What are you thankful for?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. The turkey-coma is getting closer. I will be thankful for stretchy yoga pants; what will you be thankful for? Or, who will you be thankful for?

I am thankful for Memens because next weekend we are recording the video footage of my grandfather for his documentary (hint hint Christmas comes shortly after Thanksgiving). The videographer, graphic designers, and interviewers are brilliant! I am so excited to see the final product.

I've just completed my interview questions. It was so easy! If you haven't made an account with Memens, do it now! Start with the DIY and build up from there. You will not regret it. The questions will make you think about your own life, too.

So, who are you thankful for? Show them how thankful you are by making a video documentary for them. Share it with your family, friends, and have a living memory for years to come of that one person for whom you are most thankful.

For information on video documentaries, visit www.memens.com.

MCMXIV - Full Steam Ahead!

In 1914, Ford Motor Company announced the 8-hour workday. Babe Ruth made his major league baseball debut with the Red Sox! The Panama Canal was inaugurated. George Reeves was born. FDR Jr. was born. And, my neighbor, a 97 year old woman, was born. She drives (and yes, she drives well!). She has two dogs, 6 cats, and a salt water fish tank. I nearly had a heart attack when I watched her climb a 4 step ladder to feed the fish! She takes care of herself, her pets, and still manages to put her 'two cents' into the company that her husband built before he passed. But, how does she do it?

That's what I'd like to know! She is the powerhouse of all powerhouse women. Her legacy is worth all the recording time in the world. So, how do we enable her story to be shared? I guess I need to talk to her children and grandchildren and tell them about Memens and what a wonderful documentary we can build for their family.

Do you know someone who deserves to be documented in video? I challenge you to tell someone about Memens this week. Tell them how their 97-year-old grandmother's legacy can be immortalized!

For more information about video documentaries, visit www.memens.com.

Out of the mouths of babes...

My grandparents have so much they can teach me. They grew up before technology transformed the modern world. They attended school when schools still used book and school buses were non-existent. They became adults, earning income for their family, at the age of 12. They can teach me a lot about life.

But, when a child is diagnosed with a rare form a brain cancer and she responds by saying, "I'm so glad this happened to me and not one of my friends. I am strong and I can handle this. Not everyone can," it's mind-blowing the silver lining lessons I can learn.

When a young man is told he may die before his 16th birthday and decides to start a foundation so that after he dies, research can still continue for others sharing his illness, I am humbled.

When children are more prepared to face Goliath than adults are, I want to hear what they have to say. I want my children to know the incredible people I knew before illness took them. I'd like the siblings, and future nieces and nephews of the boy with the fatal illness to know their brother and uncle years from now.

Memens isn't just for those who are at the end of a long and full life. It is also for those at the end of their young life, fighting and living everyday.

For more information on video documentaries, visit www.memens.com.

Mem

Getting to know you!

We so often think of capturing the memories of someone before they die, so our children can know the elders of our family. But what about us? How well do you know your mom? your dad? Over the past several weeks, I've talked with many of my friends about this. The thought occurred to us that it's great to preserve the memories of our grandparents for the sake of our future children, but what about the memories of our parents for our own sake? What is preventing us from making a video documentary of our parents now, to get to know them better, to learn about their childhood and upbringing, to remember them how we know them? Nothing!

So, who do you want to get to know? Who would you like to remember the way they are now?

For more information on starting your video documentary project, please visit www.memens.com.

What Grandma says...

This past weekend I spent a lot of time with my friend’s grandmother. I visited her 5 times throughout the weekend, each time for about an hour. Of all the coffee dates I’ve had with my friends, I think my visits with grandma topped them all. We chatted about the Yankee game and Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit! She told me stories of her own grandchildren and their endeavors in baseball and how she would use this historic event to teach her grandson about the importance of sportsmanship! 

We oohed and awed over her son’s beautiful golden lab. Grandma paused for a moment (I could sense she was reminiscing) and then looked at me and narrated the story of her son’s first dog - the wanting of the dog, the finding of the dog, and the puppies the dog had, etc. This story was wonderful and the way she told it - I felt like it was yesterday, despite the fact that it was over 40 years ago. 

I couldn’t help but wish I had a video camera handy to capture those stories so I could share them with her children and with the grandchildren. She was the perfect reminder for me of “sharing the story”! 

For more information on capturing the stories of someone you know, visit www.memens.com. 

Bringing Stories Back...

I just started reading this book by Randy Frazee and his opening paragraphs are synonymous with the ideas that led Memens to develop a video documentary mission. 

Randy writes: 

“Before the rise of the printing press in the sixteenth century, stories were passed down orally. The older people in a community shared the important stories of the history - all the principles and values of life woven within these gripping narratives. They shared these stories with each other, and with the next generation. It was part of their culture...their lives.

For the past few centuries, though, our communication primarily has been written - people sitting alone with a book open on their lap. 

Now however, with the explosive rise of technology (TV, movies, YouTube, and other visual communication tools), the world is returning to pictures and stories. We are once again becoming an oral culture. Indeed, many people learn best by hearing and telling stories.” 

I could hardly believe I was reading what we’ve been discussing for months.  A reverberating Yes! Totally! It makes sense! - were streaming through my mind. It’s so true. I’d like to add, under the “other visual communication tools”, videography, which is our focus at Memens. Through videography, we can capture the stories of our returning oral culture. Furthermore, with videography and documentaries, we can enhance oral culture by making the captured stories available as a primary source of communication for decades to come. 

For more information, visit www.memens.com

In Memory...

