{"id":1664,"date":"2025-11-21T10:04:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T15:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/?p=1664"},"modified":"2025-11-21T10:04:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T15:04:40","slug":"keeping-memory-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/2025\/11\/21\/keeping-memory-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Memory Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wear a necklace every day that holds some of my grandmother\u2019s ashes. It is small and simple, but it means more to me than anything else I own. Whenever I touch it, I feel closer to her, like she is always watching over me. <\/span>The only time I can\u2019t wear the necklace is when I\u2019m playing sports, so I wrap it around my water bottle and face it toward the court, like she\u2019s still there watching me.<\/span>\u00a0When I was freewriting about this necklace, I realized it\u2019s not just jewelry. It\u2019s a reminder of where I come from and the people who helped shape who I am.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thinking about that made me connect it to\u00a0<\/span>The Legend of Auntie Po<\/span><\/i>, which is also about how people hold onto memory and heritage. In the story, Mei uses stories to stay connected to her culture. Even though she lives in a place where she\u2019s treated differently for being Chinese, those stories give her comfort, confidence, and a link to her family\u2019s past. I think that\u2019s important; everyone needs something to help them hold onto their identity. For me, it\u2019s my necklace. For Mei, it\u2019s her stories.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ communities, stories, and symbols are a way to stay visible and remembered in a world that sometimes tries to ignore them. <\/span>These texts matter because they highlight the ways people stay connected and strong by holding onto the memories that shape them. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Making this connection between my necklace and\u00a0<\/span>Auntie Po<\/span><\/i>\u00a0made me realize that remembering someone takes effort. Mei keeps her culture alive by sharing her stories, and I keep my grandmother close by wearing her ashes. And by reading books like\u00a0<\/span>The Legend of Auntie Po<\/span><\/i>, we help make sure important stories and histories don\u2019t disappear.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wear a necklace every day that holds some of my grandmother\u2019s ashes. It is small and simple, but it means more to me than anything else I own. Whenever I touch it, I feel closer to her, like she is always watching over me. The only time I can\u2019t wear the necklace is when … Continue reading Keeping Memory Alive<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5713,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5713"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1665,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions\/1665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}