How To Twit-aiku

Bear with me, I know this is wa-a-a-a-y over complicated, but here goes...

Now that our home computer issues are cleared up (translation: we bought a new computer), I have once again begun playing with Twitter by witting Twit-aiku. The process of compressing ideas into 140 characters (including spaces) is not nearly as easy as it seems, especially if you want what you have to say to be clear and cohesive.


As I was trying to craft a Twit-aiku to post this afternoon it occurred to me that it might be interesting to consciously take myself (and you) through my writing process. At the core, what I'm performing is really more of a two-step than a drawn out process.

Generally, Step 1 consists of me simply identifying a feeling, moment or action that I have experienced in the very recent past. Today I jotted down some thoughts about cleaning my classroom. I do this initial drafting without considering character count... I'm simply brainstorming:

during work today i began closing out my classroom by clearing bookshelves, gently packing anthologies in plastic crates for the journey home, stuffing manila folders with last year's lessons plans while rifling through forgotten ones for hidden activities yet untried

Step 2 is just what you might think... "wordsmithing" (a "buzz word" I recognize that many educators and writers dislike) or revising. Given my nuttiness with words this "step" could take forever so I have been attempting to discipline myself to "publishing on Twitter whatever it is I've come up with after 15 minutes time. What follows is a brief example of my revising with commentary.

First, I focus on a single aspect or action in the original brainstorm.

during work today i began closing out my classroom by clearing bookshelves, gently packing anthologies in plastic crates for the journey home, stuffing manila folders with last year's lessons plans while rifling through forgotten ones for hidden activities yet untried

After the occasional trip to Dictionary.com for synonyms and antonym suggestions, and some honing of my central idea. I find that I have an end result that is okay, if not unoffensive:

stuffingloosely organizing manilla folders with last year's lessons plans while rifling through forgotten ones for hidden activities yet untried

It definitely helps if a metaphor, simile or some other element begins to appear, which in the case of this particular one, lead to the inclusion of "seed" and "nurture" in the final draft. I find myself looking at spelling possible limited shorthand or other means of reducing the character count to fit within the 140 character maximum.

loosely organizing manila folders while rifling through ancient forgotten dittos i hold my breathe in hopes of finding a hidden seed to be nurtured for next year

A bit more wordplay (tenses, plurality, word choice) later, and here is the "final" result as posted on Twitter:

loosely organizing manila folders while rifling thru ancient dittos i search for a castaway seed in need of nurturing until next school year

I'm not sure if I exactly captured it, but I was trying to evoke that sense of one year ending while hope springs eternal, maybe in the ashes of what has gone by, that next year will bring about something beautiful.

And that is how I "rock" the Twit-aiku! For what I think is a stronger example, check out Octobia's Blog, whom I've also added to my "On the Range" blogroll to the left.

Twitter, Haiku and House

what does it say about me when I would rather watch Razzie-nominated films than those deemed Oscar-worthy? 5:31 AM Jan 24th from web

While at work yesterday with a few moments on hand, I found myself clicking around MSNBC.com looking for some news of interest. Nothing "hard-hitting," but just something to wile away a few minutes. Then I came across an article entitled Tidbits: Ding! Aniston ready for round 3 with Mayer, and began reading about (no, not Aniston and Mayer), but rather Hugh Laurie's thoughts about Twitter:

“As I look around my friends’ tweets I see banality on all sides,” Laurie said in a quote posted to StarPulse. The actor’s problem isn’t with the platform, just how the masses use it. “I think if people were able to take these 140 characters (allowed in each post) and develop a poetic Western form — a haiku of our own in which all human existence could be compressed into those 140 characters — that would be a satisfying thing, but that’s not what I see when I read them.”

Full disclosure--I have had have a Twitter account, the most recent comments to which I've also placed atop this post. Just like House said "banality on all sides." I first started "tweeting" on January 10 or so and it lasted only about fourteen comments as I just couldn't see the point.

As a reader and teacher the idea of compressing language fascinates me, but shouldn't it be something worth reading, especially if one feels it necessary to share it with the "e-world?" But, then again, not everything (action, word, idea) of value is necessarily grounded in "meaning."

But, Dr. House has given me an idea: what if I try to post something simple and meaningful evry day or so for a week and see what transpires? It certainly couldn't be more transparent or annoying as following the stars of How I Met Your Mother on Twitter could it?