Day One

We kicked off our first day of Write Alaska with a bang. So far, surveys show that this class is 100% pumped about being here. Although some students were skeptical about the validity of the survey results, I’d say that most everyone did have a great time. Let’s take for example Kelli, who managed to get on base at least four times in today’s kickball match. Then providing some power was Sunny, who nearly kicked the rubber off the ball each time he stepped to the plate. Among the base running highlights were kickball’s first ever triple without the player removing his hands from his pockets. Then of course, we saw numerous inning-ending base running errors, and a few magnificent plays, highlighted by Kevin and E.J.’s catches at third base.

After a lunch catered by Kevin and Jamie, with the help of Costco, the games commenced. I’m amazed there were no serious injuries in today’s ultimate Frisbee match, although Kevin and Eric had at least one collision. After Scott had me thoroughly convinced that he lacked any Frisbee skills, his team went on to rally over mine. I can’t remember the specifics of the score, but I do know that it was embarrassing.

In addition to these games, we saw a little football, hackey sack, soccer, and of course some hiking/cantering. Then, after thoroughly clearing out the contents of the drink cooler, we made the bus ride back to the classroom. Students were invited to throw logic to the wind and take a brief foray into absurdist writing as we tried out a couple “exquisite corpse” exercises. While working from the same prompt, we managed to inspire some very different responses, running the gamut from Spongebob Squarepants references to Dr. Seuss style poems (I believe the term is Seussical). Then of course, there were the attempts to transcribe whatever it was Michael Jackson was yelling in his songs. Jesse seems to think it was “shimona!”

In the end, as sleepy students were loaded into their cars and sent home, one question was on the minds of all students: “is there any way we could work in some more writing tomorrow?” The answer, of course, is “yes, yes we can."