children, could see their lives in a larger context. I’m gratified that they not only appreciated it, but they enjoyed it, too.

6. What did you learn about your family as a result of exploring its past?

Douglas Campbell: I learned that with hindsight even the lives of everyday people are interesting. Perhaps this book will inspire some future descendant to find my generation interesting, too, and that person will write an update.

Liz Sonnenberg is genealogist for Modern Memoirs, Inc.

A Window into Modern Memoirs History

Time-Lapse Video and Introduction
by Publishing Intern Lily Fitzgerald

In celebration of Modern Memoirs, Inc.'s 30th anniversary, we are proud to share a window display hosted for the month of October 2024 by the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce (AACC) at 35 S. Pleasant Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. The display was created by Book Designer Nicole Miller, featuring books we have published over the past three decades by clients from across the country and around the world. Click below to view a time-lapse video showing the set-up process.

We hope that many locals and visitors to downtown Amherst have enjoyed an in-person peek into the work we love to do, and we thank the AACC for its support of our business. Peruse our website, come visit us at the Modern Memoirs offices at 417 West Street, Suite 104, Amherst, Massachusetts, or call us today at 413-253-2353 for more information about our full range of publishing services.

Window display hosted by the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce and created by Book Designer Nicole Miller in honor of Modern Memoirs’ 30th anniversary, October 2024

Reflections from Modern Memoirs Client “Boswell Carnegie, Esq.”

“Boswell Carnegie, Esq.,” the pseudonym used by our client, published his book entitled Rabbit-Hole Journey: A Fictionalized Recollection of How the Fort Pitt Icemen Were Saved One Score and Five Years Ago with Modern Memoirs in 2024. This work of fiction, inspired by actual events, took just six months from the day we started the project to the day books arrived on his doorstep. We asked “Carnegie” to reflect on what the publication process was like for him, and what it has meant to share his book with others.

Rabbit-Hole Journey opens with a note from the author that describes the book as “a work of fiction inspired by the colorful cast of characters” involved in a real-life drama played out in the U.S. sports world in 1998–1999. In addition to writing under a pen name, the author acknowledges changing names, embellishing events, and inventing dialog “in order to create a full narrative.” Most of the questions in the following interview were inspired by a Writer’s Digest article by author Joan Jackson entitled “Based on a True Story: 4 Advantages to Fictionalizing the Truth.”¹

1. Why did you choose to write a fictionalized account of an actual event and publish it privately for limited distribution? Whom did you intend your readers to be?

Boswell Carnegie: I chose to write a fictionalized account because my primary purpose was to tell a story rather than write a report. Fictionalizing allowed me to simplify and dramatize what otherwise would have been complex and dry. I wrote the story to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a remarkable event, for distribution to the surviving participants, my family, and my friends.

2. Author Joan Jackson says that fictionalizing the truth in her novel Just in Time: Based on a True Story allowed her “the freedom to rewrite history.” She found that she became “so absorbed in the characters that the characters had room to take over.” How did your approach shape your depictions of the multiple personalities and organizations involved in your complex story?

““We’re all fictional characters in a collective dreamscape.””
— Deepak Chopra

Boswell Carnegie: Fictionalizing the workings of the legal process allowed me to amplify its theatrical aspect, by presenting the participants as caricatures playing their respective roles in a stylized heroic struggle, similar to the storyline in a romantic opera. As Deepak Chopra said, “We’re all fictional characters in a collective dreamscape.”

3. Jackson says that by expanding the imagination, “fictionalizing allows the writer to make discoveries.” What insights into the facts did you gain by taking a creative approach? What further insights did you gain through editorial and book-design phases of the publishing process?

Boswell Carnegie: I realized that I cannot take a creative approach to a story without proceeding from a personal basis in fact. The editorial phase of the writing process provided me with confidence in what we produced, and the book design was chosen to reflect the spirit of the story. The design of the book’s cover was inspired by the cover of the 1791 first edition of The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., written by James Boswell, the author from whom I adopted my pseudonym.

4. Jackson also discusses point of view. Your book tells the story in first person. Why did you take that path, as opposed to describing events from different perspectives, which fiction writing gives license to do?

Boswell Carnegie: I told the story in the first person so that the reader could experience the “journey” vicariously through the eyes and mind of the “traveler,” Boswell Carnegie, similar to wearing a virtual reality headset. I fictionalized myself as “Boswell” because I fictionalized all the other participants and did not want to draw attention to myself.

5. Jackson points out that truth is subjective anyway, that it “really is all perception.” She says that, after some time has passed, she cannot always remember if some of the scenes she has written in a novel actually happened. And she asks, “Does it really matter?” How would you answer that question, and why?

Boswell Carnegie: If truth is your honest perception of the facts, then a fictionalized recollection should at least convey the essence of the writer’s honest perception of the facts. Anything less than that becomes pure fiction.

¹ Joan Jackson, “Based on a True Story: 4 Advantages to Fictionalizing the Truth,” 11 December 2017, Writer’s Digest (https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/based-on-a-true-story-memoir-vs-fictionalized-truth : accessed 3 October 2024).




MODERN MEMOIRS, INC.

417 West Street, Suite 104, Amherst, MA 01002

413-253-2353