A warm welcome to all of our subscribers! If you’re a new subscriber, we’re delighted to welcome you to the GAB Gazette, a highlight reel from the world of Guided Autobiography for February 2025.
Independence at Home
Independence at Home (IAH), a community service department of SCAN Health Plan, is dedicated to helping older adults and their caregivers. In the fall of 2024, The Piedmont – EngAGE in North Hollywood, joined IAH’s guided autobiography series, exploring different writing themes, sharing memories, and creating new friendships. The Birren Center has trained more than a dozen SCAN health care professionals to be Guided Autobiography instructors since 2014.
In This Issue of the GAB Gazette
Message from Cheryl Svensson, Director, the Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies
Featured GABBER: Carolyn V. Young
New Birren Center Course Offering: Legacy Letter Writing
2025 Birren Anthology Update
Books, Blogs, and Podcasts: Wait! Don’t Leave Before We Get to Know You; Why We Write About Ourselves
Message from the Director
Board Update
The board is working hard to provide you, the GAB instructors, with the support you need most. To better understand your needs, we are preparing a survey to be sent out in March. Now that you are a GAB instructor, how can we help you grow your business? Would you like to connect with other GAB instructors? With more than 700 of us, there is a real opportunity to develop small groups around shared interests, geographic locations, or team projects. We want to hear from you!
One of the initiatives we’ve put in place is a mentoring program. If you need a refresher, are new and haven’t started a group yet, or just want someone to talk to about navigating your journey as an instructor, please reach out. We’re here to help—send us an email, and we’ll do our best to support you. admin@thebirrencenter.org
Community Resources & Summit Videos
Be sure to check out the Birren Center Community Hub! We’ve recently uploaded new themes and other resources designed to help you in your GAB teaching. Additionally, Gordon Deyell has been editing the GAB Summit videos, and we now have nine available on the Birren Center YouTube channel. Each 30-minute video includes a Q&A and a transcript, offering insights on new ideas, business development, tools like self-publishing, and more. We encourage you to take advantage of these resources—they’re sure to inspire you!
Volunteer Opportunities
We’re looking for volunteers to help with various programs at the Birren Center. If you’re interested in:
· Researching opportunities within nonprofit networks we’re a part of
· Supporting our Facebook and LinkedIn presence
· Contributing ideas for new programs and projects
· Assisting with the GAB Gazette newsletter
We’d love to hear from you! cheryl@thebirrencenter.org
New Beta Course: Life Portfolio
We’re excited to introduce Life Portfolio, a course designed for individuals in transition—whether retiring, downsizing, or reassessing life’s direction. We’re offering a free five-week beta test and need five participants. If you’re interested, let me know! Leigh Morrow and I will be teaching this class, and we hope to launch it soon.
GAB Chats Are Returning!
We’re bringing back our GAB Chats—a free, informal gathering where we can connect, share insights, and collaborate. These hour-long sessions will be open to anyone interested in Guided Autobiography and life story writing. We haven’t set a date for the first session yet, but we welcome your ideas for discussion topics!
A Note of Gratitude
These are exciting but challenging times. With transitions happening in our nation, environment, and political landscape, the work we do—building connections and community through life stories—is more important than ever. I am honored to know and work with such a dedicated group of instructors worldwide. As our community grows and my role as director expands, personal contact may become more difficult, but please know I am always here. Reach out, and I’ll do my best to respond.
To join the Community Hub, visit the Birren Center website or click this link:
https://thebirrencenter.org/community-hub
Thank you for all you do. As Jim Birren always said—Onward!
Cheryl Svensson and Board Members of The Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies
Featured GABBER: Carolyn V. Young
The first thing to know about Carolyn V. Young is that she is a woman you would want as a friend, mentor and GAB instructor. She is wise and honest. One could ask her for advice and rely on a straightforward answer, and with a sprinkle of humor. You would come away feeling better. And, Carolyn would check in on you later to make sure you were doing all right.
She offers good advice on navigating life, leading GAB classes and on the craft of writing. Counseling grad students in her audiology program she suggested they use descriptive terms and write in “lay” language. Quoting Teddy Roosevelt to them she explained, “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Carolyn cares a lot, collecting inspirational quotes for her classes and suggesting that they write the “thing” that is most on their mind(s). One of her favorite quotes (Suleika Jaouad ) when thinking about GAB is “There’s strength in this collection of voices. In these connections, we build something: a larger story about the human experience, one that transcends the particular and becomes universal.”
Carolyn began her relationship with GAB in 2012 when she took the GAB instructor training with Cheryl Svensson. During that training she utilized her experience as an audiologist to offer Dr. Birren tips about hearing loss and hearing aids. Since that time she has led memoir classes for members of an aging-in-place virtual village on Chicago’s North Shore. The Legacy Writers group meets once a month to write and listen together. Participants range in age from late 70s to early 90s. Carolyn says that what she enjoys most is people sharing their stories. That seems to be what the writers in her classes appreciate most too. Carolyn also spends time on other GAB activities. She participates in GAB summits and community chats always offering valuable insights to other GAB instructors.
