The class about me.

I took an autobiography writing class in college that met on Wednesday nights. That was a silly thing to do, looking back. I was 21, relatively sheltered, WASPy; what did I possibly have to write about? I was also the youngest in the class; the average age of the people in there was probably 60 if not more but they had more energy than I'll ever have. There were some awesome older ladies who had wonderful stories, and I LOVED listening to them talk about what they had written for the week- they were entertaining, and always able to talk about difficult life events in stride, with a great deal of humor and often a quiet acceptance of tragic events that often shaped their lives in the most horrible ways possible.

Our teacher was Gurney Norman, and I adored him. What was supposed to be an straightforward 6-pages-a-week assignment telling a story always turned into an ADD-riddled stream of consciousness essay for me, but he fully supported my wacky formatting and encouraged me to go deeper and let go of conventional formats even more. My favorite piece is long, rambling, practically incoherent and the format was used as an in class writing prompt the week after I turned it in! Eventually it will be my "About me" page, but I wrote it on my other computer that is very dead so I have to retype the whole thing. Gurney said it it was "innovative" and "interesting"- two of my favorite words. It was a complicated time for me and that class was an outlet for me to do something that I love to do but rarely got to do- write just to write. It wasn't a formal analytical English paper or a math problem theorem.

Our class was extremely close knit for that hour on Wednesday nights- my most favorite CD mix EVER came from one of the girls in that class, Rachel, who made it for me after reading one of my pieces about boy troubles, started remembering how horrible college can be and wanted to make me a CD to get through it. Despite the fact that I am happily, happily married now, it's still one of my favorite CD's and got me through a lot of miserable car rides between then and when AC and I started dating. I still listen to it because it's a great CD, though. Fun fact: "Recipe for Love" was actually our first dance at the wedding. I hadn't even heard it til Rachel made me this CD. I'm giving you the playlist because I love it and think its worth having.

1. Horrible - Frente

2. Recipe for Love- Harry Connick Jr.

3. Goodbuy Good Guy- Frente

4. Someone to Watch Over Me- Frank Sinatra

5. Tu Parle Trop- Le Rue Ketanou

6. Near You Always- Jewell

7. You Belong- Tom Petty

8. Landslide- Smashing Pumpkins

9. Lives- Modest Mouse

10. Somewhere Only We Know- Keane

11. If You Leave Me Now- Chicago

12. Pretend Love- Avett Brothers

13. Love Letter- Nick Cave

14. Don't Stop Believing - Journey

15. Forever, For Now- Harry Connick Jr.

16. Yellow- Cold Play

17. I Wanna Dance with Somebody- Whitney Houson

18. Life Uncommon- Jewell

19. Twizzler Song- Jake Speed & the Freddies

The Twizzler Song is my absolute FAVORITE on the CD. It's super silly but so sweet. You can listen to it here but I found the lyrics just in case you don't feel like listening to it. It's a little bit folk and a whole lot sweet.

If you caught on fire, then I'd put you out with a bucket of water
and if you slipped in mud, then i'd let you borrow a towel or something
and if your back was sore, of course I'd surely give you a doctor's phone number
and if you grew horns, I'd ignore them but never ignore you
if you were sunburned, I wouldn't say you look like a lobster
and if I bought twizzlers, I'd offer you like one or two
and if someone called you a hussy, I'd tell them to shove it
and if you missed the bus, I'd miss you more than the boy you were missing
other girls burn, they need water too. But they'll have to fry; this bucket's for you
and other girls want a twizzler or two but they'll have to starve because my twizzlers are only for you.

I bought some twizzlers. I'll probably give you like one or two.

If you swallowed a fly, I don't know why you swallowed a fly
but I promise you if you like hanson I'll dance with you to Mmm-Bop
If you wanted to see the Full Monty again, I'd go with you naked
and if I only had one letter to choose, it'd be "u"
other girls long to dance to mmm-bop, but these dancing shoes are only for you
and other girls only want someone to screw, but this screwball will only screw with you. only with you.

- The Twizzler Song, Jake Speed & the Freddies

I never really realized what an impact that class would have one me til after the fact, but the things I wrote for it are the most telling I've ever written about myself. I think I've done an okay job about being open on this blog (maybe?), but I apparently tend to be very guarded and distant in real life. I didn't even realize it til I had a conversation with a former co-worker, but it definitely surprised (and annoyed) me at first. Then I realized that I'm friendly and silly (sometimes, when I'm not being super shy), but not personal and that class helped me open up to people more than I usually do. Ah, the power of the written word... written by me. I don't write much anymore (obviously, since this is my first blog post in two weeks) but I kind of think I'd like to... anyone open to an online writing group?

What class did you take in college that made a larger-than-expected impact?