Journal exercise

The following topics will help you practice close, detailed observation and may possibly suggest a subject for your observing assignment. Read the following exercises and then write on the three that interest you the most. If another interesting idea occurs to you, write a "free" entry about it.

1. Go to a public place (library, bar, restaurant, hospital emergency room, gas station, laundromat, park, shopping mall, hotel lobby, police station, beach, skating rink, beauty salon,city dump, tennis court, church, etc.). Sit and observe everything around you. Use your pencil to help you see, both by drawing sketches and by recording sensory details in words. What do you see that you haven't noticed before? Then narrow your attention to a single person, focus on a restricted place, or zoom in on a single object. What do you see that you haven't noticed before?
2. Buy a piece of fruit or a vegetable. An apple, orange, pear, carrot, or onion will do, but if possible find a persimmon, pawpaw,  mango,  pineapple,  guava,  pomegranate, lime, coconut, passion fruit, artichoke, cauliflower, broccoli, jica-ma, bok choy, or rutabaga. Sit down somewhere and look at it. Record your impressions. Hold it close to your ear and shake it. Record your impressions. Scrape your fingernail over its surface. Rub it against your cheek. Record your impressions. Close your eyes and lick it all over. Record your impressions. Scratch the surface with a utensil. Then close your eyes and smell it. Record your impressions. Peel it or take it apart. Describe what it looks like now. Take a bite out of it. Record your impressions.
3. Find a place where people (your friends or strangers) are talking (over lunch, at a bar, at a party). For ten or fifteen minutes, record the conversation word for word. To keep friends from being self-conscious, tell them that you're doing homework. If you're eavesdropping on strangers, be as inconspicuous as possible. Your purpose is to record as much of the dialogue as possible, with the pauses, interruptions, uh's and e/s, unfinished sentences, slang — everything exactly as you hear it.
4. Go to a private place that is away from the rush of everyday life (a field, a lake, a grove of trees, a hill, a desert, a seashore, or even an oasis in the city that is quiet and peaceful). Sit for a few minutes until you are accustomed to the quiet and the silence. Then observe the place around you and describe what is happening. You'll have to be attentive, noticing the little things, minor events, or subtle changes. Record your observations.