Preface

     Every human being who has moved across this planet carries the weight of memory.  It is our greatest blessing, and yet it is a frightening responsibility.   Stories can live forever in our hearts if we let them in; they can teach us, entertain us, and preserve precious keepsakes from the past.  These stories carry with them the weight of experience, but the burden is made lighter by the joy of giving them to others.

     This collection was selected from the contributions of the Expository Writing class of Cheryl Harris in Spring 1999 and the Editing for Usage, Clarity, and Style class of Frankie Chadwick in Fall 2000.  It represents only a small, heavily abridged selection from the Keepsakes Project, an ongoing service learning project of the UALR Department of Rhetoric and Writing.

     Photographs were provided by several participants.  These are presented only to contribute a sense of time and place; they have no direct relationship to the text of the stories.  The real wealth of this anthology is in the words.  Every effort has been made to remain true to the memories of the participants.  Please accept this gift of memories.  Carry these keepsakes forward to another generation.

Jeff Ward
Designer & Editor