John Woman

1. The first assignment is to write your personal history as a series of events and so-called facts using no more than a paragraph to describe, explain and/or excuse each. This list will include at least half of the following topics: birthplace, income bracket (class), education, relatives, race, religion, gender, major achievements, sexual experiences, fantasies, enemies, loves, hatreds, likes, dislikes, skills, ineptitudes, and opinions held of you by your friends and those who don’t like you, your teachers, your favorite color if you have one, your pets, taste in clothes. And then you must delve deeper, giving an inventory of your disgusting habits, your unsavory secret desires, the crimes and wrongdoings you have committed. Examples? Smelling your own feces, eating the hardened mucus from your nose, killing the neighbor’s dog, rape, murder or the most serious crime in America, theft.

2. Write a similar document on someone you know without that person being aware of the project.

3. Write another personal history on someone you don’t know well.

4. Blend the histories into someone you like best. Create a new man or woman out of your research. Discover the ideal being and bring that history into class, sharing as much of it as you dare.

5. Throughout this assignment we will study methods, techniques, research systems, and various other arcane approaches to accomplish these ends.