Monday, October 2

updates and a modern fairy tale

life is busy, so busy i don't even have time to capitalize.

a couple quick updates:

-received confirmation that i will be teaching fiction at a nearby Manhattan high school. my schedule will consist of three periods: two of 10th graders and one of 9th.
-found out i will be receiving a stipend
-was called "demon" by baglady
-flea bombed the apt
-in structure of the short story class, was given the assignment to write a fairy tale
-was stumped -- i'm not a fairy tale kind of writer
-feeling something akin to borderline panic, read twenty or so Grimm's fairy tales online for inspiration
-feeling thus inspired (or delirious), wrote three fairy tales for class, starting around 1am and ending around 5am. the first of which is below:

A Modern Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a young girl who was very sad. Her parents loved her very much though and they told her this everyday. Still she was sad. Everyday she cried for a year, until one day while driving home from dinner and a movie, her parents got hit by a drunk driver. Her mother was thrown through the windshield, head first, and as her skull hit the asphalt, it split into four nearly congruent quarters. Brain fluid and a gelatinous gray mass oozed over the divider marker, off the side of the road, and down into a muddy embankment below engineered by engineers to prevent flooding. Her father was not so lucky. Although badly injured, the drunk driver lived. He was in coma for four years, but because of the law of the land he was able to remain on life support. One day, miraculously, to me and everybody else’s disbelief, he woke up. He now runs, swims, and bikes in triathlons. The girl, well who cares about the girl?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Somebody always cares about the girl. Especially in Manhattan?

Harry the Hire said...

Manhattan? Who said anythng about Manhattan?

What is the structure of a fairy tale? Character introduction - complication (the evil character) -big problem (stemming from complication) - resolution. Is that what they want? That's not too stressful Yeh. The crying girl fairy tale was OK but you can do much better thinks me thinks me.

barista brat said...

haha, when you said you found inspiration from the brothers grimm i thought "oh no!"

and when i ready your creation i thought "oh yes."

however it does lack the obligatory shiny, sparkly object don't you think?

Harry the Hire said...

Hey yeH you palidrome you! I just gave "carmen" your blog details upon request. Va-va-voom!

She hungry for you.

She a "tri-delt". She not a "Kappa, honey."

I hope she comes and tries to hit on you.

She thinks I'm like, an old fogie, and her favourite music is... wait for it... Pink Floyd.

Oh god, I'm falling off my seat again laughing.

And I never realised that Pipers at the Gates of Dawn was, like, the hottest summer anthem for twenty year old Californian college frat-girls.

Peter said...

So Dad got it worse than the Mom with the grey matter dripping stuff? Yikes.

James said...

oh, just to debase any ideas you might think of my delusion -- this story's poop. i just wanted to share, that's all.