Here's a variation on the One-Minute Novels that we did back in June. For those who missed it, everyone wrote down five random words on a scrap of paper, traded the words with someone else, and then composed a paragraph or two incorporating what they were given. This was supposed to be done in under a minute, but we wiggled a bit and allowed two or three minutes as needed. The results were both pithy and at times baffling, since the key word suggestions covered a lot of territory.

This time we'll use the headings from a phone book to generate the word list. Start by picking five numbers from 50 to 1800*, write them on a scrap of paper, and pass it to the person on your right. When you receive your number list, look up those pages in the phone book and note the first topic heading on the upper left-hand part of the page. These are your key words. (You may notice that 'Escorts', 'Limousines', and 'Lawyers' represent a disproportionate percentage of the phone book, but we'll withhold comment on that one for now.)

Now write a short newspaper article incorporating those words. Be creative, but realistic. See if you can build up a theme across multiple writing rounds. Establish your own reporting style, and cap it off with a clever byline. This is Yellow-Page Journalism.

Bring a pad of writing paper, and scrounge up some Yellow Pages so you can streamline the word look-up (don't count on hogging the bar's copy!). Wear a fedora with a press pass in the brim, and swear a lot while drinking cheap bar scotch. Isn't this what you really wanted to do in life, instead of debugging HTML code or operating a large pepper mill?

* This number range should be whatever size your Yellow Pages are. Start where the listings begin, and don't include the index or other junk at the end.

Tuesday, September 18
5:30 to 7:00 PM-ish
Expansion Bar
2124 Market (at 14th/Church) in S.F.

Muni: just about anything goes. Take the N Metro and watch the stairs
go down behind Safeway!