idea. Ryan Kawailani
Ozawa is one of the elders in the online journal community, the brains
and the energy behind the first
upon us, how 'bout an
actual topic prompt? Come up with five categories, and rank your top
five whatevers in those
categories." That this is one of those odd number sets in
a date – 05-05-05 – just added to the mystique.
Ryan's idea is a variation on a often-used writing class exercise. You
make a list of items in a category (songs you love, cars you've owned,
books you'd read again) and then choose one item to write further
about. When I use the exercise with students or for myself I try to
keep it open-ended. That is, you don't have to write about the best or
the worst or the most memorable. That tends to lead people to put more
energy into the
ranking than into the generation of fresh ideas to write about.
During downtime today at my new job (of which there was
lots), I came up with five
categories and listed five things in each category. I looked at the
result and realized that I had the makings of twenty-five long pieces,
most of them reminiscences.
So, here are my lists, with a brief annotation for some. Look for
expanded versions over the summer.
Five Temporary Jobs
I've Held
1. Patient care aide in a nursing home, summer 1968
2. Telephone magazine sales person, summer 1966
3. Clerk in Woolworth's basement, summer 1963
4. Fitting room checker, summer 1969
5. Table bus girl at hotel dining room, summer 1967
Five Relationships
That Didn't Last Long
1. Joe, a man who wrote songs that he sang to me while accompanying
himself on the bongo drums
2. Steve, a man who thirteen years later murdered his wife
3. Doug, a man who never washed dishes, fed the cats by dumping the
food on the floor, and constantly told his dog to "lay down"
4. Paul, a classical radio station announcer who told me every time we
were together how much he disliked children
5. Jack, a man who reprimanded me for not laughing at his friend's joke
– the butt of the joke was the recently-assassinated Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Five Young Men Whose
Brief Care of Me Will Never Be Forgotten
1. Fred, who wrote a song for me
2. Rick, a future wood shop teacher ("Date an Industrial Arts Major –
They're Good With Their Hands")
3. David, a violinist who once told me I was too thin
4. Glenn, a man with some gender issues who was the only bright spot in
the dark summers of 1973 and 1974
5. Larry, who struck up a conversation with me in the bookstore line my
first day on campus and guided me through my freshman year as friend
and mentor. He died in a motorcycle accident in 1967.
Five Favorite
Paintings
1.
The
Horse Fair
2.
Nicolaas
Rubens Wearing a Coral Necklace
3.
I
Saw the Figure 5 in Gold
4.
Starry
Night
5.
The
Red Balloon
Five Places I Can't
Visit Again Because They're Not There Anymore
1. 2901 Canby Street, borough of Penbrook, near Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania – my first home, 1947-1954
2. The "old school" of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament parish, 5th
and Maclay Streets in Harrisburg, where I attended second grade,
1954-1955
3. 237 College Avenue, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, once apartments housing
Franklin & Marshall students, now the site of medical offices for
St. Joseph Hospital
4. Classroom B-4 at Lower Dauphin High School – the school was gutted
and remodeled in 1995, and this space became the library, losing all
its former characteristics.
5. My friend Dennee's house across from mine on Fifth Street – the end
of a row of five, it fell victim to urban decay and began to crumble
before it was demolished. The rest of the row stands.
Wow. I certainly can't say I have nothing to write about!
May 5, 2005