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Programs at Sinclair, UD create new generation of autobiographers

Jim Noelker

Excerpt

“Many of the students in my school in the small sharecropper town of Hoxie in the Arkansas delta had undiagnosed rickets and were covered with carbuncles from nutritional deficiencies in their diets that peaked during the winter months. Sometimes when the Health Department was late in bringing the apples to our school, my father would go to the Red and White Food Store in town, where we ran a credit, to get a bag of raisins to provide a supplement to our diet. We liked the apples and raisins but knew the vegetables, soon to emerge from our garden, would be the demise of the carbuncles and boils until next winter. We could hardly wait.” — Joe Pickney

ENLARGE PHOTO

Jim Noelker

Kay Berg’s tips for writing

About your life and times

Start anywhere. You don’t need to begin with your birth. Look at photos, scrapbooks, memorabilia, and memoir prompts for ideas. Choose a small memory, story, or incident. Tell it as a story, link the stories together later. Include specific names, dates, details. Add sensory descriptions (color, sounds, smells, tastes) Write also about your life today. Make copies and share with family and friends.

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By Meredith Moss, Staff Writer 12:47 PM Sunday, November 22, 2009

DAYTON — For many years, Joe Pickney identified himself as a General Motors human resources guy.

But these days, if you ask the Springboro man what he “does,” the response is quite different.

“I’m a sculptor and a writer,” responds the 64-year-old.

Like many in the Miami Valley, Pickney’s view of himself has altered dramatically as a result of taking Lifelong Learning classes, courses offered at both Sinclair Community College and the University of Dayton. Both schools offer a wide selection of courses at minimum cost. Some are free. There are no tests, no grades, no required attendance. Topics range from “A History of American Amusement Parks” and “Social Networking” to “Tai Chi” and “Writing an Ethical Will.”

At Sinclair, there’s no age requirement for the classes; at UD a student or spouse must be 50 or older. No past formal education is required.

Pickney’s journey began in 2002 when he signed up for a sculpture class at Sinclair. In 2005, he decided to take “Writing About Your Life and Times” with instructor Kay Berg.

He’s repeated both classes ever since. At the suggestion of his sculpture instructor Tess Little, Pickney’s newly found passions have resulted in an art installation at Sinclair’s Hypotenuse Gallery at Sinclair that will be on display through Dec. 18.

“A lot of the stories that I write are about growing up in Arkansas and working in the cotton fields,” says Pickney, who grew up in a three-room house with 10 brothers and sisters and left home at age 17. The three-dimensional objects in his exhibit reflect his early life and struggle against poverty. Judy, his wife, is an art teacher/artist who takes oil painting at Sinclair and did the paintings incorporated into the exhibit.

English professor Kay Berg has been teaching the memoir writing class since 2001. Many of her students, like Pickney, originally sign up for one quarter but keep coming back, some for the past 27 sessions. The 20 member class of both men and women meets weekly; at the moment, ages range from late 50s to 91.

“They’re all bright, very interested and have wonderful stories to tell,” says Berg, who has been teaching English for more than 20 years and says this group is one of her favorites.

At the end of each session, students submit their favorite selections, which are turned into a booklet and distributed to everyone.

A memoir, Berg explains, is a selective autobiography.

“We don’t start at the beginning of your life. I give them prompts to trigger memories,” she explains. “It might be as simple as asking about a hard time in their life or a favorite part of their life.”

Topics have ranged from the death of a spouse or a child to experiences in the military.

“We’ve gotten to the point where people feel comfortable sharing anything,” says Berg. “They have an innate sense of storytelling.”

As a result of the class, some students have self-published their books. Many are taking the class so they can record their lives for their children and grandchildren.

Pickney says the advantage of the class is that students get feedback and ideas from one another. Many have become friends outside of class.

“Joe’s writing is never maudlin or complaining, but realistic and philosophical,” says fellow student Elaine Madden of Dayton.

Pickney says he has fond memories of listening to the men in his rural Southern neighborhood tell stories.

“I finally realized I had stories to tell, too.”

How to go

What: Joe and Judy Pickney’s art installation, “Storytelling”

Where: The Hypotenuse Gallery, third floor of Sinclair’s Building 13

Hours: The building is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through Dec. 18. It also can be seen on Sinclair’s Web site, www.sinclair.edu/arts/galleries click on Hypotenuse gallery.

More info: The winter sessions of local Lifelong Learning Classes begin in January. If you would like information or program brochures on The Osher Lifelong Leaning Institute at the University of Dayton, call Julie Mitchell at (937) 229-2605. If you would like information on Sinclair Community College’s College for Lifelong Learning, call Ann Holaday at (937) 512-5184. Or check out www.sinclair.edu.

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