[stylist] Weekly Writing Challenge

[Barbara HAMMEL]

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 7, 2015, at 14:23, Chris Kuell via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I've enjoyed everyone's contributions to this exercise. And now I'm going to
> start my timer...
> 
> 
> As a writer, I'm always listening in on other people's conversations. Most
> of them are fairly meaningless, but occasionally I'll pick up a nice tid bit
> or phrase--like the time I was in Atlanta and I heard the expression, "he's
> dumb as a box of rocks." To me, that was a keeper.
> 
> Anyway, I was in a local coffee shop yesterday, a place called Molten Java,
> which I like to support because they give young people a chance to play
> music and read poetry on Thursday nights, and I think that's pretty cool.
> 
> So yesterday I slid into a booth with my cup of cammomile tea and tuned in
> to the guys in the booth behind me, who I'll call Nick and Johnny. I could
> tell Nick was a big guy, with a deep, booming voice. Johnny was a little
> nasally, like maybe he should have had his adenoids out as a kid. It took a
> minute, but I soon figured out they were talking about dating, and in
> particular, a dating web site called Tinder.
> 
> Johnny: So I was messaging with this girl, Stephanie. I asked who her
> favorite president was, and she said Lincoln, then asked me who mine was, so
> I said Martin Van Buren."
> 
> Nick erupts into laughter. "Martin Van Buren? Holy crap. Why?"
> 
> Johnny: "I just wanted to see what she'd do."
> 
> Nick: "And...?"
> 
> "Johnny: "And she blocked me."
> 
> More laughter from Nick, then: "Well, I was chatting with this chick named
> Shontelle. Totally hot. I'm talking pure fire. We're vibing, everything is
> going smoothly, when she starts telling me about her friend, who used to be
> Meghan, but now is Mason. I asked what he did for work, and she said not to
> say him, but to say they or them. I said--say what? She then goes into this
> gender neutral pronoun mumbo jumbo, saying it's better to use they or them,
> even in the singular, because it's not gender specific."
> 
> Johnny: "But that's grammatically incorrect!"
> 
> Nick: "Dude, that's exactly what I said. I told her that as an English
> major, I just couldn't get behind that bullshit."
> 
> Johnny: "And...?"
> 
> Nick: "And she blocked me."
> 
> 
> 
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> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/poetlori8%40msn.comLove it! I'll be laughing at that exchange for a while.
Barbara