Looking back at Memorial Day weekend, I am reminded of all the stories shared by those who fought in our wars. My facebook wall was flooded with gratefulness for time being spent with grandparents and other loved ones, listening to the experiences of WWII, Persian Gulf, and the present. It seems quite surreal to listen to one's memories and experiences from a war that I've studied in textbooks and class lectures some many years ago. Hearing it firsthand gives the history humanity and emotion, a capture that will be cherished for years to come. And of course, those stories can continue to be shared for years to come with a video documentary. Wouldn't it be great to capture as many Memorial Day stories as we can from those who fought to shape our nation and secure our freedom?


For more information on video documentaries, visit www.memens.com.

A Memory in Waiting...

There is no better place to observe the elderly than in the waiting room between the dermatology and ophthalmology offices. Now, if you are thinking that I voluntarily came to a medical office to sit in a waiting room for the purpose of observing the elderly and aging, I did not. I am here against my will, at the hands of the sun from my tanning days! 

While sitting here, I am encouraged by the quality of people who are caring for their elderly parents, grandparents, patients, etc. So far, I have seen a young man escorting his blind grandfather, a home nurse serving as an arm crutch for her patient, and a woman, obviously exhausted, but smiling while holding her mother's hand as they take very slow steps from the elevator to a seat near the doctor's office door. Like I said, I am encouraged by the quality of people and the sacrifices they are making to care for the ones they love. 

How great it would be for them to have a video memory of the wonderful stories they are hearing every day. How great it would be for them to have a visual memory of the reasons they put so much effort into caring for their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. It's a fabulous thing when we can help others; even more fabulous when we can help those we love. 

For information about Memens video documentaries, visit www.memens.com.

...so my grandfather told me

“It was 1832, on a night just like this...” - a quote taken from one of my favorite movies, National Treasure. I was watching National Treasure the other night and I got to thinking: how many grandparents have stories nearing or exceeding a hundred years old. I mean, if we think about it, many of the grandparents today fought in a war or had a grandparent of their own who fought in a war. What stories do they have hidden away? While they probably don’t have Freemason-hidden-maps-on-the-back-of-the-Declaration-of-Independence-stories, I bet they have something much more valuable for their grandkids - real-life stories of how America fights for its independence and protects those countries who cannot fight for themselves. Our grandparents, who have stories that their grandparents have told them about Pearl Harbor, Desert Storm and other such tragedies, are invaluable and best told only from their own mouths, in their words, the way they remember being told. 

Memens can help keep oral tradition what it was meant to be - stories past down from generation to generation. Only now, the stories can be passed down and told by those who started them, and shared with those who were never able to hear the them in-person. 

For more about Memens, visit us at www.memens.com.

Once upon a bus ride in Italy...

Hello! Resident blogger here! I really appreciate what Memens does for its clients. As a client myself, I have found peace in knowing I can share my grandparents with my future children and their children, and so on. I’ve also seen the mindfulness of posterity in my recent experiences: 

I recently traveled to Italy, where I frequently rode the public buses. There was one afternoon bus ride I will never forget. An elderly man sat near me and after several stops started speaking to me in broken English. He told me stories of his visit to America. He visited California and drove to New York. He experienced the Pacific Ocean, the palm trees, the freeways, the Big Apple. He was so proud of his travels, and so willing to share with a perfect stranger. It was clear that he had so many more stories to share. During my conversation, I learned that he had suffered from lung cancer, which left him with a stoma. Inevitably, he will lose his ability to speak, an absolute that was obviously fast-approaching. I couldn’t help but think that his passion for sharing stories should be captured somehow for posterity. While a lifetime of smoking will, in the near future, extinguished his ability share his memories, a video/audio documentary would enable the immortality of his stories, memories, and the passion for which he told them. This is a man who would benefit from a Memens video. 

Though Memens isn’t available to my new friend from the bus (yet), it is nationwide and has the ability to capture the stories and memories of many of our elderly friends, who, like the man on the bus in Italy, have a story to tell.



Visit us at www.memens.com 

Share the story of a lifetime.

"Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds, will continue in others."
 - Rosa Parks

It's true. The memories of our lives will continue in others; but only if the others know our memories. Memens is the key to sharing our memories with those "others" in our lives, and those who will succeed our lives.

Memens is a company founded on the basis of preserving the memories of those we love, for posterity. In Latin, the word memen means memory, or remember. It is with remembrance in mind that we set forth to capture the stories, the lives, and the character of our grandparents, our loved ones, in video documentary.

The founders, myself, Isaac, and James, have pooled our talents and created an unforgettable avenue for capturing memories that we are passionate about sharing with you.

While we all weigh in on business development, we each have our specialties that makes Memens unique. Isaac specializes in videography, editing, and design; James specializes in design and music; I handle the architecture, strategy, and operations. The three of us, together, triangulate your key to remembering those you love and sharing their stories so that the memory of them lives throughout other generations. 

With us is our resident blogger, Amber, who will be capturing the exceptional stories in writing, as well as providing you with direct access to Memens news, discounts, and anecdotal stories and memories that relate directly to our purpose.

We've set up this ablog not only to stay connected to our clients, but to offer company transparency and an easy way for you to give us feedback on your experience with both our interviews and products.

If you would like to contact us directly, please email us at contact@memens.com or call at 888-885-1907. You can also become a fan on Facebook (where we will also update you with news and discounts as they are available).

Visit our website, www.memens.com, to access full descriptions of what we offer - a way to share the memories of those in our lives who may not always be in the lives of future generations. With Memens, when all else withers away, your memory remains intact.

Sincerely,
Brock

Visit us at www.memens.com