The best conversation I had this week, huh? Well, that's pretty easy. On Monday I got to hang out with a former professor from my first school (Cottey College, what up?!). We spent a long time just catching up, but we also talked about Crohn's for a while. Well, I talked a lot. It wasn't until after I left that I realized I had rambled on for a really long time. Probably longer than absolutely necessary. Certainly longer than I usually do.
Anyway, the interesting thing about this particular conversation was that we originally met not too long after I was diagnosed. She knew I had Crohn's, but we never really talked about it. Actually, we never talked about it at all. I think the most communicating I ever did was to send her an email or two when I was too sick to make it out of my dorm room. I never applied for disability with the school or anything. I was so uncomfortable with the whole idea of having a chronic disease back then... I pretty much refused to deal with it.
But then there we were, sitting in a hotel in Chicago, talking about my family's history of chronic illness, my own disease, this blog and everything else. Life is funny sometimes.
The actual prompt is to write a script version of this conversation. The issue here is that it happened almost a week ago, and I do not have the kind of brain that can retain conversations word-for-word. Something about the idea of writing a script seems to indicate that I'm supposed to be transcribing the conversation exactly, and I just don't think I can pull that off. I'm fairly certain that this was not the intention of WEGO, but I'm having a hard time getting past it. So, this is mostly just a really long way of saying that what follows is not necessarily a completely accurate representation of this conversation. I'm sure my professor remembers it differently than I do. Here goes nothing...
Okay, so this is why I could never be a fiction writer. I feel like my own voice is super present in that tiny exchange, but I definitely did not come anywhere close to making my professor sound as cool as she actually is. I actually wrote a little bit more than this, but it just started to go downhill, so I cut myself off.
I feel like the point I was trying to make is there, though. It's so interesting that this particular professor has been in my life pretty much since the beginning of my life with Crohn's, and yet until Monday she didn't know some of the most important information about my disease. It's just a strange indication of how much has changed in the past few years. How much I've changed.
Anyway, the interesting thing about this particular conversation was that we originally met not too long after I was diagnosed. She knew I had Crohn's, but we never really talked about it. Actually, we never talked about it at all. I think the most communicating I ever did was to send her an email or two when I was too sick to make it out of my dorm room. I never applied for disability with the school or anything. I was so uncomfortable with the whole idea of having a chronic disease back then... I pretty much refused to deal with it.
But then there we were, sitting in a hotel in Chicago, talking about my family's history of chronic illness, my own disease, this blog and everything else. Life is funny sometimes.
The actual prompt is to write a script version of this conversation. The issue here is that it happened almost a week ago, and I do not have the kind of brain that can retain conversations word-for-word. Something about the idea of writing a script seems to indicate that I'm supposed to be transcribing the conversation exactly, and I just don't think I can pull that off. I'm fairly certain that this was not the intention of WEGO, but I'm having a hard time getting past it. So, this is mostly just a really long way of saying that what follows is not necessarily a completely accurate representation of this conversation. I'm sure my professor remembers it differently than I do. Here goes nothing...
Maggie: I'm living with my cousin and my brother now.
Prof: Oh, I think I remember you saying that last time I saw you.
Maggie: Yeah, it's been really good. My cousin has Crohn's also.
Prof: Oh, really?
Maggie: Yeah, you... I probably never told you... Did you know that a whole bunch of my family members have chronic diseases? I was actually just writing about this in my blog post today...
Prof: No, I didn't know. But, you know, we never really talked about your disease when you were at Cottey
Maggie: Right, well, I didn't really talk to anyone about it.
Okay, so this is why I could never be a fiction writer. I feel like my own voice is super present in that tiny exchange, but I definitely did not come anywhere close to making my professor sound as cool as she actually is. I actually wrote a little bit more than this, but it just started to go downhill, so I cut myself off.
I feel like the point I was trying to make is there, though. It's so interesting that this particular professor has been in my life pretty much since the beginning of my life with Crohn's, and yet until Monday she didn't know some of the most important information about my disease. It's just a strange indication of how much has changed in the past few years. How much I've changed.
that's nice
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