Prompt 1: What event of memory do you still want an apology for? How can you get this apology? How will your life change if you get this apology?

Before I was born, or shortly thereafter, my biological father skipped out on my mom. I guess that an apology would be nice, not for my sake, but for my mother’s. I don’t know how I can get it, or if I can, but I don’t think I’m going to try. I don’t even know if he thinks it was a necessarily a bad thing to do. And I don’t really know if my life would change, or anything like that. I’m generally pretty over it, but this was the first thing that came to my mind.

Prompt 2: What former version of yourself would you like to go back and visit? Why?

I think that almost everyone would like to go back and visit their middle school/early high school self. I was selfish, rude, and overall just an asshole, but I don’t know if I would tell him to be any different. People are made of the experiences that they’ve had, and I like to think I’m a better person than then. I would totally tell myself to get rid of those terrible, terrible bangs, though.

Prompt 3: Who do you wish you knew more about in your family, alive or not? How can you find out about this person? How might investigating this person change you, your family, or an outsider?

I’m not sure I can point to one person exactly, but I’d like to hear more about the lives of the older people in my family. When you’ve lived 60 years+, you have so many memories, so many experiences, and it’s incredibly interesting to hear about them. I’ve also learned a lot from the stories that I have heard, and I think that hearing more would just inform me further about the family member, myself, and about people in general.

Prompt 4: What local event do you remember hearing about? Why do you remember about it? What more would you like to know about this event? Who might you talk to about this event?

My neighborhood is super white, and also pretty racist. It’s gotten better over the years, but I’ve heard stories of people in the community burning down the house of a newly moved-in black family, decades ago. I heard about it not too long ago, and I’ve thought about it for a while. Who were the people involved? What happened to the couple who’s house it was? I could talk to the older members of the community, since my grandfather was the one who told me the story (speaking to my point in the previous response).

Prompt 5: What artist or piece of art moved you? What do you know about this artist/the process of creating the art? What more would you like to know?

The first poem I hand wrote to my girlfriend (who I was courting then) is E.E. Cummings’ “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in].” I always found this poem to be hauntingly beautiful, and strange, and meaningful. The format of it is extremely interesting to me. I know that Cummings dropped acid when he wrote (and god knows what other drugs), but I don’t know who the poem was for, or why he wrote it.

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