Earthquake

From the Brian Jungen show at the AGO.
If you haven't been, you gotta go. It's brilliant.

Five weeks after I swore off sleep deprived Fridays, I'm back at another writing class. But this one's on Wednesday nights, so now Thursday will be the day I struggle to stay awake during mid-afternoon meetings (more than I do already). 

The format for this class is completely different from the other. We don't get homework assignments. We (there are 10 of us) get a "prompt" - such as "tell a story where the character hears a deafening noise" - and then we write for fifteen or twenty minutes. When we're done writing, we read, if we want to, what we have written. 

The rules are that those listening can remark on what stood out for them in what was read ... and that's it. No suggestions. No critiques ... which is humane given that the writing is just off the tops of our heads.

I attended the first class this past Wednesday. During the class there were three prompts. So the combined creative effort after two and a half hours was thirty hastily composed pieces, including one poem and a short essay on society and culture. 

The variety is remarkable - for example, the "deafening noise" prompt inspired stories about a lightning strike, an alien invasion, a plane crash, a bear attack, a shattered door, a rock concert and four more I can't remember, but they were all entirely different. Humans are amazing.

Heartbreak

A colleague at work spent Friday afternoon on the Internet, watching the path of a private jet flying from Los Angeles to Toronto. Rumour had it that the plane held the family of Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors MVP. They were coming to Toronto so they could be there when Kawhi announced he was going to sign with the Raptors. My colleague was spellbound by the prospect.

Sadly, the rumours weren't true.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen

"Vienna": made from lawn chairs.