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Remember the Daze
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John Caruso
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Sep 07, 2004 20:17 PDT
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Remember the Daze
Ah, a quick glance at the twelve-months-of-Shakespeare calendar and I
see it’s time once again for back-to-school. Oh, sure, I didn’t really
need the calendar: the collective groan and sigh of school children
everywhere can be heard in each abandoned play lot and crumpled brown
paper lunch bag.
We also know school is upon us when we walk into any given store and see
row upon row of “School Daze Specials.” When I was a young
back-to-school casualty, I dreaded the appearance of the skids of
notebooks and barrels of Bic Stic pens. Of course, in those days “back
to school” time started only a few weeks before we actually WENT BACK TO
SCHOOL. Not anymore. Like Christmas, Thanksgiving (pre-Christmas), and
Halloween (the holiday season coming attraction trailer), back to school
starts obscenely early—but I digress.
Now that I’m an old and wizened writer, I find a certain exhilaration in
back-to-school. It carries a sense of new beginning with its fresh
notebooks, full pens, and—lest I date myself by saying—Trapper Keepers
(or whatever all the kids are calling their pad holders and three ring
binders these days). It’s a wonderful time to renew our conviction to
our craft.
Sometime this week, visit one of those mega-office supply stores, a
chain drug store, or any of the variety of “Hyphen-Marts” out there and
just peruse the aisles. Treat yourself to a new notebook. Find one that
calls to you. It may be regulation note-book sized. It may be half
sized. Quarter sized. Steno sized. It may be ruled, unruled, college
ruled, or graphed. You don’t need to spend gobs on fancy leather-bound
journals, either. In fact, buying a cheap notebook may actually help you
to write more. Think about it: a fancy-pants leather journal seems to
cry out for fancy-pants writing while a cheap, spiral bound, 200 page
special is suited for reams of practice writing.
Now that you have your new notebook, saunter over to the pen aisle—my
personal favorite. Pick out a new pen. You may want a box of cheap
ball-points, a gigolo-smooth roller ball, or even a fountain pen
(available anywhere from a few bucks on up). Perhaps you prefer pencil—a
number two (heck, go wild and get a number three), or mechanical.
Whatever you like, get it. Who knows, while you’re there you may even
find a cool pencil box or a new dictionary.
Now go home and, for a few precious moments, revel in the possibilities
presented by your new purchases. Enjoy the blank pages and the newly
opened pens. Then fulfill those possibilities and start writing. Fill a
few or several or all the pages with memories of school. Remember how
the bully made you feel. Remember the smell of pencil shavings in the
Boston wall-mounted sharpener. Remember how the Twinkies tasted
different when eaten on a field trip. Remember the wake of Jean Naté
body splash your third grade teacher would leave when she walked up and
down the rows checking penmanship. Remember and write, write and
remember. You never know where the memories will take you.
John Caruso
joh-@coffeehouseforwriters.com
Copyright 2004, John Caruso
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