Journal 4

Journal #4 Matt Steel

Twelve plus years of education teaching me the intricacies of our language, and it's still a stretch to "Free write" on the spot. One could write pages upon pages about anything if it's a conscience destination. If this journal had been to write about my opinion on instant coffee or recycling or something we've become accustomed to throwing out on demand, a page journal would've been chopped in twenty minutes. Writing about a given topic is simply a matter of time and skill, but this free writing business is what starts to build up that mental block. What to write about? The idea of free writing on a computer is overwhelming to me, I've got the option to choose anything I'd like and the tools to provide me information on anything the human race has ever known, while simultaneously deciding to write about how I had some pseudo-profane thought I had or some stupid thing. So here I sit at an embarrassing time trying to grind out a page of something passable and be done with these journals, and the best I can throw down is an explanation for the lack of quality in said assignment. Looking at it like that is a bit ambitious I guess, it's not as if every highschool writer's craft assignment needs to be built up in to some dazzling piece of art based off of an innovative topic. Hey, maybe my bunk journal entry won't be so trashy after all.

When I'm just sifting through my mind for another reason to write I feel almost as if someone has robbed me of my proper thought process. How does one describe the subtleties of their brain processing? Perhaps one day down the road we'll have a machine to let us look in to the minds of each other and learn from the way we see their brain doing its' work, but until then I'm stuck in the blank room upstairs, looking out and wondering what would be a suitable topic to write about, and how to write about said topic. If one had the power of mind reading, I think they would find it to be a double-edged burden. We stay happy and secure in our ignorance, if that were dissolved in the all knowledge of mind reading it would result in a quite unhappy superman. Most of those superpowers we daydream about would probably end up being a drag. Breathing under water would be a blast until you notice you’re the only one in the ocean, invisibility would get you hit by a car, and far-sight would probably result in psychosis or suicide. I’m content with my five senses of mediocrity.