I’ve started and deleted several iterations of this post because I don’t know what I want to say.
I haven’t been following the news, so I don’t have enough facts to make an informed statement on my thoughts about the tragic ending to Stephon Clark’s life in the backyard of his grandmother’s house in Sacramento.
I watched one video (there was no audio) that appeared to be taken from a helicopter, and was a little bit torn and confused by the outrage I was seeing on Facebook.
The video looked as though there was a foot chase that ended with two officers both ducking behind a wall prior to Mr. Clark being shot dead.
Ducking for cover isn’t a natural thing for officers to do, unless they truly believe there is a threat, that threat mostly being a person armed with a firearm.
Have you seen how many shapes Lego comes in these days? When I was a young whippersnapper … I just love it when my stream of consciousness goes into character. I’d have been an actress if I could actually act. Where was I? Oh yeah. When I was a kid, Lego came in about a dozen different shapes and sizes, and I had to figure out what to do with it myself. Which was usually a boring old tower. None of these strange shapes with complex patterns existed.
But you know what? It has become a brilliant teaching tool. A kid who can follow the instructions on a Lego set will have no problems building his or her Ikea furniture! Or wouldn’t if the instructions were as easy to follow as a Lego set. But hey, it’s a start! Following instructions is a skill. And one that you have to be in the mindset to do. When I say this, I think back to so many people (mostly men: sorry, men) who refused to follow directions or even GET them whilst driving somewhere. You know the type. You may even BE the type. If you are, don’t deny it.
Lego though. Lego teaches that if you follow the instructions carefully, you’ll be successful. Is it some kind of mind control thing, teaching our kids that they’d better follow the rules or else? (Hey, good conspiracy theory, eh?) That would be an interesting theory if it weren’t for the The Lego Movie, in which they encouraged kids to do whatever they wanted with their Lego sets. (Didn’t they? I didn’t see it, but that’s what I heard.) Which, let’s face it, is that much more difficult when you’ve got crazy shapes to deal with.
In the end it’s all about imagination though. And the power of creating. Whether you’re creating a sweater from a pattern, an embroidered picture, or a toy; a blog post, a colouring project, a painting, a poem, a novel … it’s all about the escapism that comes from concentration and the satisfaction of being able to sit back and say “I created something where before there was nothing.” It’s liberating. It’s self-affirming. And I believe it’s what gets us through life with a degree of the sense of accomplishment. It gives us hope.
Friday? Did someone say Friday? Yes! It’s Friday again and time now for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I’ve been back to work this week, and I’m enjoying it immensely. I’m lucky to have a job I love … the next trick is going to be cutting down my hours to ten per day or less. Anyway, here’s your prompt:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “picture.” Write about, or theme your post on the first picture you see when you sit down to start writing. You don’t need to describe the picture necessarily–you can even put yourself in it if you’re not already there. Enjoy!
After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!
To make your post more visible, use our new SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.
5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.
6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!
7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.
Last week, sitting in a restaurant beside a mother with two daughters, aged about five and eight years old, I overheard:
Five-year-old: I said the f-word by accident yesterday.
Eight-year-old: Which one?
Five: You know, the f–word.
Eight: (whispers) Frozen?
Five: No, the one Mommy always says.
It was all I could do; 1, not to laugh (because we all know Frozen is a bad word); and 2, not to look at the mother and embarrass her.
If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
4. Add our very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!
lindaghill.com 