Reflecting on the Grist… the inspiration and the process

When I was an undergraduate at University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa, I was waiting for the light to change so I could cross at the crosswalk near the parking lot.  A young student joined me, she was talking on her phone, stabbing the crosswalk button impatiently, and when the light changed she entered the crosswalk without looking for traffic.  I was mesmerized by the moon hanging in the sky, but I was aware of her crossing.  I was struck with the idea that we were so busy worrying about national safety post 9/11 (it was 2002), but we were still engaged in dangerous or careless behavior. I was always struck by the people’s behavior, their ease with lying.  Perhaps it’s always been this way, but being able to overhear people’s conversations, especially on their cell phones, gives writers a lot of material to cockroach.  And so, this became a “what if” tale.  Except for the fact that a student was on her cell phone, impatient for the light to change, and crossed without looking, all the other details are imagined.  

I turned it in for feedback in ENG 313, workshopped it with Chris and Tammy in our writing group Ian mentored, and included it in my MA thesis, The Grace of Dark Times. 

When I was working with my publisher, he suggested I update the story, and so the protagonist changes from student to teacher.  In this new version, the student is currently enrolled in the teacher’s class.

It is told in first person, past tense.  The first person voice gives us intimacy with the character, while the past tense gives us distance from the tragic event.          

Reflecting on the Grist… 

the inspiration and the process

This piece was inspired by my work as an adjunct at Windward Community College, where I had been a student in the late seventies, decades before.    

Writing it provided me with an opportunity to reflect on my life’s journey from high school to teaching, finding meaning in my experiences along the way.   

I have workshopped this with my writing friends, one suggesting I open it up into a novel.  But, whether I haven’t had the time, energy, or interest to develop it further, or whether I feel the piece is what it needs to be, simply a meditation on some of my life’s decisions and how I ended up teaching at a college that had provided me with a strong foundation in early adult life. 

It also became the foundation for a short screenplay, which was made into a short film by MFA degree-seeking students in a creative media program in Los Angeles.  The screenplay and film focus on a ghost terrorizing a professor working late at night and departs from the central focus of the memoir, reflection of a life’s journey.  

Although this is based on real events, names have been changed and some events have been conflated.

Reflecting on the Grist… 

the inspiration and the process

Our neighbor’s brother and sister-in-law were visiting from Georgia and the brother shared this story with me.  In real life, the ferret incident took place before the accident, but I took creative liberties there. In real life, the accident had taken place one Christmas day, and he sustained head injuries which left him with short-term memory loss.  Using a notebook helped him keep track, and over time his memory improved.  

The rest of the details, including the ferret’s journey through the various apartments, climbing up the pants’ leg, and heading to the pet store with multiple boxes, one inside the other, happened, according to the brother.  

It’s told in first person through Mark’s point of view in past tense.  I use time jumps to compress the story.  

I am grateful to Marty for his enthusiastic storytelling, and his generosity in allowing me to retell it.