WRITE: Talking to Strangers

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Anderson's Bookshop Young Adult Literature Conference. Afterwards, I was waiting for a friend. After spending the whole day inside the hotel conference center, fresh air seemed like a great choice. I walked outside and found a perfectly lovely wooden bench. I sat towards one side of the bench, leaving room for another person to sit if he or she chose to. 

After a few minutes of being busy on my phone a man made his way over to the bench. He asked if he could take a seat and I told him of course. He was waiting for the rest of his bandmates to show up. So of course, I asked him about his band and what type of music they played, the name of the band, his part in the band. And then I told him about the literature conference and he started to tell me about his love of books. He loved books!

He described how he gets lost in a book. How he starts visualizing what he's reading and suddenly it's like he's actually there. It was really cool to listen to him talk about books. Last week I shared Kio Stark's Ted Talk about talking to strangers. Of course, we need to be safe when we talk to strangers, but sometimes you start talking to a stranger about his band and suddenly he's telling you about his love of books. And it just makes you feel good about the world. Even if just a tiny bit. 

Let's Write! Write about a time when you talked with a stranger and what you learned.