Category: Chris’ Writing

What To Write?

Not sure where to begin, so I’ll just write what comes to mind. I’ve been out of it for a week now. Something used to prompt me to post five times a day, regardless of whether or not people read. Now, I’ve got writer’s block for days on end. It’s killing me. I want to blame law school for taking up all of my time. But, that’s not it. I have time. I want to blame BaRAC and legal writing for messing up my approach, but I could never admit that I let those get to me. So, I’m left with looking inward. What usually inspires me? I was thinking about this in Contracts class this morning, needless detail that you don’t need, but will receive (have already received by now). Get this… my big revelation of the day, week, month, year.

There are other people with similar interests. And other people with different interests. On a basic level, this is blatantly obvious. And I apologize for that. But, from a writer / blogger / human interest it makes everything much more interesting.

You either read because you find what I say interesting or you like me. I’m guessing you wouldn’t read out of boredom. Maybe because you hate me, but I don’t know that many people that hate me. Anyway, the point of this dribble is that instead of trying to write about things that interest me all of the time, I should look around and see what other people are doing.

For instance, the room I’m sitting in has about 80 people. I talk to ten or fifteen of them a day because they’re all in my class. They’re all interested in the law (I hope), but not one is really “like” me.

Anyway, this is me attempting to restart my thinking. More later.

Look Around

Look to the past. Look to nature. Look beyond what you can see. Behind the wall that separates you from the neighbor on the other side. From the world. Look at something weird and different. Something abstract. Something that can’t be defined. Look at a different culture. A different people. A different individual. Look at yourself. Look around the next corner. Look at the second to last page and burn the last. Look . . . I have to go to legal writing. More later.

The Demise of the Coffee Cup (and Coffee)

Coffee used to be simple. It was what we drank in the morning to wake up. It was a grown-up drink. An acquired taste. Something that smelled good, but tasted just OK. For years, coffee was consumed in moderation, not guzzled like an SUV goes through gasoline. But now, something has gone wrong. We’ve allowed coffee to take us over. To dominate our street corners and our pocketbooks. At ten bucks a day for a couple coffee drinks, many of us have to budget coffee. We tell our accountants that we need more money. That we can’t afford our habit. That the large cups are distorting our demand, and the supply is lacking. “We need more,” we shout, but only the devil, disguised as a busty coffee goddess named Starbucks, hears us.

At 25 years old, I’m young compared to coffee. But, I’ve seen enough old movies and heard enough stories of the “good ol’ days” to know the truth. I didn’t live the ups and downs of coffee, but I can empathize because we are in a coffee recession right now. Not for lack of coffee, but for lack of appreciation – for lack of respect.

The old movies show gritty detectives walking over to a grimy glass pot half full of day old coffee with grounds settled to the bottom. These men don’t grab a cup the size of the town water tower. They get a small white styrofoam cup and fill it up far enough to warm cold hands, but not so high that the simple act of walking will cause the coffee to spill and burn their hands. This is the kind of cup coffee was made for.

And jackets? Why does my coffee cup need a jacket? Why do I have to go through the trouble of putting a jacket on my coffee? Shouldn’t, considering the technological advances made during the past century, the jacket be attached to the cup?

And my biggest pet peeve. The one that gets me with each purchase is the modern cup seam that forms a tiny gap between the lid and the lower part of the seam that allows coffee to leak through and drip onto my fingers while I’m walking to class. If the coffee is hot, I get burned. If it’s cold, then it’s just disgusting. Either way, I can’t imagine a gritty detective having to deal with this distraction. It just wouldn’t happen then, and there’s no reason to tolerate it now. We deserve better.

OneWord: Differential

The only differential in our hearts is abstract and unknown, like looking in the sky for a black hole by naked eye. We don’t need to know, nor do we want to know about the future out of reach because we’ve got enough on our shoulders to drive us to the ground. And when we look around and wonder what the other sees, “What are you thinking?” is the question of the hour. There’s a single sufficient answer that fills the infinitesimal darkness that leads us on from dawn to dawn, waiting and wanting for more. But, really, in the end, no equation is ideal – only one integral phrase will do. I love you.

The Fourth Wall

The fourth wall is the invisible wall that separates the actors of fiction from the audience. It is more of a concept than a definable “thing,” the best example being the invisible plane extending upward from the edge of a theater stage. The purpose is to establish a certain theatrical realism (and surrealism). Here’s a list of fiction that intentionally breaks the fourth wall.