Two thoughts; one includes a Falcon

It's been a rather good day. I practiced my mad music with everybody else, and I'm feeling a lot better about it now. I'm functional on almost all of the pieces. There's still a lot of work to be done, but at least I know I'm not doomed. Score one for the good guys.

I was talking to somebody a few days ago about the litmag, or the Literary Magazine for you uninitiated types. I forget who it was or why we were talking about it, but it got me thinking about it again. I have nothing but fond memories for litmag. I remember last year first semester, the only thing I knew about it was what I read on Nate's or Jaron's blog. I got called into the class so I could work on newspaper stuff, but ended up being almost exclusively a litmag man. I climbed (clumb?) the ranks and was made co-editor or something like that. It was a really good experience for me.

But it got me thinking. The literary magazine should have been a lot better than it was. By all means, we had the talent in the class to make it happen. We produced a rather attractive product last year, if I do say so myself. We worked hard and did good stuff.

And yet, the magazine itself isn't life-changing. I think the reason for that is because of the content. Yeah, there's some good writing in there. There's also some not-as-good writing in there.

But really now, the literary magazine is about highlighting the great and significant. Not the extra credit.

And so that got me thinking. What is great and significant? What have I written that is great and significant?

I don't know the answer to that question. I believe that some things I've written might have been great. I think other things might have been significant. But I want something great and significant.

And so there you have it. I am going to write something great and significant.

I am also going to abuse the text-modification, as a side note.

I am going to write a senior paper. It will not be for any class. It will not be penned in blogger's text field, it will be penned in openoffice. I'll revise it, several times. It will be on a topic of my choice. It will be a length of my choice. There will be no parameters placed upon me by anyone else.

In a way, it will be a lot like a blog post. There will be nothing between me and my paper. No teachers and rules, not suggested topics. I will write what I want to write.

And when I'm done, it will be my senior paper. It will say what I want it to say. If there is a literary magazine this year, it will be submitted. It will hopefully appear on this blog. I may just submit it to a few places to compete, who knows.

The moral of the story? I want to write something great and significant. I believe that the only way to write something truly great and significant is to write it of your own free will. Great things and significant things may come of coercive writing, but great and significant things must spring from that which we pen of ourselves.

And so I will. I know what it will be about. I've known what it would be about for quite some time now. It's something that I've learned.

Do I challenge others to write a senior paper? I'm tempted to. I think it might be a great idea. Imagine, fourteen papers that mean something? Fourteen people who had something important enough to say that they actually said it. Fourteen individuals who were not hog-tied or beaten with hoses, but spoke of their own free will. Do you know what kind of change those fourteen papers could make?

Maybe fourteen papers wouldn't make a difference. But writing my senior paper will make a difference to me.

This is the big show, and I will treat it as such. This will, with any luck, be the very best piece of writing I've ever done.

Why do I do it? Because I feel that I've got something to say, and I feel that this is the very best way for me to say it. I feel that maybe our little corner of the world needs to change a little bit, and this is the way that I'm going to change it. I'm writing an amazing paper, what are you doing?

~

It has come to my attention that we have a new dance in town. Jimmy Falcon will be held somewhere in the neighborhood of January 5th, 2008, if I heard correctly. It is a boys' choice casual dance.

It hit me this evening that Jimmy Falcon is a new dance. I don't even think it's been officially announced yet. Nobody knows anything about it other than the fact that it's guys' casual in January. Few people even know where the name came from.

And that's where I come in. School dances are rife with tradition and obligation. There are certain things that a person *must* do. Everyone knows that the girls buy shirts for Sadies. Everybody knows that you need a new dress for prom and all that. Guys are supposed to get pictures are the school. There are things you do: it's tradition.

Jimmy Falcon has no tradition yet. It's entirely new, and, as far as my google searching goes, entirely original. Nobody knows what they're supposed to do yet.

There's a power vacuum here. There is no tradition. Are guys supposed to just reverse the role of Sadies? Do we get shirts? What about hats?

We are waiting for enlightenment. You can feel it. The men are ready for it. We're watching for any sign of leadership during the dark night.

And who does that leadership come from? Who is to decide what is and isn't appropriate for the Jimmy Falcon dance? Who will forge the traditions of the future? I think we're all naturally waiting for the SBO's to let us know. They're the ones who got the dance rolling in the first place.

But what if someone were to jump the gun? What if someone were to establish rules of engagement before the SBO's had a chance to have it their way?

There is a power vacuum, and anybody could fill it right now. I believe that numerous individuals have the power right this very instant to change the course of the future. All it would take is one bold man to make up the rules of engagement and spread the word. The world is ready for any leadership. It doesn't matter who it's from.

Do you understand the possibilities here? This is social engineering at its finest. You or I could make the rules of a high school dance, provided we played the game right.

And so naturally I've been kicking around a few ideas. My current favorite is the Jimmy Falcon Challenge. The concept is that I, with everyone's help of course, publicize the idea that the tradition behind the Jimmy Falcon dance is that you're supposed to ask somebody else's girlfriend.

It sounds a little far fetched, sure, but he made a great pokemon.

But listen to this. If the population believed that that's what has always happened for the Jimmy Falcon dance, wouldn't they go for it? It's risky business, I doubt most people would go for it. There would, however, be a brave few who took up the call of the Jimmy Falcon Challenge.

I'm tempted to do it. I believe that I could make it happen. I also believe that numerous other people could make numerous other ideas happen. It wouldn't be too difficult.

So here's the question of the day: If you could have any tradition for a high school dance, what would it be? If you were in charge of the "rule book", what would the book say?

I really do want to hear your ideas. This one isn't set in stone people. We're all ambling about looking for direction. I think it's time we rise up and declare direction. We have the means, why not make Jimmy Falcon what it's supposed to be?

It's a power vacuum, and we all know what that means. Somebody has got to fill it. Might as well be us.