Specificity

Initiation: List and describe ten items inyour immediate environment What are your associations with them, however nonsensical.

1. A white flower pot with no flower: The strange stick (which I guess used to have a balloon on it) has a frog clipped to it. It looks like something Piper would put in her hair. The clip reminds me of the frogs singing in a children's movie, but I can't think of which one. I can picture them, but I can't recall the movie.

2. My red purse with the bling cross: My friend Jessica told me that as I got smaller, this purse continued to get bigger. It really is huge...and heavy. I bought it months before my surgery (so it's been almost two years), but I wouldn't let myself carry it until I lost twenty pounds. It was my first reward. I said I was going to reward myself every 20 pounds, but I didn't keep up with it. I owe myself many goodies. I guess this next surgery will serve as my catch-up reward.

3. My M cup that I love, love, love: I don't know what it is about these cups, but Barbara and I would fight for them.

4. A basket, just a plain wicker basket: It reminds me of Ryan's Easter basket (also plain wicker) with the red stripe around it. I love that basket.

5. The computer I'm typing this on: I spend a lot of time on this computer when I'm in the learning lab (wishing a student would come in for help). We're long old friends.

6. A telephone: I hate talking on the phone. How can I possibly be my mother's daughter?

7. My teacher bag: It's a huge, 31 bag that my friend Mary Lynn gave me. It's brown, and I love the design, and it holds a million pounds (as every good teacher bag must). I have a bag that has more of a dressed up briefcase look. I've thought about switching to that this year. You know, going all admin., but I'm not sure. I guess it will depend on how much stuff I'm lugging around. Do people carry tons of books and papers and junk in and out of admin. like we do on campus?

8. Ender's Game: This is Ryan's summer reading for dual credit, and I am reading it as part of a YA book study that I am also completing online. So far I like it. Wish I had read it before reading The Hunger Games trilogy though. It has the same feel, and I would have liked to compare in the reversed order.

9. A grammar cartoon: Oh how I LOVE grammar and all things grammar related! No, really...I do!

10. My watch: Does it count if I'm wearing the object? I say yes. It's my Wonder Woman watch that a fabulous student gave me many years ago. He's going to run this country some day. This watch makes me smile because he's one of those that make you proud to have been his teacher.

"Connecting to our environment consciously and concretely allows us to connect with greater specificity and emotional resonance to our own inner life. This makes for writing of a rich timbre."