The LifeStory Institute
LifeStory Magazine Online excerpts
LIFESTORY the newsletter/magazine, which was begun in 1991 in a print edition  is still
available in a print edition, now for the special Hard Times Sale Price of $36 for twelve
issues.

It is the world's only publication devoted to the writing of personal and family history,
autobiography, and memoir.  A "workshop," it is also the ONLY publication that--for just
the price of the annual subscription--offers editorial reading and critiquing via email or
regular mail for the life of the subscription.

Now, just $36 puts you in the business of seriously writing your history and memoir
project.  Call the editor, Charley Kempthorne, on his personal cell phone today.  Pay by
check or money order or credit card.  Call him at 785.564.1118.  Or you can call June,
associate editor, on her cell phone, 785.564.0247.   
When I was 5, we lived for a time in Newton, Kansas. Unless you were blessed with naturally curly
hair or a mother adept with scissors, you went to a regular barber shop where they placed a padded
board across the arms of the adult barber chair and trimmed your bangs, the sides and then
attacked the back with clippers that often pinched.

Every good barber shop had a tall chair with brass, foot shaped protrusions for gentlemen to get
shoes shined. The operators were usually Negroes. I had never heard the words "persons of color"
or "African American" and, of course, the "n" word although it was on the list of words I was forbidden
to use. This man always lifted me up and then down from the padded board and helped me with my
coat.

One day I had a brand new pink coat and after he lifted me down and helped with my coat, I was
brushing it off with my hands and asked him if his color came off on my new pink coat. Others
laughed but he kindly said "No, it’s the color of my skin and does not rub off." As the others in the
shop snickered at me, he gently added, "Never be afraid to ask questions; it's how you learn."


I was 5, I asked a question, I got an answer, I was happy. More awareness and knowledge were yet
to come.

                              Virginia Peck
                               Manhattan, Kansas
                                                                 


    Virginia' Story


    When I was 5, we lived for a time in Newton, Kansas. Unless you were blessed
    with naturally curly hair or a mother adept with scissors, you went to a regular
    barber shop where they placed a padded board across the arms of the adult
    barber chair and trimmed your bangs, the sides and then attacked the back with
    clippers that often pinched.

    Every good barber shop had a tall chair with brass, foot shaped protrusions for
    gentlemen to get shoes shined. The operators were usually Negroes. I had
    never heard the words "persons of color" or "African American" and, of course,
    the "n" word although it was on the list of words I was forbidden to use. This man
    always lifted me up and then down from the padded board and helped me with
    my coat.

    One day I had a brand new pink coat and after he lifted me down and helped
    with my coat, I was brushing it off with my hands and asked him if his color came
    off on my new pink coat. Others laughed but he kindly said "No, it’s the color of
    my skin and does not rub off." As the others in the shop snickered at me, he
    gently added, "Never be afraid to ask questions; it's how you learn."


    I was 5, I asked a question, I got an answer, I was happy. More awareness and
    knowledge were yet to come.

              Virginia Peck
             Manhattan, Kansas