#128, Stream
One day, all of you will have to go through a job interview. An interview allows a potential school or business to evaluate a candidate and get to know them personally. A typical interview might include questions like, "What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?" or "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?", or the dreaded, "What is your greatest weakness?"
A modern interview, however, is likely to seek more than just prototypical answers. And, there are peculiar, seemingly illogical questions that can reveal the complexity and nuance of a person's character. These inquiries showcase an individual's ability to think critically and creatively. There isn’t any right answer, the question is simply there to allow the interviewee showcase himself or herself.
We will practice a new literary style of writing for this response called stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness is a literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue. Essentially, you are writing every single one of your thoughts as you create an answer. An example is below,
Q: How many pennies can you fit in your mouth?
A: Well, let's see. A stack of pennies is about the size of my index finger down to my knuckle. After putting my finger in my mouth I can see that it's a bit long to fit in. I can maybe fit maybe twenty-five index fingers in there if I really tried. Oh, and if the pennies are loose and not wrapped in paper, that would free up a lot of space. It would also nearly guarantee I would choke on the pennies too. Anyway, if the pennies were loose then I could probably fit more in. I would need to rub my cheeks and blow them out to make more room to get the pennies as close together as possible. Actually, now that I'm feeling my blown out cheeks I think my estimate of twenty-five index fingers was too high. I think fifteen is more accurate. There are fifty pennies in a wrapper and my index finger is a little bit longer than my mouth, so let's say forty pennies per wrapper. If I take my estimate of fifteen index fingers and forty pennies per index finger, I could fit about six hundred pennies in my mouth. That seems way too high though. Gosh, how large are pennies? I have to cut my estimate down, I don't think I could possibly fit that many pennies in my mouth. After re-measuring, perhaps six or so index fingers is more accurate. I sure wish I had a penny. Okay, my final answer is two hundred twelve pennies. With a 100% chance I would choke on them.
To complete this Journal response, address the following:
Use stream of consciousness style of writing to answer one of the questions below. Put the question at the top of your response. Your goal is to showcase your personality and creativity.
Imagine you are a tiny person living inside a salad. Describe your daily life and the challenges you face.
Which kitchen utensil would be most effective in creating world peace?
You’ve been given an elephant. You can’t give it away or sell it. What would you do with the elephant?
You wake up one morning with the ability to speak and understand animals. What do you do with this newfound skill?
You are a vegetable. What vegetable are you? And why?
Comment on a peer's response.
-Brenden Lee Teacher