1. Write a sentence describing some action you took.
For
example: I brushed my teeth
2. Write one sentence adding detail to that action.
For
example: The tooth paste tasted like
fireworks in my mouth.
3. Write as many sentences of detail as you can. How did it smell (if the thing you're talking about
had a smell)? How did it taste? How did you feel inside when you did this thing?
How did other people react? What did you think while you were taking this action? Your job is to capture not
exactly what happened but the feeling in your heart when it happened.
When you are done writing detail, go on to number 4.
4. Go back to instruction number 1.
UPDATE: It has been pointed out to me that I have not taught my son a lesson in clarity and brevity. The last instruction in item number 3 should simply be to go back to instruction number 1.
I asked the Twitter mind this morning about hunger. New
statistics show that more people are hungry than ever before. What can a person
do? The answer: money.
First, we've got to decide whether we're in the fish or
teach them to fish camp. I was asking about the most efficient delivery of
fish. News like this should focus us on the sustainable answers to these kinds
of problems, so I'm all for a discussion about long-term solutions to hunger,
but at the moment I'm interested in the action a single person can take that
provides the most utility.
The best answer is to call your local food bank and ask them
what they need because sometimes they need money and sometimes they need
volunteers. In a more general sense though, here are how the answers lined up:
My own experience is that donating money helps the most.
Lots of you made the same case. Food shelters often wind up with 50 jars of
pickles people have donated which isn't helpful. Even a jar of peanut butter,
while incredibly helpful for the making of sandwiches doesn't offer the maximum
utility. The money spent on the jar can be better spent by the food kitchen
because they get bulk deals.
Suggestions: Give to @FeedingAmerica and support Capitol
Area Food Bank. @femelmed our local org, philabundance, allows for monthly donors. That
allows them a steady stream and to put $ where it's needed. Also: Network for Good. Or give through www.onecause.com and that'll send money to
your favorite food bank. Follow @fighthunger on Twitter to keep up with the World Food Program or volunteer here.
Some food banks have lots of the right kind of food but no
one to make the sandwiches or drive the trucks so the food gets where it needs
to do. So, volunteering gets the second place in this completely unscientific
sampling. Of course you could argue that the example of volunteering provides a
social good that goes beyond merely helping someone who is hungry. Your friends
see you doing it. People out on the street see others offering their time and
perhaps get inspired or at least turn their attention to maybe figuring out how
to come up with a long term solution. I'm sure you could also make the case
about labor costs but we're not here to do that.
Finally there's food donation. @susbarefootmakes meals
that she passes out to people in need. This takes care of the distribution
problem but as susbarefoot recognizes, there are downsides. A soup kitchen
provides other services that
Finally, from @chasflemming. have
been there John. Out of work, out of food, family to feed. Friends rescued me.
Now I rescue friends. This is what I do, John: I give to my church, I give food
drives, I invite people to my house for dinner who need the meal.
[Disclaimer: This was an exercise in collecting ideas. It
has nothing to do with either of my employers, nor did I report or think about
this the way I might have for a piece of journalism. My aim was to collect and
distribute information quickly without doing harm. (This means you're likely to
see adventuresome spelling and sentence construction). It's incomplete but it
may grow to become more complete. There are lots of points I left out. Suggest
them to me at jdickersonreader@gmail.com
and I'll fix anything that really needs fixing. If you make a suggestion that
will actually help feed people I'll include it. If you've got a link to a cause
that makes your case, all the better, I'll include it.]
I have a Facebook "fan" page. It's something management wants me to do and I am following along with a smart salute because I do exactly what management tells me to do, especially when it comes to talking about myself.
from his profile of Joe Gould who said: "I never felt at home. I stuck out...In New York City, especially in
Greenwich Village, down among the cranks and the misfits and the
one-lungers and the has-beens and the might've beens and the would-bes
and the never-wills and the God-knows-whats, I have always felt at
home."
