NoJoMo 6 in Book Five: Working Through the Maze 2018

First, I haven’t been keeping up with reading. Elections plus Moving plus Upcoming Conference have kept me super busy.

Second:

VOTE

Vote like your rights depend on it. Vote like you have children! Because news flash: We have until 2030 to prevent Climate Change from becoming even more catastrophic. News Flash: Your children can’t vote… but they will be seriously impacted by the choices our politicians make now. If you don’t care about what happens in your lifetime… care about what happens in theirs!

NoJoMo 6 Prompt 1: Who would you have play you in a movie? What movie genre would your movie fall into?

NoJoMo 6 Answer 1: I despise saying it but I would say it should be Tom Cruise with a specific bloody caveat. I am the same height as Tom Cruise. However, most Photos of the man are like the following:

Alejandro González Iñárritu stands at 6 feet tall.
Leonardo Dicaprio stands at 6 feet tall.
Tom Cruise is 5 feet 7 inches.

I would cast Tom Cruise to play me and require him to “show his actual height.” After all, the story would be equal parts Rom Com, Drama, and Legal Thriller. Roles he can do well, but roles that even when he did them… they went out of their way to mask his height. I don’t want shit like that for my story. Besides, I think it does a disservice to the story. Knowing that, in a world that expects MEN to be 6‘2 or thereabouts, a good man can show up at 5‘7 makes the story somehow more compelling. The “little guy” isn’t the but of the joke, but the protagonist. And why would that be wrong?

NoJoMo 6 Prompt 2: What was your favorite childhood toy?

NoJoMo 6 Answer 2: I wish I had some fascinating or brilliant yarn to spin here but the plain ol’ truth of it is that I was relatively simple. And a bit “out of time.”

So, I was a child in the late 80s and early 90s. I was fascinated with the concept of journalism. The idea that one could share their experiences with the world in order to make the world better was awesome. Because… when experiences are shared, we can learn about more than just those experiences. Lets say you’re going to interview the first person in China to write about Dragons. He tells you he had a dream and saw this creature and he wrote this story. Then you go to Africa to interview the first person in Africa to write about Dragons. He tells you that he saw a lizard crossing the desert and he wondered what that creature would be like if a much larger size. Then you go to Britain to interview the first person in Europe to write about Dragons. ALL of those interviews are basically “Dude wrote about dragons” creating a shared experience… but the origin of the story differs… creating a world whereby we have Shared Myths with Different Inspiration. That is fascinating! Conversely, there are some experiences which are unique, individualized, non-repeatable. Interview the only survivor from an F5 Tornado. That person’s unique and singular experience could help people learn about survival, life, and so much more.

So I was fascinated with the idea of Journalism. But I was not a child that got a camera (though I’m certain any child born after 1999 would find the idea bizarre). No, instead, I had a small tape player with a microphone. I could use the tape player to listen to music tapes but by a LARGE MARGIN what I used it for MOST was recording through the microphone. Recording what I saw, did, experienced… recording interviews with people… just reporting on the day to day. That was my favorite childhood toy.