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.