WordPlay! WriteNet Week 16

Saturday night a potential car bomb was discovered in Times Square in New York City. A street vendor observed smoke coming from the vehicle and alerted police officers, who brought in the bomb squad. Here in Los Angeles, police also encourage citizens to be vigilant about suspicious behavior or events through the "IWatch" program. The global presence of individuals who are willing to hurt or kill strangers to underscore their political and religious beliefs has made such awareness critical. The threat to our personal safety is no longer "over there," but can affect us locally.

When I was a child, in five hours my parents could drive about 200 miles. Now, in five hours, I can fly across the continent. Seconds after the oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, the information was available on the internet. Now that the oil spill threatens the coastline along the Gulf and possibly even all the states along the eastern seaboard, the impact of this disaster on the ecology of the region is a global concern. I was horrified to see the destruction caused by the flooding in the South, including the bridge that collapsed after the soil underneath it was saturated. In the seventeenth century, John Donne observed, "No man is an island." Those words still ring true today.

Writing Exercises

External Exercises
(see previous posts for detailed instructions)

1. Observation Exercise
2. Reading Report
3. Writing Journal
4. Sensory Details Exercise

Weekly Exercises May 3, 2010

1. Write about being personally affected by a disastrous weather phenomenon (hurricane, tornado, flood, earthquake, tsunami, etc.).
2. Put yourself in the shoes of a shrimp fisher in the Gulf region now that the oil spill has occurred. Write in the voice of that individual.
3. Start the page with "no man is an island..." and keep writing.
4. Write a letter to the terrorist who left the car bomb in Times Square.

There is NO WRONG WAY to do it: just WRITE!