The 31 Sentence Contest

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Welcome. You have stumbled upon a new adventure. One that will challenge you to grow; one that is filled with twists and turns; one that will have your piece swinging like the rhythm of a jazz ensemble that keeps readers and listeners engaged to the very end (or we crash into a wall and die; either way, we'll learn something together).


Round 3


The Prizes

First Place: 13 SBI @steembasicincome

Second Place: 8 SBI @steembasicincome

Third Place: 4 SBI @steembasicincome


Contest Rules

1. One Entry Per Person.

2. Inspired by the prompt and follows the random number order exactly with the correct amount of words in each sentence (explained below).

3. Prose or poetry, any form and genre of fiction is accepted.

4. It must be a story. Refer here for an explanation of what a story must contain in order for it to be considered a story.

5. Use the tag #31sentencecontest (this is how I keep track of your entries)

6. Contest closes at the end of this post's payout.

7. In your entry, link back to this contest somewhere in your post.

8. Post a link to your tale in the comments below.

9. English is the only language I speak and that limits me big time. However, just about any language can be plugged into google translate. If the translation comes out clean enough for me and others to be able to read it, it is a valid entry. If you prefer to have your story in the best English translation possible, consider collaborating with someone.


The Prompt (explained)

The PROMPT: this is what your story is tied to in some way and in some fashion of your choosing within the fiction realm. You don't have to use the wording of the prompt in the story but your story must somehow relate to the prompt. Easy enough - we hope.

The Sentences: # 1-31(explained)

This idea comes from John Taylor Gatto. In this interview, he speaks about the inner jazz of writing coming to life simply by applying this method. I've been curious to see this in action. So ...

The SENTENCES: This objective here will have you writing out exactly 31 sentences, found below the prompt in a randomized order. The number of words for each and every sentence corresponds with the sentence number you are on.

For example, if 1 is the number that is up, you may only use one word that will complete the sentence (I know - technically, one word isn't a sentence but deal with it 8-). If 31 is the number, you construct a sentence that is 31 words in length, no more no less. The same goes for all numbers. (Here you'll find excellent examples from the first contest should you need to see a fuller example.)

Except for number 1, all sentences must be a complete sentence. You may construct your paragraphs however you see fit.


I, @tristancarax, am the judge. This contest will mostly be judged by how I feel about your piece and my interest in your piece because my editing skills are so far below par that earthworms stand above me. As I improve, so will the judging. Additionally, comments on contestant's posts will be taken into consideration when choosing a winner.


And there you have it. I'm excited to see what your minds create and imagine through this exercise.





The Prompt:

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source

Sentence order:

30, 4, 14, 22, 6, 10, 3, 31, 17, 27, 2, 24, 16, 28, 9, 20, 15, 7, 21, 13, 8, 26, 12, 1, 25, 23, 19, 18, 29, 11, 5





Previous Contestants

@agmoore, @gwilberiol, @odeis



Steemit sites I support and/or delegate to.

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@ocdb
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@steemmonsters
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@bananafish
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@curie
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@creativecoin
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@theluvbug
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@freewritehouse
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@c-squared
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@qurator
Screenshot21.png@thetalentclubScreenshot25.png
@steembasicincome
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@contestkings
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@tipu
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@freezepeach
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@creativecrypto
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@steemauto


Other sites I support

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Facebook - Moving the Streets
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Iq Matrix


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50 comments
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You have garnered support from the @bananafish community. We appreciate you're fine work and hope that you will continue to produce awesome content for us to feast our minds on.

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Hi Tristancarax,
This is so tempting, but I've got several complicated blogs on my plate, family obligations, and I'm trying to refresh my memory of geometry (if you can believe that). So I can't join in, but I am resteeming.
Good luck with this... a very interesting, challenging, contest.

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Thanks, @agmoore2. No worries. Join when time permits. I'm happy for the support. Geometry was always difficult for me. Algebra I was fine with.

I do hope it catches traction. Last week, probably because of the holiday, was a dud. We shall see what this week brings. Better rewards so hopefully that will help.

I can't wait to read one of your entries again, but, until then, do what you do. 8-)

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Heh @tristancarax: it seems you drew topnotch writers out of winter retreat. This exercise is unique. That's something. I'm off to read more of the entries. So far I've read and supported a few. Happy to see creativity blossom :)

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It's blowing me away who is coming out. I love this.

