Week 3, Theme 1

Prompt: Write a page of “sentence-sounds,” like the examples Robert Frost gives in his letter to John Bartlett. Don’t try to connect them all, although you may use two or three in a brief exchange. Try carrying a notebook to get down instances you hear in the course of a day. Ideally, your “sentence-sounds” should suggest the contexts they come from, so that your reader can imagine the situations in which they are spoken. Experiment with different contexts: informal exchanges between friends or strangers; speech on the radio or tv, or in the classroom, or some other public setting; the phone. Can text messages constitute “sentence-sounds”? No question. How about artificial voices? Maybe, but maybe not by Frost’s definition. Try to express the implied “postures” and “tones” of your speakers.

Hi hot stuff. I’m in my room reading. I’m hopeful that the word investment really isn’t meaning more stimulus spending and a bigger government here in Washington. Yesterday, my headphones weren’t working, so I put them in the washer with my clothes and now I can hear everything! The last time I came here, I had spicy sake that set my tongue on fire – how do I get that again? What's sad is that Ford used to own Jaguar so that was on the list of cars that my family was allowed to drive...no longer. I’m so bored, look at me – I’m making my bed. On January 1^st, Jansen finished building a replica of the Ohio State football stadium, called the Horseshoe; it is made entirely of legos, a million of them. Oh my god, that email thread is so funny! I just had the best meeting ever with an SOM professor about Hong Kong this summer; he deals with profits and stuff so it will be interesting to incorporate a totally different perspective into my interview. Yes. If we don’t align the text on this thing, we’re gonna look like amateurs here. My god, it’s the new me! I’m so excited for this reading. How many drinks is binge drinking – fifteen? The crunchy rolls are my favorites. I don’t care. Achtung auf der Wortstellung. We’re making an exception for you – you can have it again right now. We were competitive! I’m working on an orgo problem set haha. Ready when you are! Tonight, 9:30. Was a disaster - almost went to bed with Ramya – you? That’s a first for me. Hey you there? I’m in one of the bedrooms waiting for you.