Hi Everyone,

For Wednesday, please read the Twyla Tharp excerpt on creative scratching (available here) and then devise your own scratching method (or steal from her) and fill out the scratching exercise sheet that I handed out in class today (available here).

You might be thinking to yourself, what is he asking me to scratch for? The goal of our meeting on Wednesday is to arrive at a suitable topic for your second essay. So when you’re scratching, you should be asking yourself: how can I find a topic that isn’t too narrow or too broad? Here are some methods that could help you (besides the methods Thwarp mentions):

• Write down ten ideas connected to your main topic idea. Then pick only three that you think are the strongest.
• Read an article that advances a viewpoint you disagree with (for example, find an article that argues against paying NCAA student-athletes or an article that argues against allowing tennis players at Wimbledon to wear whatever they want to wear) and write a brief rebuttal.
• Try to persuade a friend/family member to care about your topic through an informal conversation (either  online/texting or in-person).

There are so many ways to scratch. Experiment with this process and have some fun. Use the handout I gave you today to record the process and its results.

One other thing. Keep your eyes out for or begin remembering back to one piece of writing that persuaded you to care about a topic that you previously hadn’t thought much about or hadn’t ever thought about. I’m going to ask you to bring this piece of writing to class next Monday, but I wanted to give you time to start looking now. Could be as simple as a text message or a tweet. Or maybe it is a speech from your favorite Shakespeare play. Or your currently favorite song.