It started out good.....
> Here's a prime example of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus"
> offered by an English professor from the University of Colorado for
an
> actual class assignment:
>
>
>
> The professor told his class one day: "Today we will experiment with
a
> new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person
> will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right.
> As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a
> short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send
> another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and
then
> add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending
> another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph,
> and so on back-and-forth.
>
>
>
> Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep
> the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of
> the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the
> e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been
> reached."
>
>
>
> The following was actually turned in by two of his English students:
>
>
>
> Rebecca and Gary.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> THE STORY: (first paragraph by Rebecca)
>
>
>
> At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The
> chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home,
> now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times,
> that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs,
keep
> her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she
> thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So
> chamomile was out of the question.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (second paragraph! by Gary)
>
>
>
> Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack
squadron
> now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about
> than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with
> whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. " A.S. Harris to
> Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. " Polar
> orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he
> could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and
> blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct
> hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Rebecca)
>
>
>
> He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he
felt
> one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who
> had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its
> pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4.
> "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel",
> Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously
> excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her
> youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no
> newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of
> innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one
> lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Gary)
>
>
>
> Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live.
> Thousands of miles above the city, the Anudrian mothership launched
> the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dimwitted wimpy
> peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty
> through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the
> hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race.
> Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anudrian ships
> were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the
> entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their
> diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere
> unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine
> headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the
> inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Rebecca)
>
>
>
> This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My
> writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Gary)
>
>
>
> Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic
> whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "
Oh,
> shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of
F--KING
> TEA??? Oh no, what am I to do? I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads
> too many Danielle Steele novels!"
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Rebecca)
>
>
>
> As*h@le.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Gary)
>
>
>
> B*tch!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Rebecca)
>
>
>
> F**K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Gary)
>
>
>
> In your dreams, Ho. Go drink some tea.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (TEACHER)
>
>
>
> A+ - I really liked this one
>
Original Post
