Have you ever written from the point of view of a human zygote? Well, I did at the brothers/sisters genre workshop during the two weeks I spent at Kenyon College in Ohio this summer, doing what we all love to do: writing.
I also made some friends, experienced actual dorm life and had more soft serve ice cream and pink lemonade daily than you could ever imagine. And, I met some other young writers just like myself and heard some amazing work from them every day. I also did some really awful writing thanks to a lot of free writes, but I also did work that I am really proud of as well.
One day, we all went to Kenyon’s art gallery. “Pick any object and write something about it for homework,” my teacher told us before sending us in. The exhibit consisted of about twenty-five red objects separated and assorted into a grid. I could have chosen the huge ball made of newspaper or the table of ten or more alcohol bottles with red yarn tied around them, but I chose this one little red bow. I spent a few hours writing random thoughts until I came up with something that soon would become my anthology piece. Here’s an excerpt:
She took the many compliments she received on her bow with a coy smile on her perfectly contoured face, followed it with a warm, “Thank you,” and sometimes returned the favor. “I like your _____ (fill in the blank with anything that can be worn),” she’d say. But she just knew that you weren’t nearly as good as she was.
I’m not exactly sure where I was hiding this kind of work, but The Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop was something that really opened me up as a writer and as a person. I would definitely recommend it to other mentees as a way to enjoy their summer and do something they are truly passionate about.