Carolyn takes inspiration from the following words of Yale poetry professor Elizabeth Alexander:
I write to outrun death.
I write to grasp life as it slips away from me. I write to revisit and
revisit until I get it just right, a memory, an unresolved
episode.
I write to make you feel what I feel.
I write to go somewhere. I write to take you with me.
I write to put us within the sound of each other’s voices.
I write to say what happened.
I write to feel. I write to invite you into feeling.
I write because to be human is mysterious and beautiful and I want to
sustain life
force out of words and make things that will stay alive.
I write to commune with people who are not here with us right now.
I write to be fully alive.
Carolyn is a retired audiologist trained at Purdue and Northwestern Universities. She founded an Evanston- based private practice and coordinated audiology services for one of the out-patient clinics at The University of Illinois at Chicago. Her essay “Childless Thoughts” appears in Onward! the first GAB Anthology published in 2021 by the Birren Center. Carolyn’s generosity has profoundly impacted the Birren Center. In December 2024, she made a large donation reflecting the tremendous value GAB has brought to her life
She lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband, Howard.
New Course Offering: Legacy Letter Writing— 5 Steps to Writing a Tribute to a Loved One
Save the Dates: Saturday, March 8, 2025 and Saturday, March 15, 2025, 1:00-3:00 p.m. Eastern. On Zoom.
You may have heard about legacy letter writing but may not be sure what it is or how to go about it. Well, GAB instructor Dr. Michael Williams has created a two-part workshop designed to explain the what and the how of legacy letter writing. “This workshop teaches GAB instructors a straightforward 5-step method to craft heartfelt and lasting messages of love, gratitude, and forgiveness,” explains Michael.
Not only will you have the opportunity to craft your own legacy letter, you will gain the knowledge and tools to help others share their life lessons, express their deepest feelings, or simply leave a lasting impression. You’ll be able to teach your students how to overcome “writer’s block,” find the right words, and create a treasured keepsake.
The workshop is offered through the Birren Center. Members of the Birren Center Community Hub and Forum receive a 15% discount off the workshop fee of $99 (Canadian). Register for Michael’s workshop on EventBrite.
2025 Birren Collection Update
As submissions for the Birren Anthology 2025 roll in, editor Sarah White offers this advice:
“Guided Autobiography prompts are good at leading us to write essays that lead us to new discoveries about ourselves. This is great and personally powerful. But for the Birren Anthology 2025, we are looking for essays that have what we call ‘a gift for the reader’—something that inspires, informs, or entertains. Make sure your submission is reader-focused, not merely your introspection.”
The submission deadline is April 30, 2025, for both English and Spanish essays, or earlier when 100 English and 25 Spanish submissions have been received. Use this link to submit an essay.
Books, Blogs, and Podcasts: Wait! Don’t Leave Before We Get to Know You and Why We Write About Ourselves
Wait! Don’t Leave Before We Get to Know You By Dr. Flora Morris Brown
“Your life story matters,” says Dr. Flora Morris Brown. “Don’t wait any longer to share it!”
“Your story is more than just dates and events. It’s a legacy of love, wisdom, and resilience. It deserves to be told, not for fame and fortune, but to capture the essence of who you are for those who matter most [to you].”
Dr. Brown’s new book is a warm and practical guide designed to help everyday people capture their memories and create a lasting keepsake for their loved ones. Wait!... isn’t about making the best-seller list, but about becoming a best teller—bringing your experiences to life in an engaging, heartfelt way that truly reflects who you are. Use this link to learn more about Dr. Brown’s new book.
Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature Meredith Maran (Editor)
An insightful and deeply personal exploration of the memoir-writing process. Featuring contributions from memoirists such as Cheryl Strayed, Sue Monk Kidd, and Pat Conroy, this collection provides a rare glimpse into the motivations, struggles, and triumphs of those who turn their lives into literature.
This book serves as both a guide and an inspiration for anyone interested in autobiographical writing. Each writer reflects on the unique challenges of transforming real-life experiences into compelling narratives. They discuss the ethical dilemmas of portraying others, the vulnerability required to share personal truths, and the technical craft of shaping one’s own story into art.
The contributors offer a range of perspectives on what makes memoir writing so compelling—whether as a means of understanding oneself, making sense of the past, or forging a deeper connection with readers. They share practical advice on developing an authentic voice, handling sensitive subjects, and navigating the emotional toll of self-exposure. At times humorous, raw, and deeply moving, their reflections highlight the power of storytelling to heal, challenge, and illuminate.
For Guided Autobiography facilitators as well as writers, bloggers, and journal-keepers, Why We Write About Ourselves is an invaluable resource—a roadmap for crafting a personal narrative and a testament to the courage it takes to write one’s truth.
That’s some of what’s happening in the world of GAB. Have a wonderful month and remember - your story is a treasure. For you, and for generations to come.
Editor’s Note: If you have an idea for a feature for the GAB Gazette please email Stephen Dolainski at steve91604@gmail.com. Please use the subject line GAB Gazette Idea.