The fourth and final quarter has begun at the American School of Douala. In the first two quarters, my class and I spent the first ten minutes of every class reading a book that was not assigned for class. The goal was to encourage reading outside of class, bring down higher energy levels after gym classes and get our minds focused on the tasks at hand. For the next two quarters, this practice has been replaced by ten minutes of writing. This practice will bring down energy levels and set our minds to task, but it is also an opportunity to experiment with our creative sides. Students are free to write about anything they want or interpret the prompt in any medium they wish – the prompts are only for those who need inspiration.
I write the same prompts with my students in all three of the classes we practice this activity – teachers should always be willing to do what they ask of students. Below are the prompts from this past week and my favorite of the three responses I wrote with my classes. All prompts were written by myself.
The picture at the top of this post was taken by our apartment’s pool this past weekend. It’s a hard life here in Cameroon.
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Monday 28 March
What is the best book you have ever read? Why was it the best book?
This is a tough one. Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha immediately comes to mind. it’s short, compact even, and still manages to pack a stylistically novel and philosophically profound interpretation of Buddhism. As an allegory, Siddhartha is wonderful at introducing the Buddhist world view while also analogizing the Noble truths into a form that is easily digestible – the book was the gateway to appreciating the religion. From a literary perspective, Siddhartha also uses a unique plot structure based on the cyclical nature of Samsara. instead of linear progression or a classic quest, the plot “turns,” following a pattern analogous to “reincarnation.” This structure – aside from its beauty and ingenuity – is incredibly effective at demonstrating how a cyclical understanding of cause and effect works logically and ontologically. The novel both introduces this unorthodox approach to reason while demonstrating its utility through the form of the novel itself. All of this is done with an airy, almost celestial appreciation for beauty. Pound-for-pound, page-for-page, Siddhartha stands apart.
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Tuesday 29 March
Studies show that social media usage is linked to higher rates of sleep deprivation, anxiety, and self-harm. How much do you use social media? Do you want to change your social media habits?
I deactivated my Facebook account in January, and I haven’t looked back since. My screen time tracker says I spend 80% less time looking at my phone than when it was installed, and my body says thank you for the extra days of sleep I’ve cumulatively gained since the delete. Instagram gets boring and doesn’t load as easily in internet-starved Douala, and TikTok has never been on my phone, although I’ve seen its power. In general, it feels like there’s a movement away from social media. Some people think about these things too much and watched that documentary, The Social Dilemma, which makes a pretty convincing case against any social media usage. Others are old stodges who hate anything fun. But a lot of people are getting away from social media because the value of the service has really decreased; people are less public in their lives than they used to be, and messaging apps have kind of taken over the world. Why share something shallow with everyone when you can share something personal with those who really care? Younger people are also less impressed by the novelty of social media and appreciate the utility of apps more than their social appeal.
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Wednesday 30 March
Would you rather live in 1922, 2022, or 2122? Does the location make a difference?
The face of the cliff winks at me:
Caves rip through her cheeks, gashes of emptiness that have form and shape.
Smiling, some of these caves hold bodies
that have rested for thousands of years.
Others sheltered shepherds and slaves, beasts and bandits,
from the howling winds of the canyon
And as they hid in the dark so that no one could see, did they think
They were safe from the eyes of God?
The skull of the cliff is bleached, smoothed, elevated,
a small altar sits at the crown.
Long ago, the devout would slaughter for their faith
and watch blood pool in the hairline of the mountain.
They must have imagined that
with each last gasp, each plea for mercy,
their God bent low from the ceiling of cloud
and kissed their mountain peak with smiling lips.
Today, two travelers stand near the death crown
and look out over Biblical creation, at those caves and faces in the cliff,
to see Bedouin riders escorting obese white foreigners
through sacred valleys, marked by fiber-optic cables,
past selfie spots marked for the creatively deficient.
Those travelers wonder what time has done to this place,
if all that is sacred becomes a destination for the profane
or if our summit was the depths of meaning.
Petra cares little for our musings.
At night, we walked through black crevices,
and hooves clapped on billion-year stone
while riders played Eminem on tinny speakers tied to the saddle.
What kind of world have we inherited?
Where stone altars became profile pictures,
and bandits became tour guides,
and the sacrificial damned sleep without dreams,
their pleas unanswered, spoken in a language we can no longer hear.
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Thursday 31 March
Scientists have recently developed a happy box. People can plug themselves into the box, strangely shaped like a coffin, and have all their biological and medical needs met. While in the happy box, a person experiences intense amounts of pleasure for an infinite amount of time, and is unable to experience any bad feelings or recall painful memories. Do you get in the happy box?
This thought experiment is amazing. When I tell people that I don’t believe happiness is the ultimate goal of life, they usually give me this look like I’m crazy. This thought experiment restores my sanity, and as I’m updating this post after my students had the chance to respond to it, this prompt led to one of the best conversations we’ve had in class.
No, I wouldn’t want to get in the happy box. I would like to experience it for a day, maybe, for the same reason I would like to try most new things, but even then, I doubt that I would want such carnal knowledge. Life cannot simply be the attainment of happiness through pleasure. My concern is also that other pleasure would lose significance. Even if we could argue that anyone could dismiss a life of hedonistic chemically-induced bliss, the “softer” goal of a life of happiness is insufficient. The “good life” requires struggle, and the conquest of that struggle. Happiness is a byproduct at best and a randomly occurring state of being in most cases. I can feel happiness watching children jump around puddles on the way to school, and while that happiness is true, it is also fleeting. After I see them, I must continue to my destination. We all do. Happiness is a state that we should cherish when it arrives and honor when it departs, and not abuse by holding it hostage as the only state of value. Pleasure doesn’t require relative displeasure to appreciate, but the noblest fruits of life – purpose, romance, legacy, solidarity, vocation – seem to require their absence to fully appreciate, and the happy box denies us of all these things.
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Friday 1 April
Write a conversation between two friends who recently discovered $5000 in an envelope in a park in a bad part of town.
[Pass.]
certification 
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