The university invited me to teach a writing class because of the vast knowledge I gained in my newspapering years and my obvious skill as a journalist, writer and leader.
I said yes and soon was struck by the terror of standing in front of a class with nothing to say. That won’t do, so I came up with assignments. At one point it occurred to me that writers need to be good at observing details and I told my students to submit one observation every day in an electronic journal that I can read. I wanted them to pay attention and write down what they noticed.
It was a good idea. Most of them have demonstrated a diligent awareness of their surroundings, and sometimes themselves, and are sending in their notes. I don’t grade on punctuation. I want them to see and record. Here is a sampling of my favorites:
I noticed how one house on my route to school still has white icicle Christmas lights hanging on the fence. I pass this house every time I come to school, and I only noticed it today.
Moon
Seen At Night
Looks Transparent
Far Away
Small
Changes phases
The snow today fell in sheets, and when I looked outside my window I felt like I was in a snow globe.
Finally set up my drum set and can’t wait to be back into jamming with my friends who have been hounding me to set it up for months, it’s funny how you don’t forget how to set them up even after years of not playing
I always knew this but was especially observant of the way my guitar strings looked when I strummed them. They vibrate back and forth so fast that it almost appears to look like one very thickened guitar string and then it loses its thickness as the vibrations slow. A simple but interesting observation.
The aroma of Hazelnut fills the air around me. Clear, brown, steaming liquid pours into a paper cup from a black device near the door. I pour four spoonfuls of a white, crystalline substance into the cup of hot liquid, followed by a cold white liquid. My Hazelnut coffee is complete.
While making scrambled eggs this morning for breakfast, I took note of the transformation of a liquid egg to edible, textured eggs. As the flame burns on the stove, the egg white and yoke slowly start to cook, forming texture and solidifying. Adding the pepper and cheese melts and forms into the egg.
I’ve been playing guitar for about seven years now and I never once questioned what initially inspired me to pick it up. Sure there’s many many awesome guitarists out there, but before I discovered them I was inspired by something else entirely. I recently found the theme song to the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers on YouTube and took a listen. The guitar work in the theme song is really good, and considering I was watching the show at a young age, I can’t help but wonder if that was an inspiration to pick up the guitar years later.
This morning I was awakened by a scent. My roommate was up at 8am and was making her routine cup of coffee. The rich aroma of the beans grinding mixed with a hint of creamy french vanilla hit me like a wall. I literally woke up and smelled the coffee!
As the WCSU shuttle darted and weaved around the streets of Danbury the people in the rows of seats shifted from side to side in unison like a wave splashing against the shore.
I noticed this person’s eyes, a person I see all the time, but never really looked that closely. They’re clear blue, and have such a glare to them, it’s breath-taking.
Last night, I was watching the news. Tests show that smart guys are less likely to cheat than less intelligent… well, dumb ones. But then I was thinking, maybe smart guys are so smart that they don’t make the mistakes that the dumb ones do and don’t get caught.
So many people here crack their bones. With their hands or their back. Every time I’m in class I hear the noises. Do they not know that it might give you rheumatism?
There really is a large gap between generations in regards to “chivalric” actions. I was out at a restaurant with some friends, and there was an older couple across from us. The man pulled the chair out for what is presumably his wife, and stood when she got up to go to the restroom. I’ve never seen anyone remotely close in age to me do something like that.
The right button on the touch pad of my computer is starting to show wear from several years of use, a gray smudge that looks like dirt but won’t rub off.
In my academic planner, this week’s fact was that Coca-Cola was never green, that it has always been brown. I have never heard of it being anything but brown and have no idea where this came from… or why someone would have thought it was green when it first came out. This led me to try to remember if the original glass bottles it was sold in were green. (I’m not sure if this is really a detail or observation, or if it is just an odd tangent and the procession of thoughts it led me to.)
My pregnant friend is in her third trimester and it seems that she gets more tired as the days go by. I guess I’ve never thought about it until this assignment and also I don’t have any kids. But now she moans and groans about any and everything. Those little details tend to stick out now. Way out.
Driving to work this morning I heard a clanging sound that I didn’t pay much attention to. On my way home I heard this loud rumbling sound, as if something was scraping the pavement. People are stopping in their tracks looking at me. Just my luck, I get out of the car and the muffler is actually touching the ground. So here I am in this dirty, light green 1977 chevy impala, driving 2 mph; you can hear me coming from a mile away.
Today I went shopping and noticed that there were no cute baby clothes for boys.
People are not talking about what happened in Haiti the way they did in the beginning.
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