Wednesday and I'm beginning to get my crazy stirred a bit - been home alone a lot these days. Tonight I'll lead the bi-monthly writing group I host in the back room at Panera Bread in Evanston. Today, in anticipation of that, I'll develop several writing prompts to challenge the writers. One cute purchase - story cubes which are dice with images on the sides. Tonight, one of the prompts will be each person rolling two di, one of which is an action, and using what's on the face of the dice as inspiration for a story.
Also thinking about a prompt that requires the writer to include something bizarre and absurd that, to the reader, is absolutely improbable but within the narrative, all the characters accept as normal. I'm reading that George Saunders book I ordered after reading an article in the NYT entitled "George Saunders Has Written The Best Book You'll Read This Year. It's a collection of short stories and I agree he is a very good writer with a new voice. One thing that kind of pisses me off is that, in the story I just read, he uses the = sign exactly as I do! i.e., Lilly=sad or party=disaster! Everyone will think I copied him given that he's the famous writer and I'm just me. Sigh... Anyway, one of the stories was about a Russian immigrant and his family living humbly in a posh neighborhood, trying to keep up with the Jones'. Lawns and lawn ornaments are THE measure of affluence and status. The protagonist comes into some money and the first thing he does is upgrade his yard: plush grasses, fish ponds, statues. He also orders a tasteful arrangement of live human art, four girls tastefully arranged near the fish pond who are held there with a cable that is surgically implanted through their heads - they are strung along like paper dolls - almost identical, long black flowing hair, sheer white dresses, height matched. Lovely to behold especially when the wind kicks up and the dresses billow.
Weird right? Everyone who's anyone in this story has an assortment of foreign girls decorating their property and they feel good about it because the girls have chosen the life, escaping horrors in their home countries (sex slaves, refugees, etc). Not sure what the author is telling us - very very thought provoking. The Russian's youngest daughter is the only one who says, "This is not right!" (think, The Emperor has no clothes!) Under cloak of darkness, she frees the girls (were they really there of their own volition after all?)
Ruminating on this story - the thought that is percolating is, "What is it that I think is right and normal that someone else, with a less conditioned lens, might find appalling?" I'm already a bit of a rebel, fighting the good fight against the overuse and Pavlovian effects of too much technology. Seeing the food industry for the agenda ridden group it is, is another way I have wiped my lenses clean. Studying and appreciating our unreality is a way I've improved my life - detaching from daily drama in a healthy way, knowing none of it means much. And yet....there's more I'm sure.
Ugh....I think I know one blind spot Last night I browsed around NetFlix (I know...the no TV thing..sometimes I indulge with caution). Decided to watch a documentary on vegan-ism . No clue why cuz I DO NOT want to be a crazy vegan. First off, I really enjoy meat. Second, there is already so much I've given up (most grains, dairy, wheat) what else will there be left to eat? I had to turn my IPad off when they showed how animals are "processed". Damn.....I think I'm headed that way (vegan-ism). Thinking it wasn't an accident I read that short story the same day as watching that documentary. Can I repeat.....I DO NOT want to be a weirdo vegan! Wish I could banish the growing thought that maybe slaughtering animals for food is the same as stringing up Laotian girls on a wire cable for lawn ornamentation.
Challenge today. Couple. You could get the George Saunders book (it is, after all the best book you'll read this year!) You could also give some thought to his story and take a stab at looking at the things you do and believe that just might, by someone more evolved or enlightened, be seen as bizarre and misguided. Let's see - what might some of those things be? Riding a motorcycle? Going to church? Using clean water to brush your teeth (picked that one because I read where a supplanted African boy from a drought-ridden country was amazed to see his U.S. hosts brush their teeth with fresh running water - what a waste he thought!), put Aspartame in your coffee, not spank your kids, spank your kids, lay in the sun, live in a city, barbecue.
One thing is certain as you make your list. There are powerful influences at work and, like Uncle Sam, they WANT YOU, they are targeting you. I think it's important to be aware that there are organizations whose primary objective is getting you to do something that will improve their bottom line and perpetuate their existence. Picture this: an obese man (too much high fructoce corn syrup and procesed foods), with a drink in his hand (alcohol lobby), carrying a gun (according to the NRA we're nuts if we're not packing), with cancer (cancer is good for the economy - you should do your part and get it so that you can support all the health workers devoted to caring for it), with his I-Phone beeping incessantly on his belt.
Peace,
Sarah
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