Memories through Diaries in Sarah Manguso’s ‘Ongoingness’

Pick One
Name
Institution
Due Date
Pick One
The 5 Sentences
I didn’t need a diary then. I wasn’t sure of how much I was forgetting.
Today was very full, but the problem isn’t today. It’s tomorrow. I’d be able to recover from today if it weren’t for tomorrow. There should be extra days, buffer days, between real days.
“We didn’t think you’d be needing those,” my father said. My two new roommates and their parents were there. I didn’t say anything. At the time, my diary was mostly about hating my mother.
I don’t remember how it went after that, except that he not only failed to apologize but represented the act as a gesture of compassion, since I so clearly needed his expert in evolving into a better person.
In my experience nursing is waiting. The mother becomes the background against which the baby lives, becomes time.
Three Questions
Does everyone need a diary?
Is it an innate quality of human beings to want to intrude in other people’s lives?
Should mothers be encouraged to keep diaries to help them stay current on their memories?
Answer to one question.
Does everyone need a diary?
From Manguso’s work, it appears like everyone needs a diary. Life offers people a lot of opportunities to ...