DUBLIN, Ohio — Write a memoir, to hand memories down to children and others close to you. That was Barbara Petronelli’s advice to women – and three men – at the Ohio Farmers Union annual meeting, where she presented a “Women in Agriculture” workshop.<br>
Women’s voices have been underrepresented in many areas, and agriculture is one of them, Petronelli said.<br>
“I think (women’s voices) are a very important part of American history and Ohio history,” she said. “They are something we need to recover and preserve on a public level, but also on a personal level so that intergenerationally, we have these kinds of memories and values preserved.<br>
“I think is unfortunate we don’t know the people who are closest to us, sometimes. I think (a memoir) is an incredible gift to be able to hand down with the values and the memories of, very specifically, how life comes to us.”<br>
A memoir is not an autobiography, but a slice of one’s life; it’s one’s own history, so write what matters, she said. It does not have to be written in any particular chronology.<br>
“There is always the element of surprise,” Petronelli said. “When people just pull things out of their memory, they write the strongest.”<br>
She asked the participants to take 10 minutes and write a poem beginning with the words: “I come from ...” The room was silent except for the noise of pens moving across paper. A few offered to read their writings, and everyone was surprised and pleased with the resulting stories.<br>
 “I think that stories are so powerful,” Petronelli said. “They’re the things that move us. Statistics don’t move us. We can hear all kind of facts and things that scare us, but stories are the things that really stay with us.”<br>
One of the men wrote humorously about two goats he raised as a child, Ninny and Nonny. One Sunday he realized Ninny was Sunday dinner. He couldn’t eat. “I’m going to remember those goats,” Petronelli said.<br>
Many in the group were interested in learning more about writing memoirs. Petronelli recommended a book called Writing Alone and With Others by Pat Schneider. It offers suggestions to help one get started writing, such as:<br>
•Write about an obnoxious kid you once knew, or somebody scary or strange<br>
•Write about having too much or too little<br>
•Describe a small room<br>
•List five things you have feared and five things that have comforted you; choose one and write<br>
•List sayings commonly used in your family, then write