This past Saturday the museum welcomed a group of inspired writers to join Heather Ramsay in an exploration of what it’s like to live in Chilliwack.
“It is always incredible to witness how many different ways the same sights and sounds can be interpreted by different observers and writers…and that was just during our tour of the museum. Once we got started on describing places that are special to us, whole new worlds took shape. From the destruction of one “cracker box” home, to the construction of a log house dream, places came alive in so many different ways. As the teacher, I was happy to hear such inspired writing from the students. When they asked me when the next workshop would be, I took that as a sign that we went somewhere great together.” – Heather Ramsay on Saturday’s workshop.
As a museum and archives we collect historic records which help us understand our city and it’s past. However, as we always like to say, we’re not just about “old” things, but about the places, the objects, the memories and the moments which make our city what it is today. And that includes you! Your stories and experiences of Chilliwack are important. Our workshop participants started to explore this on Saturday and as one writer wrote to us about the workshop, “the group was great and the people and their stories were fascinating.” Anne Russell, one of the workshop participants, has shared an excerpt from her first draft below.
Anne Russell, on her Little Mountain “crackerbox” home in the 1990’s:
Anne’s crackerbox home on Little Mountain, ca. 1990’s.
“This funky forest home resonated with our desire to be slightly off the grid. We hadn’t moved 100 km from the city just to live in a BC Box house in a subdivision.
We felt like we’d found the place to be the kind of young adults we wanted to be. Adventurous, nature-loving hikers and mountain bikers living amongst the cedar trees, grooving in nature with two cats in the yard – and a puppy and kitten who soon followed — and a tiny garden eked out of the forest surrounding us. We were like two schoolkids playing grown up in a most romantic setting.”
We will be sharing some of the participants’ completed stories over the next few months on the blog and we hope you’ll be inspired to share some of your experiences of our city as well!
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