Thankful
(a writing assignment; due Friday, Nov. 8)
To begin, get out a full sheet of lined notebook paper.
Remember, you’re an honors student and I expect it to be a normal piece of
paper—not a scrap, not torn to shreds down the sides, not riddled with your
artwork because you are bored with the
assignment or because you’re an artist at heart. It’s not hot pink or light
purple or from a yellow legal pad, it’s simply lined white notebook paper from
a three-ring binder or a spiral notebook. Please don’t do anything strange like
fold it into a piece of origami, a fan, an airplane, or even into a note. In fact,
the paper should be free of stray markings and stains, and it shouldn’t be
mutilated or marred in any way. I realize that a few of you know this is common sense, but with the papers I’ve
received lately, I feel it’s necessary to reiterate my expectations. Some
papers appear as though they were dragged through a muddy ditch and then tossed
to a crazed wildebeest for a round of catch. Your paper should NOT look like
that. It should be neat. (Please
note that I’m talking about both the NOTES
that you take to jot down ideas AS WELL AS YOUR FINAL COPY.)
Neatness includes your writing. Use capital letters to begin
sentences and for proper nouns; make sure that the size of the letters in the
middle of words aren’t as large as those that you’re using as capital letters.
A capital letter and a lowercase letter should be different sizes and sometimes
different shapes. When employing terminal punctuation, make certain that your
period isn’t half an inch long…that simply makes it look like a wicked comma.
At the same time, a comma or a period shouldn’t look like a miniscule spec
that’s barely visible to the naked eye. Please remember to include proper punctuation
in complex sentences and at the end of sentences so the beginning, middle, and
end of your sentences are perfectly clear and punctuated properly. Finally, each paragraph should be indented. Yes,
you WILL have paragraphs.
Now that the appearance of the paper has been
established, I want to make it clear that you’re only to use a pencil (which is preferred so you can
erase), or use blue or black ink.
Please don’t use “pretty” colors—and NEVER use red ink; the colorful pens are often
difficult to read and I want you to actually locate my comments, feedback, and suggestions.
Okay, here comes the assignment! Mr. Johnson, (your
substitute teacher), will give you a blank
sheet of computer paper on which I’d like you to brainstorm WORDS or PHRASES, or make a WEB or OUTLINE, or use some useful
method to compile different things
you’re thankful for. WRITE YOUR FULL
HEADING ON THE TOP RIGHT CORNER AND BOX
IT IN SO IT’S EASY TO LOCATE. Remember, this paper will be kept neat. This is a wildebeest-free zone!
Some of you are likely furrowing your brows; this may
be because you’ve no clue what a wildebeest is, you don’t understand why your
paper needs to be legible and not dragged through a plate of SpaghettiO’s, or
perhaps you just aren’t thankful for anything in the world so you’re baffled
about what you’re going to jot down. (Or maybe you just miss me dreadfully!
Awww, that’s so sweet!)
But back to business! Contrary to what you may
believe, you all have things to be thankful for regardless of how miserable you
may feel and despite the fact that you may believe other people have lives that
are so much better than yours. Know
that we all have problems, we just don’t always share them with the world.
Sometimes we share them with nobody—except for our pets (right, Jo?), or in a
journal, or with the only friend you’d actually trust with your life (and if
you have a pal like that, you’re terribly lucky).
The beginning is easy. You should all be thankful for
food, shelter, water, and space. (No, not outer space, but the space in which
we each exist, like your own little personal bubble!) Instead of focusing on
what’s wrong with your life, consider what is glorious about it. Please don’t
prattle on about things like your iPhone and your plethora of brand-name
clothes or your recent windfall while playing the stock market. Instead, find
the tiny nuggets of joy that you often fail to notice. For example, I have had
what I’ve dubbed to be a lot of “bad luck” lately. Someone told me there was no
such thing as luck, only opportunity. I think that is ridiculous and I still
have my theories about luck regardless of what he said and, believe me, that
man will not make money from me attending one of his fancy-schmancy seminars!
Ha! Anyway, I’ve been dealing with what one might call a series of unfortunate
events. They never seem to end. I had to find something positive to keep me
going, smiling instead of crying, plodding forward when all I wanted to do was
sling a rucksack over my shoulder and disappear.
