GEL2007 - Day 2 - Session 3

Phil Terry spoke briefly to endorse the copy of Bit Literacy; Mark Hurst’s new book which was included in our GEL bag. Mark has been working towards this concept for sometime and has finally published his writings in a book format. It is now on my reading list. Charlie Todd, founder of Improv Everywhere, reviewed highlights from the Slo’ Mo Home Depot event. It was hilarious. John Williams, founder of Frog’s Leap Winery, told the story on how the winery came together, how they operate, how they are green. All to the backdrop of a slide show with scenes from the winery. Erin McKean, Editor in Chief of United States Dictionaries for Oxford University Press (one of the youngest editors in chief of one of the five major American dictionaries). Erin presented a quick recap of her afternoon session on Day 1 where they created words. The winning word? It was crappyjack 'any kind of empty, snacky junk food', created by Karen Watts. The two runners-up were drunch 'to consume alcoholic beverages with like-minded individuals between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday', coined by Lizzy Klein, and mispronoonce 'a jocular way of saying 'mispronounce', to be used in the first person after a particularly embarrassing mispronunciation: Oh, gosh, I mispronoonced that, didn't I?' which was coined by Nick Baum. Erin posted the full listing of the words created on one of her blogs. You can find that here. ES made a wonderfully crafted natural presentation. She used/referenced almost every presentation thus far in her brief but insightful talk. “There is spiritual crappyjack.” There has been a sacred meal in all societies through out all time. She told the story of meeting with Nathaniel, a would be mugger, on 28th Street. How she avoided being mugged, and their relationship after that critical time. John McDowell John was the composer for the music soundtrack of “Born into Brothels”, the Oscar winning documentary in 2006. His group played wonderfully to close out this session. It was appropriate to close here. No one could have followed that experience.