Ethical Wills expert, Barry K. Baines, MD is traveling from the east coast to teach local professionals techniques used in the creation of Ethical Wills. Learn more about Dr Baines and the training this weekend at www.ethicalwill.com. I would like to thank Gail Catlin for organizing this event and for her ongoing support of personal history as well as the power of story to heal. I look forward to an enlightening weekend and the opportunity to bring what I learn to the people I work with as a personal historian. Check back soon to learn more.

Your personal historian, Marc Aaron

First, I would like to dedicate this blog and website to my family and loved ones who have helped to make me who I am today. Without their guidance, support and love none of this would have been possible. Below is a picture of my grandfather Walter Merksamer and my mother Mary Ann Merksamer who were the two most important people resposible for giving me the opportunity and inspiration to become a Personal Historian.

I can remember a time when my Apple II e was a fixture in my room and my IBM compatible computer had a green screen. My computer didn’t connect to anything because there was nothing to connect to. War Games, a cheesy 80s movie, first showed me that you could connect your computer to a phone and that your computer would literally call another computer. This concept just blew me away.

I got my first email account through my university and used it for school a little bit and to stay in touch with my dad who was in Europe and my sister who was on the other side of the country. A cheap and quick way to stay in touch with people from all over the world.

My younger brother who is 6 years younger than me quickly took to the Internet and has been my Internet guru ever since. In fact, he has built the entire Access Generations website. I would like to thank him for all of his help and guidance as I have slowly learned to use the World Wide Web.

Signing off my first post as the premier Personal Historian blogger,

Marc Aaron Johnson

Atria at El Camino Gardens has become the first location to take part in KVIE’s The War Story Circles project. Staci Weisz, the engaged life director for atria, has done an amazing job of organizing and encouraging her community to create a fantastic legacy for generations to come. Through her own interest in the Veterans History project of the Library of Congress and the interest of the residents of Atria we are preserving, in their own words, what it was like to live through WWII. I am inspired and delighted by the respose from the residents of Atria to our call for volunteers to share their experiences of WWII with the world.

Thank you to Atria El Camino Gardens, Stacie Weisz and all of the participants in KVIE’s WWII The War Story Circles.

     KVIE Sacramento public television station has sponsored the WWII writing circles as a community outreach program in conjunction with the release of the new Ken Burns documentary “The War”. KVIE has produced three local documentaries about WWII and the central valley area. To further reach into the community KVIE is sponsoring the collection and preservation of WWII stories of the men and women who lived during that time of conflict.
     Marc Aaron Johnson of Access Generations will lead writing circle groups at various senior facilities during the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008. At the end of the KVIE WWII writing circles we will collect excerpts from individual personal histories and place them in an anthology of WWII recollections.

     The Lifescapes writing programs will be starting in fall 2007 throughout the Reno-Tahoe area. This program is sponsored by the University of Nevada, Nevada Humanities, Washau County Library System, and friends of the library. Once again Marc Johnson of Access Generations will act as guest lecturer and guest facilitator. In the last seven years Lifescapes has grown from a humble one location and 25 participants to multiple locations and over 100 participants. Over 350 individuals have participated in preserving their personal histories and contributed to various anthologies ranging from “The bombing of Pearl Harbor” to “Magical Moments”. This years anthology is titled “Seasons of our Lives”.

     Access Generations encourages everyone to take some special time this month with some loved ones and reminisce about meaningful and memorable experiences in life. All it takes is a video camera, a tape recorder or just pen and paper to take notes. Put together a few ideas and all you have to do is let the recollection take place. Have a memorable Personal History Month!

     Congratulations to Marc Aaron Johnson, founder of Access Generations, for his recent election to the board of Directors of the Association of Personal Historians on January 1, 2004. Marc Aaron will serve as the Online Information Services Chair for two years. During that time Marc Aaron will oversee development of the APH website and online activity. To find out more you can read about the APH at www.personalhistorians.org or email Access generations with any questions.

www.accessgenerations.com started to take shape in late 2002 after much conceptual development. Marc Aaron Johnson and Christopher Johnson, of Perfect Illusions, set about to create a website that would easily link families that were separated by distance or simply separated due to busy schedules.

After reinventing the wheel and learning how to become a personal historian on my own, I found the Association of Personal Historians.  Here was a small group of professionals using personal history to help their community.  I went to my first APH conference in Vancouver BC in the fall of 2002.