August 2026
The Questions That Actually Get Answers
"Tell me about your childhood" gets you a sentence. "What did your kitchen smell like on a Sunday?" gets you twenty minutes. The difference isn't curiosity — it's specificity.
The journal
Why families write things down
Notes on asking better questions, and what happens when a family finally answers them.
July 2026
What to Do With a Shoebox of Photos Nobody Can Name
Almost every family has one: a box of faces in the back of a closet. Here's how to work through it before the last person who recognizes anyone is gone.
June 2026
The Recipe Card That Wasn't Really About the Recipe
Her lasagna recipe called for "enough" ricotta and baked "until it looks right." It was useless as instructions. It turned out to be the most complete portrait of her we had.
May 2026
How to Get the Quiet Ones to Contribute
In every family there are two or three people who never reply. They aren't uninterested — they're usually the ones who care most about getting it right. Here's what actually moves them.
April 2026
Why We Still Print Things
Every family archive we've seen that survived three generations was made of paper. Every one that didn't was on a hard drive, a disc, or a service that closed.
March 2026
Grandma's Stitches: How Knitting Needles Held a Family Together
She never followed a pattern. Every doll dress, every hand-knit sweater for Alice, every quilt square was made from memory and love. When we finally asked her to tell us about it, the stories were even richer than the stitches.