Creativity

One of my college English professors once said that I was the only English major she knew who could not write creatively. While I was in her creative writing class, I proved her right. I was really crummy! I could never think of anything to write about. I had a really boring life, I guess. I did not have much imagination, I suppose. And I usually only read because I had to prepare for class.

Well, things changed near the end of my college years. I started seeing the world from another angle. It was the beginning of the 70's. Need I say more?

I got the traveling bug. I traveled near and far and finally saw the world I lived in. Of course my family went on vacations when I was in high school, but it wasn't until I traveled on my own that I really experienced different places and cultures. All of those places and people I had read about in books now became real. All of the sounds and smells and tastes were no longer imagery, but were real.

The first morning that I went to the cafeteria for breakfast at the University of Quebec in Jonquiere and the entire menu was in French, I realized what I was up against for the next six weeks. An hour later I noticed that during our entrance exam that a peer testing next to me never answered a single question on her cassette recorder exam. She took the test again that afternoon, since the examiner said her cassette player must have been broken. Sharon knew even less French than I did and did not understand enough to answer. Whether we learned to speak French those six weeks is still a big question. I still say that I learned more French by teaching it the next few years, but did I learn to speak French? Je ne sais pas. C'est dommage pour moi!

But I could write a book about how to manage getting a root canal in Canada in 1971 before the invention of email and cellphones.  I drove my mom and dad crazy back then!