Welcome to the
Walter Colton School Memoir Mapping Project

In the spring of 2008, I visited the Walter Colton School to conduct a writer in residency. One of the results of my work is the Walter Colton School Memoir Mapping Project. Students wrote short memoirs about ‘everyday’, yet meaningful experiences. Some of these memoirs are ‘address specific’, meaning that the students listed the exact place in Monterey where their memoirs took place. Others have addresses that are more generally listed as part of Monterey Peninsula and its vicinity. The idea for this project derived from a number of sources, including the ‘Odes’ of Pablo Neruda who understood so well the value of the ‘ordinary’ and writers like Wendell Berry, Lucie Lippard and Dolores Hayden, all of whom understand the ‘power of place’ in the shaping of an individual.
These writers have helped me develop my philosophy of education, ‘Site Specific Education’, a philosophy of education that understands the importance of learning and generating curiosity from one’s home environment.

I thank Ms. Cooper, principal, the teachers at Walter Colton, especially Ms. De Leuw, my wife Viera Levitt, the web designer and of course the students at Walter Colton who contributed to this project. I hope that you enjoy these memoirs and if you are interested in developing a memoir mapping project yourself and need help, please feel free to contact me through my web site: www.MarcLevitt.org.

July 24, 2008

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