My Mom’s handwritten notes registering people to vote in Oakland, California.

I am holding in my hand two pieces of linen paper filled with cursive writing, front and back, with “DO NOT LOSE” written in large letters in the upper right-hand corner of page 3. The letterhead paper has a drawing of a basket of eggs in the upper left corner, and “Patti Sally Catering 658–5922” spanning the top.

Patti was my Mom. She is no longer with us. This is one of the items I found in her things, and she thought it was important, so I kept it. It documents her impressions of…