Reply To: Martha’s diary
I think journaling can provide a more objective record of an event. I think that relying solely on memory becomes more subjective because there is an unconscious bias that may be present as an event is remembered. Not allowing women to read and write keeps them under the domination of the one who is literate and keeps them in the role of a slave. That’s why slaves were not allowed to become literate.
In the past, I kept a journal where I recorded thoughts, wishes, fears, questions, prayers and passages from reading the resonated with me or gave me food for thought or action. I have worked on genealogy for years because of the pictures that my grandmother showed me. I wanted to know who the people in the pictures were. My niece recently messaged me a great number of photos what were in an album of my grandmothers which she received when my sister (her mother) died. I am trying to identify the people in those pictures for her.
When I was teaching English, a fellow teacher and dear friend and I had the juniors and seniors that we taught keep a journal. They could write about whatever they wanted within limits (I don’t remember the parameters); it was never judged or graded or shared with anyone else; the students were given points for simply turning in the journal weekly. We would write encouraging or funny comments or pose a question to what they wrote. Grading papers can sometimes be a real chore, but I really looked forward to those journals and the students looked forward to the comments.
