Time is but a Stream I go a-fishing in A Memoir of Brotherhood.

Abstract

For my senior project as an English writing major, I have written a memoir. It is a collection of moments stretching back over the past six or seven years, pieced together in order to try to help me understand my relationship with my brother Abe The writer ultimately writes for himself, and it seems that this story has become more about me than I initially intended it to be. In trying to write about my brother, I have listened to many voices: my brother’s from the past and present, to the voice of my memory, and to the voice of those friends and fellow writers who have helped make this piece of work a reality. I feel it is important to recognize those who have helped me along the way. First, I want to thank Abe, for being my brother and friend, for fishing by my side, and for teaching me truths about life that I have found nowhere but in his presence. 1 also want to thank the great writer and fisherman Loren Graham, whose friendship and writing guidance have been indispensable for this project. Thanks to Loren, this project is a lot farther along in magnitude and quality than it would have been under my own volition. I also want to extend special thanks to Murphy Fox, who has been an inspiration to me in many ways, too numerous to list here. Thanks also to Kay Satre and Rod Thronson, my two thesis readers, who have helped me along in this writing process. One final thanks also goes out to all the professors of Carroll’s English Dept,, who have helped me with this and many other pieces ofwriting during my time at Carroll. To all my buddies - you’re awesome and you know who you are, thanks for being there. These are some ofthe voices that have become a part of a piece of writing that is mostly by z\dam Wright. Add your own, and I hope will find this enjoyable to read. It is a mix of poetry, journal entries, and prose anecdotes combined in an attempt to use a diverse group of writing modes to best convey the history and meanings behind the dynamic relationship with my brother. In preparation for this project, I have read a handful of memoirs at the suggestion of my thesis committee. These included memoirs written by former Carroll graduates, This House of Skyby Ivan Doig, This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wfolfe, Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck, and A River Runs through it by Norman Maclean. What follows is a beginning, a summary of a greater story that’s not finished. I’ve discovered that my memories are like a jigsaw puzzle which I try to put together to try and figure out something about my brother and me. In putting the puzzle pieces of memory together in different ways to try to tell our story, I’ve found that I need more pieces, that I’ m not satisfied with the way the picture is turning out. I know in my mind what that picture is supposed to look like, and 1 get glimpses of it on rare occasions on a river, in a song, or in a pickup truck. What I have now is just a sketch, an unfinished painting, but I’ve come to think that’s all right.