Hey classmates,

Below is a description of my contribution to our anthology booklet: 

For the final project theme, stages of growth mixed with the messy humanness of life, I decided to write a short vignette that captures a loving moment between a great grandfather figure, who happens to be a WW2 veteran, and his silly, tomboy-ish, great granddaughter. There are multiple hidden life lessons found within this short vignette, without being explicitly forward about them. You have to read between the lines, noticing the small details of movement, thinking patterns, and physical gestures that ultimately link the hidden similarities between these two different generations. Curiosity and kindness wins above all else. As you read you will notice multiple lessons or themes found between the lines. 

So far, the story embodies these life lessons: growing through two different stages of life, and grieving the younger version of yourself, especially for those with a youthful, open mindset. The story also emphasizes, from the great grandpa’s point of view, the willingness to learn from those younger than you and how the body ages but the mind doesn’t. The mind continues to grow, if you let it. I also might write and add some poems at the end of the vignette from different perspectives, elucidating feelings and making life connections from these two characters, but from the lens of both of them in a different stage of life. Perhaps, the great granddaughter, Brooklyn, is a mature woman, with her own children, reflecting back on the life lessons her great grandfather taught her well after his passing. And for Captain Great Gramps, his perspective poem can take place amidst war, facing something beyond cruel and inhumane, and how he was able to emotionally digest and deal with it at that very moment in time. The short vignette is also open to edits and revision. I’m still thinking about if anything else should be added or if I should leave it be. We will see where the creative process takes this piece ~~ sometimes, things are best left as is. 

I hope at our next class meeting, we can take the time to share and read one another’s contribution pieces, offer feedback and/or advice, and assign roles to each other on how to specifically move forward with this project, without assigning ourselves too much work as there literally is a week left in the semester. But, I am beyond excited to see our work comes together as one piece! Hehehehe 

XOXO, 

Francesca Di Fabio