The Backstory
The origin and purpose of this site and the Memoir Project, with a bit about the author
Every memoir needs a push to begin. I’ve had two. The first has been from my oldest daughter, who for years urged me to write about the group we belonged to when she was born in 1970. It has been called many things, including commune and cult. Neither label is fully true nor false, but she’s right — it makes quite a story.
The second impetus grew larger all through 2025. We are obviously at an inflection point in our country. Those in power are erasing and rewriting our national history and telling stories to justify a future that excludes vast segments of the population. They are eliminating the institutions and investments whose purpose was the continual effort to realize the ideals of our founding documents and improve the health, prosperity, and safety of all who live here. One vital response to this threat, I believe, is to tell authentic stories of the America we knew most of our lives — flawed, yes, but worthy of remembrance.
By weaving my own story into the larger narrative of that era prior to 2016, I hope to leave both a legacy for my family and a testament to an America the world once admired.
Another force shaping 2025 was Artificial Intelligence. For forty-five years I have been an early adopter, but have kept AI at arm’s length until recently. A few experimental prompts convinced me it could streamline the research needed for a project like this. I’ll also write about my experience using it: a mixed bag of opportunity and pitfalls. However, history suggests that once a technology gains acceptance, it doesn’t go away. My hope is to make AI — as both topic to understand and tool to use — more accessible to other Boomers.
Finally, the blog, “My 2 Cents”. Unlike 2017–2021, when I was writing the blog “Boomer With a View”, I don’t expect a quick reversal of our political climate. Still, with this platform in place, I intend to use the blog as the present and future tense counterpoint to the Memoir’s history and the Archive’s curated past — joining my voice with others pushing back against corrosive narratives.
About the Author
My name is Michael Massengill. I’m a retired educator in Seattle, where I live with my wife, Ann. Blended, we have six children and eight grandchildren, about half nearby.
Books and writing captivated me early. After a B.A. in English and a teaching credential, I earned a Masters in educational technology in the mid 1980s, when computers first began entering schools. By the end of that decade I was a district instructional technology director, also responsible for building out our networks. Through most of the 1990s I ran a summer computer camp; in 2000 I detoured for two years as Chief Educational Officer of an Internet startup. When I returned to public schools, I made the happy choice to finish my career as a librarian — the job I had always secretly envied.
In those early days, my colleagues and I correctly believed computers and the Internet would open vast new possibilities for students and teachers. But, I didn’t foresee the darker side that was lurking. Now, I approach Artificial Intelligence with a wary curiosity. My decades in software and online tools keep me from being dazzled by hype. But, AI is here to stay, and I look forward to sharing the highs and lows of working with it in this project.
“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”
– Stewart Brand, co-founder and editor of The Whole Earth CatalogThe real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.”
– B.F. Skinner