Creative Nonfiction By Tess Lennon-Dorn
(Lennon-Dorn) Version #2 MS. SMITH - Late 30’s SAFFRON - 18, interpretive dance MONICA - 19, goth girl SHANE - 20, in a band, subtly undercuts everyone WINDMILL - 18, emo poet MIKE - 20, stoner LYNDSAY - 18, the freshman INT. CLASSROOM MS. SMITH Hello, class, and welcome to another day of Creative Nonfiction here at Columbia College. Please select one or two sentences you’d like to share from your journals. Who would like to go firWINDMILL I looked at the clouds, and saw a white dog. And then I realized, it wasn’t a dog. It was just the clouds, playing a slick sick trick on me. MS. SMITH Thank you, Windmill. NowWINDMILL Kind of like the trick life has played on you, Lisa. MS. SMITH It’s Ms. Smith. If life has played a trick on me, then I’m a magician. Saffron, please sit in your chai-SAFFRON Unless the rain forrest gets a chair, neither do I.
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MS. SMITH Okay well, that’s really kind ofSAFFRON Is a mystery the absence of a question? Or is an answer more of a mystery on its own devices? MS. SMITH Thank you, Saffron. The use of imagery was verySHANE I can, uh, drop my words into the proverbial journal change purse. MRS. SMITH Okay, Shane. Class, please pay attention to the effective imagery used in theSHANE I was actually getting ready to record with my band, "Apricot Sunrise", when this journal just sorta came to me. She saw me there, with her Adderall eyes and Marlboro lips. True love must wait, for the frog’s first kiss. MRS. SMITH Wow, Shane, some really strong use of poetic devices in there. Class, there was an effective use of imagerySHANE Hope I didn’t hit a nerve, Lisa, by reminding you of love. MS. SMITH Ms. SMI- I love love. I have a full life. LYNDSAY Mrs. Smith I thought this week we were supposed to focus on sentence structure? That’s what the syllabus says.