by Pam Pacelli Cooper, Verissima Productions Memories of July 4th, 2020: Masked and cautious, we went to our local supermarket to buy corn for two, a small package of hamburger, and pre-sliced watermelon. In three different houses across town, the friends we had joined for years in a celebration of the “glorious Fourth “did much[Read More]
Personal History
Memory and Place: Your Childhood Geography Map
How often do we think about where we grew up and the geography of our neighborhoods? Do we consider how much geography shaped our family history narrative? Recently, I took some time to think about those questions and to reflect upon my childhood geography map. My Childhood Geography I was looking at a picture of[Read More]
The Power of Objects: Creating Connection Through Grown Up Show and Tell
By Pam Pacelli Cooper President, Verissima Productions On March 5, an intergenerational group of 25 people ranging in age from mid-20’s to eighty gathered in a classroom at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The simple premise: for the event: bring an object that has meaning and tell its story. Sponsored by the curriculum committee of[Read More]
A Simple Kindness That Saves Lives
by Pam Pacelli Cooper President, Verissima Productions I’ve been wracking my brain for the last few weeks, trying to think about what to write for my December blog. There are thousands of excellent blogs about gift giving and personal history including more “Listicles” than I can count. I don’t have any better ideas that those[Read More]
Why Bother to Seize the Moment? A Reminder for the Holiday Season
“Procrastination is the thief of time,” was one of my great grandmother’s favorite sayings. She would trot it out when she wanted me to finish a task for her, complete a homework assignment, or write a long neglected thank you note to an elderly relative. I ignored her quite often, and no dire results ensued.[Read More]
Poems and Personal History
Four hands, turning in coordinated motions. The swish and slap of two ropes on the concrete playground, two girls leaping in unison to the rhythm: Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack All dressed in black, black, black With silver buttons, buttons, buttons All down her back, back, back… A grandmother takes a restless child in her[Read More]
Your Daily Show: The Liberation of Routines
By Pam Pacelli Cooper Verissima Productions Riding the train from Cambridge to Downtown Boston has become a lonely business over the last 5 years. The once lively cars have quieted down as passengers dive ever more deeply into reading their texts and e-mails and zoning out to the music pulsing through their ear pods. Like[Read More]
The Things She Carried: Treasures of the Mundane
By Pam Pacelli Cooper President, Verissima Productions She always called it her “old lady bag.” When my mother in law’s purse wore out, after 10 or 15 years of hard use, she asked for another one. It was not easy to find. Black, sturdy, short handles to be gripped with the hand rather than slung[Read More]
Gabe’s: A Story of Mystery and Possibility
by Pam Pacelli Cooper President, Verissima Productions Incorporated It was a small haberdashery store in Hyde Park, nestled in the shopping center where everyone in our small community shopped for groceries, went to the Optometrist and filled their prescriptions at the drugstore. I did the same, walking the several blocks from our house to help[Read More]
The Stories on Your Bookshelves
By Pam Pacelli Cooper President, Verissima Productions Two weeks ago, I wrote about transporting several bins of family papers from Chicago to Boston. This week, I’m thinking about the books on my shelves, and the story they tell. Soon after we arrived home, we had guests from Tennessee in our Airbnb. I walked in to[Read More]
