Collective Genius

When I was attending classes at Troy State Main Campus in Troy, Alabama, I had the great fortune to study under some truly excellent instructors including Theron Edward Montgomery and Dr. J.A. Carroll. Both of them taught me a lot of things that can't be learned in text books or from study videos. (Authors note here that most of what Dr. Carroll taught me was either mildly pornographic or had to do with baseball. Hell sometimes it was both.) Professor Montgomery (affectionately known as Tem or Tim) was my instructor in many of my writing courses and one of the exercises he gave us once was this. He wrote a beginning paragraph on the board. Usually something like “Jake wandered out of his house one morning to tend his farms. The sun was shining low in the sky and the wind had a tinge of winter on it. He could almost smell the coming snow.” He would then turn to each member of the class and ask them to write the next paragraph in the story. The only rule is that the next paragraph had to naturally follow the previous one. The next writer could start his/her paragraph with “As he strode out to the barn, the sky over head darkened. He looked up to see a giant butterfly winged dragon bearing down on him with dozens of giant apple pies in its arms” or something really silly. Needless to say (Ever notice how people say “Needless to say” then say it anyway. Kind of like “Here's someone who needs no introduction”) the stories tended to get really odd Odd or not, many of these stories were works of collective genius. It was like the entire class was functioning as one creative brain driving the story and characters in directions that an individual might not take. I have long since lost the hard copies of these works and regret that every time I think about it. Now what brings this up is two events. Right before Christmas I posted something on FB which prompted one of thee collective genius moments. The entirety of the insanity can be found here at my good friend and sparring partner's blog (Thanks TC) http://blatherword.blogspot.com/2011/12/early-gift.html. It is, in all modesty, brilliance. Now, my brother in everything but blood, has started the insanity all over again. At first I resisted the temptation to become involved since it only encourages crazy people, but I became weak and fell to the temptation. The last time I checked, the comment string was closing in on 50 posts involving easily half a dozen people. Like the previous string, this one is pure, collective genius. Moments like these make me realize just how lucky I am to know such creative people. My life is richer because of them. Some of them share my beliefs and opinions, others do not. All that matters is that we are indeed friends/family. I hope to see many bits of insanity like these in the years to come.