Warm-Up Writing Exercise
Write about a wedding. It could be a wedding you’ve attended, a fictional wedding in a book or movie that’s impacted you, or even a rant about weddings and the institution of marriage. Describe the scene in concrete, sensory detail (try to avoid abstractions like “beautiful,” “happiness,” etc.
Remember to think about your social locations (age, gender, class, religion, race, sexual orientation, etc.) and how they impact the weddings you’ve attended or seen represented.
Reading
Read “I Do” by Erin Soros, a Mad writer from Vancouver. Content warning for a brief mention of staff use of violence, restraints in a psychiatric setting.
Writing Exercise
Choose a persistent or powerful experience from your life that exists in a different realm, such as a dream, a fear, a fantasy, a wish, or a supernatural experience. Describe it with as much sensory and psychological detail as you can. Stick to the concrete – try to avoid using abstract descriptive words like “scared,” “beautiful,” etc.
Next, reflect on what it means. What does it say about you, or about our society? Why is this experience significant for you? Here are some things you might choose to reflect on:
• Your social locations
• Your geography
• Current events in the world
• Important events in your life at the time