Following the first question a few days ago, I've received another query from someone who is reading my new book Keeping the Tryst. And it's a good one...
"What was the 'most disturbing visual aid' that anyone in the argumentative writing class had ever seen, that involved a jar of tea, some aluminum foil and three or four balls of Silly Putty?"
Listen: I'm not sharing that with anybody. It's something you HAD to be there to experience. Twenty-some innocent souls including Mr. Conte the instructor were there to witness it and I doubt any of them have spoken about it either. I doubt they've even wanted to think about it. It was just too much.
All I'll say is that the power of suggestion can be a terrible, terrible thing.
It did help get our group an "A" though. And Mr. Conte said that it made him think about some things he'd never considered before. And after that stunt it seems EVERY other group had to have a gimmick to make their presentation stand out. 😀
Funny thing though: Every class that Mr. Conte took roll for after that, he would call out my name and then give me this look, like "Oh Lord please don't do anything crazy today."
2 comments:
Come on Chris. Just a teeny hint, pwetty pwease?
Okay, I'll share what I can.
The class was divided into groups, and each group was given a topic to research and then present arguments about, pro or con. Our group drew the issue of censorship. Which can be a pretty broad matter. But at the time there was a big to-do about government censoring art. That was only partly true: the "art" being censored was being funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and a LOT of it was absolutely obscene. The example that most comes to mind was a photograph of a crucifix in a jar of the "artist"'s own urine. The title of the piece was "Piss Christ".
So we narrowed our focus onto government censoring taxpayer-funded art. I chose to argue why government should practice oversight of what its money is spent on.
And to emphasize my point, I presented an example of "obscene art". It was something I came up with on my own. I put it together and I came up with a backstory for it.
What I produced was something so obscene and disgusting, that fully half the class (and Mr. Conte) walked out of the class as I presented it.
When they came back into the room, I confessed to the stunt. I told them what it *really* was. And there was much sighing of relief. People were grateful for that revelation. Mr. Conte then said that it was brilliant and that I had made him think about something he'd never considered before.
I'm never going to describe what it was exactly, it's too sickening. But now you and everyone else has some context to go by.
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