Listen Here
By Pulse Staff
A random walk around campus last week and you might have seen a baby doll laying next to a dirty work glove covered in twigs or a stack of tarot cards next to a skull and caldron. It was all part of an activity called “The Magic of Writing” on Thursday Oct. 20 and Friday Oct. 21.
As part of a celebration for the National Day on Writing at the University of Findlay, the Writing Center, Shafer Library, and the CTE staged an event to get UF students to flex their writing muscles on Instagram.
Participants in the activity started at the Ritz Theater in Old Main and picked up a trail map and chose a writing prompt from a variety of options to start their story.
Brigitte Galauner, College Librarian for Business, Education, and Social Sciences says there were six stations on the trail map. Participants were to visit all the locations to get a new element or event to add to their story. At some locations, players had to complete tasks but throughout the journey they were to write down their story as it happened.
“There are items and things there that will kind of spark their imagination or encourage them to add things to their story as they see fit,” Galauner said. “Then once they’re done, they’re supposed to post the story on Instagram and post any photos that they took and then tag the Writing Center and also use #UFwritingday22.”
A combination of staff from the Writing Center and the Library will judge the posts according to Dr. Harley Ferris, director of the Writing Center.
“We’ll each review all the stories posted with the hashtag and discuss our favorites, and then choose a winner,” Ferris said. “We’ll announce that winner either Friday (Oct. 28) or next week, and the prize is a commemorative edition of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.”
Locations on the trail other than the Ritz Theater as “The Haunted Theater” were “The Writer’s Den” in the Writing Center, “The Witch’s House” in Shafer Library, “The Wooded Cemetery” in the Sensory Garden at the Japanese House, “The Asylum” in the Basement of 1124 Cory Street, and “The Abandoned Well” at the Gazebo on Cory Street Mall.
“I hope they kind of just have fun with it. Because when I was an undergrad I always liked having campus events and just things to do on campus,” Galauner said. “So I hope that they have fun with it and kind of get into the spirit of Halloween.”
