I’m Jennifer.
I’ll give you the know-how, guidance, and inspiration you need to write and finish a personal memoir.
I come to this work by way of my studies in the humanities. Apprenticing under masters of letters was my way of developing a mind appreciative of beauty, meaning, and context.
As I learned the signatures of complementary disciplines, including history, culture, and literature, I lit up with the creativity of making connections among them. I felt my sense of understanding deepen and expand as I grew to recognize large frameworks that give our lives meaning.
I set myself tasks of bringing these fields together so that I could grasp how we create things out of our core beliefs and narratives in order to understand ourselves and affect our surroundings. This remains fascinating to me.
And yet, as a student, I often wanted to expand that circle of mastery – to integrate spirit, emotion, body and imagination with these disciplines of the mind. I wanted to get an even closer perspective on the culture-makers I was studying. I wanted more insight into their subtle thoughts. I wanted to be a culture-maker, myself.
I’m academically trained in history, cultural studies, religion and literature. I’m also a maker, a meditator, and an integralist. At the heart of all of my interests: unearthing the truths of our lives to make something beautiful.
The genesis of my work now as creative memoirist and personal historian emerged in an unexpected way when I graduated with my doctoral degree in 2016.
My whole family rented an old house near the James River in Virginia, where we stayed for my nearby graduation festivities. Shockingly and unbeknownst to us, this house had been a place where some of my earliest ancestors had dwelled after arriving in America as Scots-Irish immigrants in the 18th century. My family tartan lay folded on the couch. Portraits of ancestors lined the walls. I felt I had somehow stepped back in time as I saw my own ancestry presented to me – material traces of family history I had never known existed.
I graduated that weekend, but I felt my arrival more in crossing the threshold to the Lightwood House in Surry, VA, than I did walking across that stage in Williamsburg.
In the late stages of my doctoral work, my grandmothers each passed away. I took short breaks from my studies to eulogize them both and found the intimacy I was missing in my academic work.
As I pieced together the stories of their lives, the arc of the twentieth century made itself intelligible to me in a way that reading historical arguments never quite had. As I handled the letters, photos and objects that they left behind, the poignancy of life was more present than I had been able to appreciate with my academic subjects.
I had found an opening to the beating heart of my studies. I had come close to the source holding answers to the many questions I was doggedly pursuing in books. I came closer to myself.
You don’t have to know the story of your ancestors, or even look into the lives of your nearest relatives, to understand your own life. It happened that these discoveries gave me a more enlightened understanding of my academic expertise and purpose. It crystallized a realization that I can look at my life arc to understand the world better. The real work of truth-finding and meaning-making is done as you discover your life at the very point in time you now occupy.
I want to help you have that same gratification of seeing and understanding your life. Let’s look at your own transformative life moments, your singular path and the meaning within. Your story is waiting for you. Let’s discover the gift that it holds for you and your loved ones.
Jennifer Hancock is an Americanist, trained in history and cultural history, holding a doctorate in American Studies from the College of William and Mary. She also holds a Masters degree in religion and literature from Yale University. She brings all these loves together with a commitment to personal growth, interest in spiritual formation, a love of craft finery, and curiosity about all humans in her creative personal memoir projects.
My Twists…
I heart PBS Masterpiece, cooking from scratch, outdoor jogging.
Obsessed with: my to-do list, mixed media art classes.
I thrive in quiet and also the Texas sun.
Favorite color: RAINBOW
I’ve read a poem (nearly) every day since January 2020, and I hope to keep going forever.
Paper hoarder
INFJ, Enneagram: 5
I’ve practiced meditation since 2013.
Emily Dickinson is my spirit animal.
Born and raised in Austin, TX. Austin will always be my true home. Dallas, where I now live, is a close second.