From: Carson Cistulli
Sent: Monday, March 1, 2010 4:42 PM
To: Charlie Zegers
Subject: Give and Go: Choose Your Own Adventure
One thing we can learn from the discipline of poetry is that, rather than limiting creativity, constraints actually tend to stimulate it. Think of the sonnet, for example. The sonnet – a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter and with an ABAB rhyme structure – poses a problem to the mind. It’s no easy business. But there’s reason to believe that, being “distracted,” as it were, by the structural constraints, allows the mind to be creative in a way that’s otherwise impossible.
I’d like to start this week’s Give and Go with a constraint, Zegers – namely that, for the duration of our correspondence, neither of us is allowed to mention, slyly reference, or even think about the New York Knicks. I know it’ll be tough. I know you might get the shakes, or some other symptom of withdrawal. But I think, in the long run, it’s the right thing to do – for you, for us, for the Give and Go.
The good news is that there are exactly 29 other NBA teams, each with their own newsy news items.
How about this: we’ll run this Choose Your Own Adventure-style. I’ll name, I don’t know, three stories, and you can pick one that strikes your fancy.
via Give and Go: Choose your own adventure
