A fellow named Peter Feldstein took photos of almost every resident of the small town of Oxford, Iowa during the summer of 1984. Twenty years later Feldman, a resident of the town since 1978, decided to take new photos of as many of those same residents as he could find. And this time he took a friend, Steven Bloom, who recorded interviews with each subject and their life stories. (You can read the CNN article HERE.) Feldman now has compiled 100 sets of photos and stories into a book.

Feldman’s project was borne out of a desire to interview ‘real people’, to find out about the lives of everyday folks. The rich and famous, the politicians and sports heroes are celebrated nonstop. But the stories of everyday people are ignored, not noteworthy, won’t draw headlines. Ahh, but there is something quite appealing about their stories. Yes, indeed. For THEY are US. Some stories are heartbreaking, many are poignant, some will make you cry. But all are real.

As the residents of Oxford, Iowa learned, often we don’t know our friends and neighbors as well as we think we might. Maybe we don’t want to know their stories, for that might affect how we think and feel about them, and it would be inconvenient. Maybe we would judge them, or find a reason to forgive them for some imagined slight they visited upon us. Maybe we are afraid that the knowing each other would become mutual, and we don’t want to share our own stories. Do you know your neighbors, friends, even your own FAMILY’s stories, I mean REALLY?

Those of us who are involved in scrapbooking in all its many forms, SAY we are telling our stories, but are we, really? Or do we get too wrapped up in making a pretty display with all the doodads and papers we can purchase, and then fail to scrap our family stories? Maybe it’s because we don’t really know them to tell. It takes time and effort to research and then scrap the photos with the narrative, and sometimes it’s just not as much fun as playing with the pretty goodies beckoning from our ‘stash’. How can we overcome our reluctance to dig deep and scrap the family history, both ancient and recent? What tools do we need to make it easier and more fun? We need to overcome this obstacle, for surely if we find that the stories of complete strangers touch our hearts, how much more compelling would we find the stories of our own families. We need to follow Mr. Feldman’s lead and produce our own book of stories for our own families.