Category Archives: Sarah’s memoir

True stories from my life.

Experiencing the National Museum of African American History & Culture

Posted on October 28, 2026 by first person productions

By Sarah White I was in Bethesda for a client’s party. I planned a visit to the National Museum of African American History & Culture while I was there. On Saturday, September 19, I took a pre-emptive Ibuprofen for the … Continue reading →

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Don’t Visit Ontonagon

Posted on August 12, 2026 by first person productions

Move along; there’s nothing to see here. Just a village of about 1400 people located where the Ontonagon river spills into Lake Superior at the western foot of the Keweenaw peninsula. It’s not just sleepy; it’s practically catatonic. A hundred … Continue reading →

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The Agawa Canyon Day Trip

Posted on April 1, 2026 by first person productions

By Sarah White Whenever a weekend was coming up, and my parents thought the weather forecast looked good, my brothers and I would get the word: “Pack your pillowcase. You have an hour. We’re going camping.” That meant we needed … Continue reading →

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Menarche Goddam

Posted on November 12, 2025 by first person productions

By Sarah White This is part one of a two-part series on a topic we don’t talk about. (Click here to read part two.) The word “menarche” comes from Greek and Latin roots meaning “month” and “beginning.” According to Wikipedia, … Continue reading →

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A Pizza Expert Can Always Improve

Posted on September 17, 2025 by first person productions

By Sarah White To download Bruno’s pizza recipe, see link at end of story. About travel, T.S. Eliot famously wrote, “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started … Continue reading →

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The Ravine House

Posted on July 23, 2025 by first person productions

By Sarah White For the first assignment in my Creative Writing class this summer, I challenged my students to write a “portal story.” This is a story about the first time your protagonist reaches the place on the other side … Continue reading →

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Notes from the Fourth Lake Writing Weekend

Posted on June 25, 2025 by first person productions

Why would someone like me—a writing teacher, MFA holder in Creative Nonfiction, and professional writer of more than 25 years—sign up for a weekend writing workshop? Because sometimes, even the most practiced hands need to put the client work down, … Continue reading →

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Friend Trouble

Posted on April 30, 2025 by first person productions

By Sarah White This is the second post in a short series that began with a review of the book Family Trouble: Memoirists on the Hazards and Rewards of Revealing Family. In this post, I share an experience with “the … Continue reading →

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A Two-Week Immersion in Language, Culture, and Lifelong Curiosity

Posted on March 26, 2025 by first person productions

I had my first immersion in Italian culture when I traveled with  Rotary International’s  Group Study Exchange program in Spring 1991. Because of the intensity of that experience, (which I wrote about here), my language acquisition was rapid. However, it ran … Continue reading →

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The Babyfoot Ball

Posted on February 19, 2025 by first person productions

By Sarah White Lately I’ve been writing about small events in the past that continue to baffle me–moments when I didn’t understand what was happening, tried over time to untangle, and never arrived at a satisfying conclusion. This is one … Continue reading →

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