WordPlay! WriteNet Week 17

Lena Horne, at the age of 92, has made her transition to join the great cast 0f musicians and actors in Heaven. A woman who was not afraid to challenge the limitations and stereotypes that confronted her during her career, she was a brilliant singer and actress whose brilliance was known by multiple generations. I especially remember her in the role of Glinda, the Good Witch, in "The Wiz." The loving generosity of the character in that film was a mirror image of the person who portrayed her.

Like Dorothy Dandridge before her and many others after her, including Halle Berry, Lena Horne had a physical beauty that transcended definitions of race. Although she experienced the humiliation of segregation, her pride and courage sustained her. "Believe in Yourself," as her character sang in "The Wiz," is valuable advice for each of us. I am emboldened to do so in the real world because of the presence of role models like Lena Horne in my lifetime.

Writing Exercises

External Exercises
(see previous posts for detailed instructions)

1. Observations Exercise
2. Reading Report
3. Writing Journal
4. Sensory Details Exercise
5.The Assumptions Exercise

· Start with a triggering assumption (any statement that could be true). Derive 10 new secondary assumptions (statements that also could be true if triggering assumption is true). For each of the derived assumptions, develop 10 additional tertiary assumptions. · Now you can use any of the assumptions as writing prompts or to develop a scene.

Weekly Exercises: May 10, 2010

1. What advice do you need to hear from a "fairy godmother" or "good witch?"

2. Write about a time when you were lost.

3. Start with the words, "if you only believe in yourself...," and keep writing.

4. If you were given an all-expenses-paid vacation to any destination you chose, where would you go and how would you spend your time there?

There is no WRONG WAY to do it: JUST WRITE!

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!

WordPlay! WriteNet Week 15

This week a legal travesty occurred when Governor Brewer of Arizona signed into law SB1070 as a response to the problem of undocumented immigrants. The law requires peace officers to stop and inspect legal identification of anyone who appears to be in the state illegally. The potential for racial profiling as the law is presently configured is enormous. Although I am not personally targeted as a potential scofflaw, this law is heinous because it specifically goes after individuals of Latino/a heritage. People from other countries are also here without current visas in record numbers. Arizona cites the lack of effective federal solutions to the problem of illegal immigration as the genesis of its attempt to solve the problem with this law.
I personally disagree with this law for several reasons. First, because on its face, it can only be described as racist. Second, because political borders are artificial constructs; they do not show up when Earth is viewed from space. Third, because all residents of Arizona who are not members of indigenous Native American tribes are trespassing on that land. Finally, this law represents a perspective that contradicts the pillars of democracy, principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Whatever your personal beliefs about immigration, the exercises this week are designed to help you think and write about them.

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: April 26, 2010

1. You have just crossed the border between Arizona and Mexico illegally. As you search for a place to stay, you are stopped by the police. Write about what happens next.
2. Do a word cluster on "immigrant."
3. If you were suddenly deported, who would be the person that is most painful for you to leave?
4. How would you explain this law to a pre-school child?

There is no wrong way to do it: just WRITE!

WordPlay! WriteNet Week 14

Today is my 60th birthday. One of my friends maintains that at this age, a birthday is just another day. Which is true. What is also true is that I have experienced so many days that my life is now an historical experience. I can say, "I was at the March on Washington in 1963." I can remember where I was when President Kennedy was assassinated. I have vivid memories of watching the television during coverage of both the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters. I love watching Jeopardy and realizing that I can recall an event that occurred before the contestants were born.

While narrative accounts of these and other events are the stuff of "history," personal recollections are used as the building blocks of memoir. Whether an author chooses to label anecdotal writing as memoir or fiction is a personal choice, but all good writing results from the writer's willingness to open a vein and bleed onto the page, as the proverb demands. Whether a specific piece of writing details an actual event or simply draws the emotions from one, the reader should not be able to discern the difference. Put your true emotions into whatever you write!

Weekly Exercises

External Exercises

1. Observation Exercises
Sit in a public place, such as a mall, a restaurant, a bus stop, or a waiting room. Use a notebook to record overheard conversations or physical descriptions of people you see or details about the place. These will come in handy as you create characters and settings for your writing.

2. Reading Report
This is NOT the dreaded book report you detested in school. This is a chance for you to use reading as a laboratory for your own writing. Write down the things about the book that made you excited to turn the page. Likewise, record the parts that turned you off, bored you, or otherwise made you want to stop reading. What character pops up in your thoughts even after you completed the book? What about an author's style makes you want to read everything they have ever written?
3. Literary Journal
Write about ideas that you have for future work. Write about your PROCESS as a writer. What makes it easier for you to write? (time of day, at home or in a public place, hand written or computer keyboard, with music or silence, etc.)
4. Sensory Details Exercise
Choose an event (ANY event from brushing your teeth to a wedding). First describe the event as a photograph (what you can SEE). Then describe the event as a radio program (what you can HEAR). In succession, write about each of the senses separately as they pertain to your chosen event (what you SMELL, TASTE, and TOUCH). Then record all the EMOTIONS associated with the event. Finally, write one piece that integrates information from all the preceding writing.

