Patty's Response to Rachel Remen

This is the preface to the book Kitchen Table Wisdom. The author candidly writes about her process of writing the book. She didn’t follow the norms, didn’t follow the ‘rules’. She defines a writer as someone who is born to write, as opposed to an author who does something else than writes about it (p. xviii). She is an author. She follows the advice of her ‘hired help’ and writes about what she knows; people’s stories and her own memories. These stories are often looked down upon in her field of medicine as less true and less factual than actual data. However, what she finds out is that her stories heal people, can change them, and connect them because of how powerful they are. They are in fact real and true.

Reading just this preface made me want to read this book. I really connected to her writing. I appreciated her honesty about not following the ‘rules’ of writing. I also appreciated her honesty about not thinking that her stories were ‘enough’. I felt that way the first day of class when were sharing our stories with a partner. She even included that in her piece. What is that stigma that we think that our own lives are not as interesting as the next person’s? We often say in my school that we should write a book of all the funny, cute, and not so funny stories that happen in our school lives every other day. Why is it that we never do that? Her work is incredibly encouraging for me to do so, just to jot those stories down in a journal. Maybe those stories would encourage a fellow teacher or simply make them laugh. We could all use more laughs in our lives. Especially on those weaning days of the school year. I can’t tell you how often in the halls of school you hear teachers complaining rather than sharing stories. I think that Remen got it right. Sharing stories is the key to inspiring. On our first day of class, I was incredibly inspired by my partner’s story and that initial activity. She really made me feel like my stories are worthwhile.