Christmas Ice Breaker

I was asked to come up with an activity for a holiday party at work. There were going to be around a dozen people in attendance.  So the 12 Days of Christmas seems like a logical solution. Here are the questions I developed (I work at UB which is why there are a few work related questions included):

• On the first day…. Tell us about any memorable first day…. Of work, of school, at UB? 
• On the second day…. What is your favorite duo? Batman & Robin, PB&J? 
• On the third day…. Since “tri” means 3, tell us your favorite food or place to eat and why we should “tri” it. 
• On the fourth day…. Imagine it’s the 4th of July. Where are the best fireworks? 
• On the fifth day…. What’s your favorite memory of a golden summer day? 
• On the sixth day… There are 6 foreign campuses affiliated with UB (Singapore, Japan, Canada, Poland, China and India). Which one would you want to visit? 
• On the seventh day…. What’s a perfect weekend like? 
• On the eighth day … 8 looks like infinity…. If you had all the free time in the world where/what would you do with it? 
• On the ninth day… The niners are in San Francisco. How far west have you traveled in the US? 
• On the tenth day… Remember 5&10 stores? What’s your favorite candy? 
• On the eleventh day… Honors (and hobbits) enjoy elevenses…. Are you a coffee or tea drinker (and if tea what kind)? 
• On the twelfth day … What is your favorite part of December and why? 

Here is how I presented the questions:

 

I wrote the questions in the font Harrington, printed them to be the size of the holiday themed tape, taped the question around a candy cane and added the number. We went in the order of how they were selected. It sparked a lot of conversation among staff ranging from their teens to adults with over 30 years experience at UB.

I thought it went well anyway :)

If you decide to use this idea, please let me know. I'd love to know if it got used someday!

2013 end approaching

I love odd years. They are the ones that just seem to go more smooth. Bad things happen all around, but somehow in the odd years I can handle the bumps in the road. 

Sad to see 2013 speeding to an ending. Been a good one. Didn't cross everything quite off my list, but I moved along in a positive way. I think I've got at least 5 more years of time insanity with the kids growing and my elders aging.

I mean the last time I wrote here was May when I was starting my summer reading list. I managed to read quite a few books but then school started and life took off and bam, here it is Thanksgiving. I didn't manage to even hit 5000 words in NaNoWrMo this year. But I have a new idea.

I only managed to knit scarves again this year, but I made four and can give them away.

The kitchen reno went really well (now we need to finish before 2014 starts) and I think overall this year was good. One more month to wrap things up and then cocoon myself as best I can til 2015 rolls around.

Hoping not to be gone for so long next time.

American Lit

So, I got into a discussion on twitter about American Lit (note, I work in higher ed, so intellectual discussions are possible 140 characters at a time). I hated American Lit in high school, managed to talk my teacher into letting me read War & Peace instead. Yes, Russian fiction in lieu of three American lit novels. The page count was greater and she was excited to be able to tell people one of her students read that book. I was excited to skip the whiny novels.

So, as an adult, when I could not contribute to the discussion about which American authors are better, I asked for suggestions of what to read. I was told these novels:

Invisible Man (already read)
Angle of Repose
Sound and Fury
Absalom, Absalom
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Slaughterhouse Five (already read)

My dad's favorite book of all time is the Old Man and the Sea (already read). Another suggestion outside of twitter was Of Mice and Men (already read).

Since the twitter exchange I have read two of the books (Angle of Repose and Death Comes for the Archbishop) and I discussed Slaughterhouse Five with my son.

I went and looked for a list of great American Novels, I've read 25 of them. Was surprised to have so many. 

I will go get the Faulkner novels from the library and attempt them. But I'll be honest. As beautiful as some of the descriptions of the wild west, I still find these novels whiny. My issue with American Lit 30 years ago and still today is that we don't have enough history here to claim any understanding of the world. We are only a few generations removed from people who believed in miracles and came here. The disappointment these authors report is inevitable. Reality is always harsh. I find that these characters are so busy being disappointed in their lives that they miss the beauty being described around them. And I want to shake them.

Do you feel differently about American Lit? Why? Help me see the other side.