Weekly Exercises: April 19, 2010

1. Do a cluster exercise on the word "history."
2. Pick an event that was important to you during your childhood. Write about that event as it would have been described by a grandparent.
3. What is your relationship to technology?
4. Start with the phrase, "I never liked..." and keep writing.

There is no wrong way to do it: just WRITE!

WordPlay! WriteNet Week 13

This weekend was the conclusion of the Annual Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. The news from this year's event included two stories outside the obvious sports angle. First, Tiger Woods returned to golf after months of absence from the circuit because of his much-publicized marital infidelities. The winner of the tournament was Phil Mickelson, who celebrated his victory with his children and his wife, who has been battling breast cancer. As someone who has always been bored by the pace of golf, even I was intrigued by these ancillary headlines.

I am a basketball fan. I am totally in love with the sport. I watch televised games on the high school, college and professional levels for both men and women. I attend the L.A. Sparks games whenever I can and watch their games whenever they are televised. However, I recognize there are many who find sports of any description to be uninteresting. As a writer, it is not important what your passion is so long as you infuse your writing with that passionate energy so that your readers can vicariously experience it.

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: April 12, 2010

1. Write about a parent at their child's sporting event.
2. Start with the phrase, "I can't believe that people actually enjoy..." and keep writing.
3. If you had the physical talent to pursue a career in sports, which one would you choose?
4. Do a cluster exercise on the word "sports." Instructions for cluster exercise: put the word in a circle in the middle of the page. Then add spokes to the wheel with words that pop into your mind associated with the starting word. Repeat the process for each of the new words two times. Now use one of the words from the outermost ring to start writing.

There is no wrong way to do it: just WRITE!

WordPlay! WriteNet Week 12

April 4, 1968 was an early spring day in Poughkeepsie, New York, where I was a freshman at Vassar College. I had grown up in Boston, Massachusetts, known for its role in the American War of Independence (from Britain). Ironically, Boston was also known as the Birmingham of the North for the vitriolic racism it harbored. When I was age 7, I attended a freedom school organized and implemented by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. at a local church to protest the racism in the school system. I also attended a community rally the preceding day. At that age and in that time, I had no idea that I was in the presence of greatness, that Dr. King would go on not only to spearhead the national movement for Civil Rights and justice but also to experience such personal triumphs as his speech at the March on Washington, D.C. in 1963 and winning the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964.

In 1968, I and other African-American students at Vassar were sticking our toes into the tidal wave of change that swept the country. Our efforts resulted in the creation of an African-American studies department at the college as well as increased enrollment of Black students. I was personally crushed to learn of the horrific and violent end to such a peace-loving man. As a statement of grief and celebration, I went to the campus quad the next morning and began reading aloud from "Why We Can't Wait," Dr. King's book. It was my first individual political action, which initiated my career as an activist. One of my first published pieces recounts the events of that day: April 4, 1968.

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: March 5, 2010

1. Pick a date that has emotional significance for you and write about where you were on that date.
2. Think about a public figure that was heroic for you when you were a child and write about how you came to know of that person.
3. Start with the phrase, "Everything changed when..." and keep writing.
4. What makes you angry?

There is no wrong way to do it: just WRITE!

WordPlay! WriteNet Week 11

Last night there was an incredible full moon. Every month, the full moon signals a time of fertility, ripeness, energy ready to burst forth and enlighten, change, heal. The full moon after the Vernal Equinox is also the determinant of two of the world's most significant religious holidays: Passover and Easter.

Even as a child, I was struck by the connections between these two events, choosing to discuss them in my first sermon as a junior minister on Palm Sunday. I have always been mindful of the traditions associated with the Passover Seder, which was the Last Supper. Both Jewish and African-American history contain periods of cultural adversity that ultimately forged a strong people.

Although American society reshapes such powerful and emotional occasions into Halmark moments and retail frenzy (Easter baskets and candy), there is still a compelling beauty and power in the true meaning and values of Easter and Passover. The equinox, when night and day are of equal length, is a perfect time to bring one's life into balance. My writing this week will evolve from my thoughts of Spring and the equinox.

Writing Exercises

External Exercises
(Detailed Instructions are in prior posts.)

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

Weekly Exercises March 29, 2010

1. Describe a holiday meal in detail. Be sure to include the various items, how they were prepared, who was present at the meal.
2. Tell a story that members of your family repeated on a regular basis. Start with the line, "I remember the time..."
3. If you could travel to one place in the world that has powerful meaning for you, where would you go? Be sure to give a full description of the place as well as its importance.
4. What book has had the most impact on your life (and why)?

There is no wrong way to do it: just WRITE!