Do You Have Enough Wiggle Room?: July 2022 Prompt

I have to admit that my walking shoes are ugly. When I look down, my feet look too big, too wide, and too long. In my mind I have three images of beautiful shoes and beautiful feet.

As a girl, in National Geographic, I saw lovely children and young women being carried because they couldn’t walk. Their feet, with broken bones, had been bound since infancy.

My mother had dyed-to-match pointed-toe high heels in the 1950’s to 1960’s. I thought she was beautiful, but her shoes that matched each outfit caused bunions and mis-shapen toes.

Now I see powerful women like Nancy Pelosi wearing stilletos. The narrow six to seven inch heels are sharp and dangerous if used as a weapon. Stilletos make women taller, lengthen their legs, emphasize their bust, and typically cost $700 for executives. Clearly they don’t have any wiggle room for toes.

The term “wiggle room” comes from the Depression Era in the 1930’s.

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Talking to A Fifth Grader About Not Going Back to School?: June 2022 Prompt

How Would You Talk to A Fifth Grader About Not Going Back to School? Since the April 20, 1999 massacre at Columbine High, 279 students have been murdered in school. If you count the number enrolled in those target schools, 311,000 students have experienced gun violence. (The Washington Post). These have been called the Lockdown Generations.

A mother named Gal Beckerman has made this proposal in The Atlantic: “Today, I’m left with one conclusion: The children and parents of our country need to take the summer to organize locally, build a set of national demands, and then refuse to go back to school in the fall until Congress does something.”

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Where Is It: August 2019 Prompt

Carded

Lyndsey went to put her wet clothes in the dryers, but maintenance men had the dryers pulled out from the wall, replacing the hoses. That was three days ago. Her clothes were going to mildew if she didn't get them dried. Her size 24 clothes would be a wrinkle mess.

But, Lyndsey couldn't find her laundry card with six dollars left on it. The card was white. Lyndsey had spent the last day and a half sorting through papers on tables and the floor, trying to clean up her apartment and get ready for a Board of Supervisor's meeting on Renters' Rights.

Where was the damned card?

The Bully: September 2018 Prompt

Then I said…

Describe the person in your whole life you most remember as a bully.

• Tell the reader about their ears, eyes, brows, chin, shape of face, hair, voice, feet, shoulders, posture.
• If the bully verbally attacked you, write down the phrases still in your head.
• Why after many years do you still remember this person?
• Imagine that you see each other in a bookstore or supermarket or restaurant or on Facebook.

Have a dialogue with your bully in which you begin the conversation.

Source: image pixaby.com