#EXISTENTIAL AUDIO BLACKHOLE HOW TO#

I say wander because I know that they’re not doing it maliciously (even if they do have menacing pincers, a poisonous stinger, and armor that always makes me feel that I’m face to face with a creature from one of the Alien movies).

Let me explain… During the summer, my wife and I regularly find scorpions that wander into our house.

#EXISTENTIAL AUDIO BLACKHOLE HOW TO#

So when we begin discussing how to write a “process” paragraph, I tell them about how to catch a scorpion. I try to give them examples from my own life that I think might engage them. I always remind my writing students that they should choose interesting topics based on their own life and experiences. Unfortunately, I have found that ESL textbooks and lessons often use bland examples that many students see over and over:Īfter seeing a pencil on a table for the billionth time, I recently decided to rummage through my collection of oddball/somewhat-oddball items, such as a brain squeeze toy, a rubber scorpion, some toy fish, a horseshoe, a cactus squeeze toy, and a Hoberman sphere. (“My birthday is in January 12th.” “She works on Wal-Mart.”) You see, for new English language learners, one of the most challenging aspects is using prepositions correctly. Normally, this predilection is kind of shunned by society (“He’s one of those Pee Wee Herman-types who has a singing bass hanging in his living room.”)īut as an ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor, items like a plastic toy lobster, a cactus squeeze toy, and a Hoberman Sphere come in handy in the classroom. I’m the kind of person who’s by nature attracted to novel and kitschy things (yes, I had to depend on spellcheck to spell kitschy correctly). Yes, you’re right: they all contain prepositions ( between, next to, on). And just like hunting, sometimes you’ve just got to stay quiet and still, and the game will come to you, often when you least expect it. I’m not a hunter of animals, but I do consider myself a hunter of creative ideas. Then I thought: Imagine if hunters were given the option of bypassing all the tedious work of getting a hunting license, getting hunting gear, improving their aim with target shooting, then going out to the wilderness and sitting, waiting, pursuing and eventually killing (for lack of a better word) their game… How many of them would want to instead feed some info into a supercomputer and have their prize deer, ducks, and elk tagged and bagged, ready for their selfie? The hunt for stimulating words, the hunt for vivid imagery, the hunt for creative ways of expression – all in the deep jungle of ideas and concepts. It was during this writing “downtime” that thoughts about my post continued to swirl in my head, and then I came to realize what makes the often tedious writing process worth it: the hunt.

Existential audio blackhole