Creative Experiments and More

Credit: Daniel Salmieri in A Velocity of Being

Johnny’s English 101 teacher was the old-fashioned kind, and Johnny wasn’t sure he liked the old-fashioned kind. English 101 was Johnny’s 8 a.m. Monday-Thursday class in his freshman year at the community college. The first class Professor Pettigrew laid out the groundwork for the semester as he went through the syllabus. There were cubbys at the front of the room where all cell phones and laptops were to be deposited as one entered the classroom. Participation and Attendance counted for 50% of one’s grade.

The most unusual expectation was that one would read an actual paper book of at least 300 pages every week. Monday-Wednesday students rotated talking about the books they had read the week before. Thursdays were reserved for stream-of-consciousness writing about anything that had been covered for the week. Each alternating week, small pods of 4 students would choose…

Image: Daniel Salmieri

The commute was a daily coming together of some like minds. You got used to the same people sitting around you even if there existed little more than a nod of recognition between you.

My travelling companion was an avid reader, and on occasion, we compared the novels we were reading.

“Have you read Rachel Joyce?” I asked one morning.

She hadn’t and was immediately interested in hearing my thoughts on her writing.

She had written four novels I had read and thoroughly enjoyed. My enthusiasm must have been obvious as she took in my every word.

“I like the way she creates endearing characters and through them, she leads you along a path. All her books have a journey of some kind in them. “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ takes in the journey Harold Fry makes on foot from one end of England to the…

Daniel Salmieri in A Velocity of Being

I
need a
distraction
from the boredom,
setting imagination in motion.

Inspired by Reena’s Exploration Challenge #122