BACKGROUND
When Randy Pausch, a Computer Science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, he made the most of the time he had left and of his love of teaching. The university invited him to give an honorary “last lecture” which, at many schools, is a tradition where retiring professors are invited to give a lecture on any topic they choose to share with staff, students, and alumni.
Randy Pausch’s last lecture focused on achieving childhood dreams, enabling others to achieve theirs, and lessons learned. It was an entertaining, heartfelt, and humor-filled lecture delivered straight from his heart to those all around the world that would later hear it. And hear it they did. Millions of people heard it and saw it on Oprah and read about it. Later, Randy Pausch collaborated on a book called The Last Lecture.
WHERE DOES THIS FIT IN?
No, I have no terminal disease, that I know of. No, I’m not a college professor. No, I’ve not been asked by anyone to do this. But I was one of those people that watched the last lecture as given by Randy Pausch and as I was listening to it and watching him give the lecture, I was struck by the idea of leaving a “last lecture” type of legacy. I’ve been a teacher of one sort or anothe all of my life and I have long had the feeling that the purpose of my journey on earth is to teach or guide as many people as I can reach.
THE PROJECT
As most of my readers know, I write memoir. I’ve decided to leave my “last lecture” in the form of memoir. Starting today I am launching on an ongoing project to write my own version . I’ve set up a file on my computer and also a “hard copy” of sorts in the form of a tabbed blank book. In this notebook/file, I will fill the various topics with memoir pieces pertaining to each section. So far the topics include:
Family Is Family Is Family
Friends–True and Not
Love And Other Myths
Humor, Laughter, And Other Medicine
Walls
Leaders And Followers
THE WHY
Why? Because I hope that those that read it will come away with a sense of who I am, where I’ve been, and how I’ve gotten there. Perhaps people will learn from it–learn what to do as well as what not to do.
THE INVITATION
Join me? You don’t have to commit to anything. Just consider tstarting a similar project of your own. If you write poetry, do it in the form of poems. If you write song lyrics or music, do it as such. Make it fit in with you and who you are. Movie buff? Have your topics be movie titles and fill them in. Book buff? Same thing. Name your topics with titles of novels and go from there.
You don’t have to show it to anyone. Ever. It’s just a wonderful project and a challenge to undertake. Start it now and add to it as you wish, once a month; once a year; once a week? Anything that fits in your life. This is about YOU!
LINKS
Read about Randy Pausch
Read about the book, The Last Lecture
Download a .pdf transcript of Randy’s lecture
Watch a video of Randy’s lecture
I shall accept your invitation.
Probably privately to start out. I’ll see where it goes from there.
Very cool idea and good for you! I have to edit my NaNo novel first but then I might be on board.
BTW, I loved Randy Pausch. What a shining example of how to live he was. Sometimes it sure seems like the good ones leave way too soon.
Hope your New Year is off to a good start.
Tamara
Hmm, now that is interesting. And my life does tend to have back-ground music.
I have a germ of an idea. Might take you up on it if I can fan it into a virus.
What a great idea! I’ll do it, but after the book is finished.
You’ll write an awesome memoir, my friend. Share as you see fit . . .
Soooo weird that you posted this, because I was reading Lynda Barry’s One Hundred Demons and it made me want to do a little memoir writing. Thanks for the nudge! Clearly the universe wants me to write some personal recollections.
Don’t worry; the universe hasn’t compelled anyone to read ‘em.
This is a very interesting idea…..I will definitely check out the links! Thanks Corina
Corina – I just finished watching the UTube video. What a incredibly profound and touching lecture. I will be passing this along to others to be sure. Thank you for passing this along.
Really cool that you’re doing this, Corina, and that you’ve created a structure that you and others can follow. I loved the Randy Pausch last lecture and can see why it inspired you as it has.
Also, among your themes or topics, the one titled “Walls” intrigued me. I’ll be interested in reading pieces from each theme and especially this one.
ybonesy, the “Walls” section was also inspired by the part of Randy’s lecture where he talks about obstacles and why they are put there for us.
I am so excited about this! As you know, I admire your memoir writing immensely; I think you have an exceptional talent for it, particularly for the writing of childhood memories. I think this is a marvelous project for you, and I hope you will share pieces of it when the time is right.