Come join us at Edina High School with Glenda Reed!

Every photograph has a story to tell. Who is in the photo? What is your relationship to the people pictured and how did these people come to be documented in that shared place? Every photograph has a story to tell. Who is in the photo? What is your relationship to the people pictured and how did these people come to be documented in that shared place? To kick off our time together, residents will be asked to bring in a photograph that holds personally meaningful significance. Participants will use specific detail to give words to what is happening their picture and then expand the narrative to include what’s beyond the frame, both in time and place. Discussions, readings, and writing exercises will help guide participants to craft and shape a true-life story. At the end of our time together participants will have a photo-narrative of a moment from their personal or family history to leave as a legacy for family and friends.

Together we will:

• Use the five senses to explore how best to bring your photograph to life in words.

• Get to know the people and relationships pictured in the photograph as well as those that lie beyond the frame and how to write real people as characters.

• Explore the political, historical, and cultural context of the story pictured and how to give voice to these realities using a writing exercise inspired by How Dare We! Write: A Multicultural Creative Writing Discourse.

• Do multi-stage exercises that walk participants step-by-step through the writing process.

• Discuss and practice revision tools to help participants complete their narrative.

• Present Snapshot Memoirs to an audience of peers.