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Friday, April 29, 2022

Free thoughts

Take two pretty Underwood Champions from the 1930s, some colored cards ...


... a little ingenuity, and some guts. Mix and you get Free Thoughts — a pop-up project at Xavier University today. A colleague in the philosophy department and I sat outside the main classroom building and wrote reflections on any topics proposed by a steady stream of students and faculty.



I did much the same three years ago with another colleague. What a long three years it's been! Nobody had heard of Covid-19 then. Today, I wore a mask because I was recently exposed to the virus (later I tested negative).

Before we ventured out, we tried some typing in my office, picking prompts randomly from books. This was my favorite effort:



Here are some thoughts I typed for the public: 








(Should have been "bound for a destination unbounded"!)









And here are some of my friend's thoughts. (You'll notice duplicate themes. People offered a topic and we both wrote about it.)





We agreed: this was a great experience that we will repeat!



 

12 comments:

  1. jackass and odysseus and jesus and flames of goodness. fanstastic!

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  2. The best thoughts are Free thoughts :D

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  3. Once a thought is captured in print, is it actually still considered a thought at that point?

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  4. What a treat this morning! Thank you. Now let us readers write down these prompts, take them up a week or so later, and see how free our own thoughts are.

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    1. Great idea. I'd like to see what you come up with!

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  5. Beautiful typewriters. Great thoughts put to words. Great idea using colored paper.

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  6. How grand! (and brave too, i think)
    Works well with a typewriter - only writing and no backtracking :-)

    (Btw - isn't it amazing how few coloured Champions there are - given that they didn't cost any more than a regular black one.)

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  7. I just want to say how impressed I am with your, dare I say, poetry. It is sublime. Thank you doing this and showing the results.

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  8. Beautiful machines! Nice poetry! Thanks as always for sharing your typewriter adventures.

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  9. Such a novel idea. Free and spirited... and poetic too. I'd be very impressed if a philosophy professor made themself so creatively available on campus. Hats off.

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  10. Wow! You both came up with some amazing poetry when put on the spot! So talented!

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