Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Stream of Conscious

Stream of Conscious

I have a Mac in addition to my three Microsoft computers. When I bought the Apple I took the “One on One” support package. To participate in a class I have to go to Madison and that is a pain. Wonder why they don’t have on line training… DUH!

Anyway I like Mac “Pages” better than the Microsoft Word Processor. It really has a nice outlining feature and handling graphics is a snap. I upgraded to Mountain Lion and there is a voice recognition feature that I want to explore and see if it’s an improvement over what they had five (5) years ago.

While talking to the “Apple Smart” girl (An English Major) she asked how I used my computer and I said I teach some courses online at New Horizon’s Academy. The question came up as to the fundamental difference between a Stage and Screen Play and I answered that in a Stage Play the ear trumps the eye. In a Screen Play it is the other way around. Now that might sound like a simple difference--- but it's huge.

This became more self-evident when she demonstrated the voice recognition software. She told me to say something and the first thing that popped to mind was the Gettysburg Address. Despite all the noise the software did a pretty good job translating the spoken vibrations to written words.

We got to talking about why Lincoln’s famous speech was so enduring and I responded, because it was short for a political speech but more importantly it was almost poetic in structure. He took the thrust of the message and made it resonate. I have read that he was panned at the time for brevity, however when it was printed in the newspapers, people immediately warmed to the address. Nobody remembers him standing on the podium, that sad day, but they do remember what he had to say.

The same might be said for Shakespeare’s plays. The monologs resonate and that is what really sets his writing off. In the Bible it says, “In the beginning was the word….” If that’s true then God must prefer a Stage Play to a Movie or TV production. Don’t quote me.

One of my students recommended that I make it clear at the beginning of the Exploratory Writing Workshop, the importance of having a story in mind before taking the class. For many I am sure this might help, but it gets back to the chicken or egg thing. Where do stories come from? Do we think them up or does our brain latch onto the thread of a passing muse? To my way of thinking it is curtain number two. Students often lament, “How can I write an outline if I don’t know what the story is?” I really get that, so the idea of the “Free Spirit” vignettes came to mind in the developmental phase of the Workshop. I think we need a “Muse” phase of unconstrained thinking that leaves us predisposed to what is happening in the world around us rather than fixated on the revelations of our diminutive brains.