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(Edited)

You underestimate yourself, @agmoore2, but family complications, I get - our grandson at age 3 just underwent eye surgery Friday morning. We had his little sister Thu-Sun, her first time ever away from him and from home for so long. She was a trooper! But I digress. Looking forward to your writing whatever format or challenge you respond to, agmoore! and THANK YOU @owasco for the nudge and @Tristancarax for your amazing challenges and ways you support others at Steemit. Do you ever find time to sleep and eat??

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Me skippy eat and sleep is akin to saying I did't go to the bathroom all day. Doesn't happen very often. 8-)

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You are extraordinarily productive in your waking hours, then!

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Just read your nimble piece @carolkean. Loved evidence of the struggle :))
Believe me, I don't underestimate myself. There's more obstinacy than anything else in my effort. Every now and then inspiration strikes, and that is beautiful. But I don't have your skill. Take my word for that.
As for your grandchild. So sorry about the surgery. My granddaughter was born with thumbs that didn't work. Had undergo surgery before she was two to fix it for life. Bad time. So I understand the stress. Thumbs work great now. Hope the eye surgery was as successful.

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Opposable thumbs that oppose the body they're on.... poor little granddaughter and thank heaven for modern medicine! Not that long ago, mothers and witches were blamed for "birth defects." Genetic anomaly sounds nicer... thank you for the kind words! BTW, the more we write, the more inspiration strikes. It's like if you never exert yourself by opening the window, you'll never let the sun in. Or something like that. I love your writing!

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Thanks for the update and call for this wonderful great challenge... I will rack my brain and submit my entry as soon as possible

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THIS IS SO MUCH FUN I AM LAUGHING OUT LOUD. Calling all creative writers! @deirdyweirdy, @feltbuzz, @carolkean, @byn (xo), @kimberlylane, @free-reign, @hlezama, @fitinfun, @goatgirlz, @wales. I thought of you guys first, so maybe it's something you would like to do. But it's a mind-blowing gas, not hard at all. Use wordcounter.

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Thanks for the support, @owasco, although, I fear that you may have downplayed the difficulty of this exercise but I won't tell anybody otherwise. ;-) haha

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I know! I did! I was only three sentences in at that time! lol

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I know! I did! I
Was only three sentences
In at that time! lol

                 - owasco


I'm a bot. I detect haiku.

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El-o-el, haiku bot, is three syllables

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What an adorable gif!
I'm totally daunted by the numbers but your provocative use of the word JAZZ might provoke me to try this time-consuming, brain-cell straining sport. "Jazz" has been declared the word of the year... gotta hunt down the link for that now...or not. (Just write, right?)

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Haha! Just write, yes. - I'm sitting here thinking about. Is that not enough? What do you want from me?!?!

The word "Jazz" comes from the mouth of John T. Gatto. I loved the way he spoke about it so I borrowed it.

I really do hope I get to read your entry, either this one or one of the next ones.

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(Edited)

One word was used to epitomize the entire 20th century: #jazz, "to describe not only music, but the sweep and swing of the quintessential American century, and the cultural flows that invigorated it." Ok, it's not the word of the year for 2019, it's the word for the whole 20th C. (Did I mention math, clocks, calendars, counting, and all that jazz, to be my weak spots?)

Who gets to decide such weighty, wordy things? The little-known American Dialect Society (ADS), founded in 1889, and dedicated to the study of the English language in North America.
ADS has been picking a word of the year since 1990, longer than any other entity. Its members selected jazz from dozens of possible words in January 2000. source:
App. Fake news. Hashtag. What will be the word of the decade? And who decides?