And then it happened. I had to house-sit over the
weekend (which was just another thorn in my side), but last night when I
returned to my own home, I told my dog that I was thrilled that our house hadn’t
burned to the ground in our absence! (Seriously, it was just one more thing
that would not have surprised me at all. I hadn’t been burglarized, the house
was there, I had a few cans of soup I’d swiped from my mother’s house…and suddenly,
life was pretty darn good!) Sure, it may
be pathetic that I’m searching for simple joys, but then I noticed things like
a magnificent card a friend had sent me in which her writing curled and swooped
all over the card as she wrote about wonderful times we’d shared. I looked at
the photos on my walls and smiled at the images of people who are in my life
and those who have left it too soon, but at least I’d had the opportunity to
know them. I received a text from a friend I haven’t seen in more than 20
years. My laundry was nearly finished. I was thankful to put on warm clean
sweats and to have my loyal dog pitter-pattering around with me. I realized
that despite all of the lousy things that drag me down, all of the drama, the
petty arguments, the endless chores, the unpaid bills, the people and events
that tear me down, I have SO MUCH to be thankful for. Perhaps all of the misery
I’ve felt was necessary for me to realize that I can be happy with absolutely
nothing as long as I have a few amazing friends and true joy in my life. Simple
pleasures.
I want you to think about what you may overlook in
your life. We all take a lot for granted and I do believe that we all have a lot of stress—regardless of
age or who we are—we are all human and we all suffer, hurt, and feel. It’s the
feeling part that can also bring us so much joy.
As Thanksgiving grows
closer, I want you to share your journey with me. What are YOU thankful for? Of
course you can list some of the material items (those are the things that money
can buy), but I also want you to really contemplate what makes you truly happy
and what you can honestly be thankful for that isn’t necessarily found in a
store. It can be a shared smile, a hug, the art of gazing into your aquarium at
your fish and watching them flit to and fro. It can be enormous or tiny, silly
or unique. This will be the foundation for your list or web or outline on the
blank sheet of paper where you’re going to write things down (NEATLY!). From
that, you’re going to grow a paper.
That’s why you have
that plain lined notebook paper and the pencil or black or blue pen. (You may
also choose to use a computer and a printer if you’d like to type your paper.
The final draft is up to you—but if it’s hand-written it must be exquisite!
Nary a hoof-mark will be found. If you type it, please use Times New Roman,
12-point-font with one-inch margins. Obviously you’ll use computer paper for
that, too, rather than the lined notebook paper.)
Write your story. Tell me why you’re thankful. Dig deep
and crawl into the corners of your heart and the dark recesses of your mind to
do this. If it makes you feel emotion, that means you’re doing a wonderful job.
The best writing taps into our emotions and makes the reader FEEL something.
As honors students you know that I expect a MINIMUM of five full-length paragraphs (with
five or more sentences per paragraph, as a general rule). I want luscious
paragraphs with an introduction that captures my attention and makes me forget
that the pantry is just a few steps away. The body of the paper will be at least three paragraphs that are bursting
with details, wonderful language, and proper grammar. I will be impressed and
ready to write you a recommendation for summer institutes, youth programs, or whatever
it is you’re seeking. Write with feeling and use vivid prose that taps into the
five senses.
Your paragraphs certainly won’t be lists, nor will
they use words like STUFF or THINGS. Tell me your story. Let me know what you’re
grateful for in this life. This assignment
is more narrative writing than expository, so don’t feel like you have to
write what you consider some “boring essay” for your English class. Write more
than what is expected. Compose a conclusion that ties everything together, that
brings me full-circle, that doesn’t announce that you’re concluding or tell me
that you hope I enjoyed what I just read. A conclusion is fluid and natural and
should be compelling and thought-provoking. It should leave the reader with a
solid impression of who you are and what
you feel, leaving no loose ends that will fray and unfurl.
For your final draft, use the full heading with the
assignment name being THANKFUL. It
is due when you arrive to class on Friday. You may now begin by writing on your
blank paper; I hope that you make an
honest effort to root around in those crevices of your mind, your heart,
your soul, and write with passion.
I look forward to reading what you come up with. You’ll
include the once-blank (brainstorming)
sheet with your final draft on Friday, so make sure that you have BOTH
papers complete and ready to turn in when Friday’s class begins. You won’t be
expected to share in class—I am your
audience—though you may share if you wish.
