Not What You Think: 28th January 2020

-



Obviously, for anyone spending time in prison, judgement has had a huge impact on their lives. However, quite apart from legal judgements, most people live looking through an almost invisible prism of moment to moment judgements. 'It's Not What You Think' was the theme of our writing exercise in class today. Students wrote in any form about a memory, or a story or poem which explored the theme.
DB wrote a pair of tender poems which look at the two sides of judgement. One looked at the outer value judgements, and the voice of other poem is aware of the illusion judgement and moves beyond to compassion. JK wrote a wonderful story based in rural Kenya about an outbreak of typhoid. Joy, in quarantine, distrusts one medical workers seeming interest in her, and wonders what her motives are. When she drops her suspicion and fear, she discovers an opportunity she had never imagined.
One of our new students, CNG, wrote about the dangers of instant physical attraction. The piece goes from 'wow' to 'whoa!' in a few hundred powerful words. TH wrote a poem hidden in a block of prose which, when we pulled the lines apart revealed a story about feelings of betrayal when someone was not what they seemed to be. JM's story of school days and the harsh judgement of a teacher by his students reminded us all of our school days. Her story talks about the important things we can learn if we can look beyond the surface.
What was striking from all the work was the different perspective and response to the theme. Not one of the pieces covered the same ground, and it was exciting to see how keenly everyone responded in class today and engaged in the discussion around the topic.

Today's winning piece is from MA who wrote a story based on a traditional folk tale from South America. Although English is not her first language, MA's story is a metaphor for the power of fear, and how it drives nearly all of the judgements we make.

It's Not What You Think
by M.A.

When we meet a person or are visiting somewhere for the first time, we are struck by first impressions. We ask many questions in our head as we notice how they look, how they dress, how they talk. We spend our life and our time judging others but none one of it really matters. It would be better to use our time in getting to know the circumstances of that person; to listen, not to our judgements, but to their words.

I remember a story of a King. When enemies were brought before him, he would always offer them two choices. They could kill themselves or choose to walk through a door. However, the door was frightening and covered with bones, knives, and blood. Prisoners chose suicide rather than risk going through the scary-looking doorway.

One day, one of the King's guard asked him, 'My King, why do you always ask that question and what is behind that door?' The King laughed and said, 'They would rather die than face the unknown. Come - I will show you what is behind that door.' The King opened the door and the guard was surprised to see an unguarded path to open fields of freedom the other side.

So it doesn't matter how horrible a person might look, study their character over time, and you will get to know them better than if you judge them by first appearances. If you look at people this way, they will always surprise you; most people are not what you think.




Creative writing class from Langata Women's Prison, Kenya








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Pencil is Music: 18th February 2020

-
Image
Whenever we mention poetry in class there is a groan, but teaching creative writing without poetry makes no sense to me. I decided to tackle this in a roundabout way today in class and try to generate poetry without the dissent. I asked the class to write down lists of unconnected words – nouns, verbs, adjectives, whatever. They passed their lists to their neighbour who was tasked with putting the words together either with or without conjunctions. The results were a wonderful mix of profound sense and some nonsense and we all laughed – no groans – about the poems that emerged from the chaos. Apart from the work, which impressed us all, everyone agreed it was yet another example of the creative power of the hive mind of the class. Here are a few examples: - Our new student S. wrote the following: - Happiness is nothing in this lonely room sad and worried friends disappoint but my pencil is my music Two students shared a list of words but came up with
Read more

Moi's Milk: 4th February 2020

-
Image
Today, the former President of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi died. He has been a prominent feature of Kenyan life for many decades and how we feel about him, his era and legacy are not simple but multi-layered. Today in class we discussed this. We talked about memories, experiences, and impressions of a man who has had a profound influence on Kenya since Independence to the present day. Some remembered ‘maziwa ya Nyayo’ or Moi’s Milk; the name for the twice a week delivery of free milk to all children in schools across Kenya. For children mostly too young to understand the complex nuances of political life, children appreciated the milk and took it as a sign that their President cared for them. This feeling largely endured despite the darker periods of President Moi’s rule. His benevolence to children is remembered above all else. Nearly everyone wrote quite factual pieces today; unusual in our increasingly creatively confident class. One student, QXT, a Chinese nationa
Read more