X-Warning: mitvma.mit.edu: Host PACIFIC-CARRIER-ANNEX.MIT.EDU claimed to be MIT.EDU X-Sender: mbarker@ (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0.1 Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 10:38:50 -0400 Reply-To: rejoicing at all the wonderful things Sender: WRITERS From: rejoicing at all the wonderful things Subject: [WRITERS] EXERCISE: what did you... To: WRITERS@mitvma.mit.edu I'm sure some of us have at least romantic mythology about school teachers and the question "what did you do last summer?". (Ignoring completely the currently running horror flick -- or is it flicks? -- that use this question :-) So, with a three-day weekend staring us in the face, the opportunity to sit in traffic while trying to squeeze one last "summer fling" into 1998 just waiting on the highway, and the amazing confusion of the beginning of the semester on college campuses everywhere, I invite you to think about "what did I do this summer?". You probably want to pick out one part of the summer. It could be that special vacation week, a weekend that shimmers in your memory right now, perhaps a day when you set aside the normal grind and just took your soul out for a sunning. It could be... well, you remember your summer, don't you? Pick a piece, a scene, a character that means something to you. Now, for the sake of exciting your neurons, pick a number from one to six. Roll a die, look at your watch and divide the number of the current second by 10, or just wiggle your fingers and pick a number. You have selected: 1. Bread (making it, eating it, the varieties, the odor, the shape of it, the crumbs... you decide!) 2. A computer program (which ever one you like, of course) 3. A pet (dog, cat, gerbil, snake, monster from the black lagoon, or something exotic -- your pick :-) 4. A soda machine (pop, soda pop, one of those vending machines where you can buy liquid refreshments, no matter what you happen to call those cans or bottles) 5. Weather (sunshine, tornado, the clouds, el ninny, or maybe just the wind?) 6. Trees (one or more, a specific brand or just the generic, the lone sapling growing in a concrete neighborhood or the looming darkness of the forest primeval...) So we have a piece of your summer, and a fairly concrete reference which you can use metaphorically or not as you please. For the third point to make your fingers itch, think about a lesson or moral you would like other people to realize. It can be something simple, such as waiting your turn makes the lines go faster. It can be something inspirational, or even something rather silly -- a giggle here and a giggle there, put them all together you've got a giggle fair (I don't know what it means, it's your giggle). And if you're having trouble, pick a number and here's your quote: 1. Will Rogers: "You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way." 2. Slovenian Proverb: "Speak the truth, but leave immediately after." 3. Porterfield: "The most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is that if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a little." 4. Tallulah Bankhead: "I'm as pure as the driven slush." 5. Goethe (1749-1832): "The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything." 6. Father Larry Lorenzoni: "The average person thinks he isn't." (Quotations thanks to The Random Quotations Page ) Put the three pieces together -- something from your summer, a reference metaphor, and a lesson or quote. Let them, your thoughts about them, the words and descriptions that you start to come up with, let it all grind and turn, wearing away the rough edges. You may not be able to write something down while you are driving or sitting with the relatives... but you can let this exercise ferment. Then when you get the chance, write it down. And tell us, "here's what I did last summer!" I'm not a complete idot tink