Now to see what Gatto said about jazz:

(Just when I thought I was done googling for a minute!)
Over in China, the revered Shanghai Conservatory of Music can’t even believe the principles of jazz are real! That with enough courage and trust in yourself, you can hear a piece of music once, and ring dazzling changes on it forever and ever. They can’t duplicate our jazz. But everything else we make doesn’t worry them a bit.
....The road to wealth comes from understanding yourself. Doing what you do best, not what other people do best.
--John Taylor Gatto,
author of Dumbing Us Down, The Exhausted School, A Different Kind of Teacher, and The Underground History of American Education. Formerly a three-time New York City Teacher of the Year and New York State Teacher of the Year, he “dropped out” of teaching in 1991 via an article in the Wall Street Journal, claiming he was no longer willing to hurt children. He has been writing and talking about non-schooling ever since. https://www.life.ca/lifelearning/0510/breaking_from_the_herd_whats_wrong_with_college_by_John_Taylor_Gatto.htm

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Oh my goodness I love this guy! Here's the letter he wrote when he quit
https://www.educationrevolution.org/blog/i-quit-i-think/

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Thank you for this!!! He speaks for me. And Lenore Skenazy-ish free spirits like you and @owasco and @goat-girlz and.... all of us at @freewritehouse, I suspect.

Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents.
An exaggeration? Hardly. Parents aren’t meant to participate in our form of schooling, rhetoric to the contrary. My orders as schoolteacher are to make children fit an animal training system, not to help each find his or her personal path.

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Public schooling has lobotomized us, as it was intended to do. We are know nothings who think we know everything. You've really got me going now. I sound like I do on FB. Hey! Did you ever get a friend request from me?

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I responded to that friend request ages ago... let me see if it went through....
Someone else with a similar name is Wellness Advocate at doTERRA Essential Oils USA....

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@owasco, @Carolkean - One of my favorite videos.

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This certainly explains a lot about what we are seeing today, most of us blindly accepting what we are told as truth, even when it is completely irrational. Divide and conquer - so obvious. I am ashamed. But the video is great!

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Reminds me a bit of Red Pill, the movie, title taken from The Matrix...
Yes.
And the echo box thing, where we scour social media for whatever will confirm what we already believe.

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Echo chamber (not box): Where we seek confirmation of what we already believe.

an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered. "people are living in partisan and ideological echo chambers"


This video is disturbing! How is it possible that our elected leaders never seem to address it in political campaigns, except to propose throwing more money at education, which - listen to Gatto - is not the solution:

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You can find me on fb as tristan j carax.

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I just sent you a request.
Same profile pix

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(Did I mention math, clocks, calendars, counting, and all that jazz, to be my weak spots?)

haha! @agmoore2 also said something like that.

Loved the article. I never knew.

I loved the quote! It is perfect for this contest. Thanks for finding it.

When I had a psychological break down, while living in New York, just after Hurrican Katrina, I was invited over to my friend's house after he talked my blubbering, angry, confused self into coming over. There is where I was introduced to John T. G. So many lights were going off that tied back into things I had experienced in the schooling system and why I lacked the skills, supposed to be taught to you during your schooling career, necessary to truly strive in the world of which I was waking up to. He was a teacher I always dreamed of having. His words touched my soul.

I have for the last five years had a another seba (teacher) who stands up to those standards of mine. In this way, I'm blessed.

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You've come a long way from the "angry, confused self" you describe post-Katrina! Finding a mentor and teacher is indeed a great blessing. Your experience parallels millions of children oppressed by institutionalized education -forcing children to sit still and stay quiet all day in a hard chair is not my idea of how to teach life skills and prepare our little ones for adulthood. Most kids SEEM to turn out ok with this system, but I'm haunted by photos of Native American children in matching school uniforms sent to boarding schools. Their childhoods were stolen, they were punished for speaking in their native tongue... ok, I stop now. This is too depressing to recall. Back to MEMORY LOSS... story prompt....

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I always picked up on that aspect regarding the Indigenous peoples of this land and that of the Afrikans. Things just looked off.

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Thanks for the heads up but I did see the challenge and it's way beyond my meagre capabilities. Did you see agmoore's entry into the last round?

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Yes! I have two more sentences to write. They are proving to be diabolical. I love it though. If I can do it, you surely can. I highly recommend this!

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Twelve hours of work later. I may have underestimated the task, but I enjoyed it.
https://steempeak.com/@owasco/the-old-lady-s-memory

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You rocked it, @owasco!!!
The lady and her fading memory, and her herbal lore, her chats with bots - HILARIOUS!
Bot Clobbered, or... something like that. :)
I'm still hunting for the deadline.

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It's tomorrow I think. But thank you!!!!

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