Prof. Lott:
“Today I took the class into the old city proper, then plunked them down one
by one every few yards on a street that led down from Piazza della Libertad.
The assignment: Look at what you see in front of you, and write about home
based on what you see. But don’t mention Spoleto, or what you see right now.
What does this foreign place make you think about the place with which you
are most familiar?
They wrote, and I had to corral them, finally, at class end in order to get
them to stop.
- Courtney Gibbs, inside the corridor that leads directly off the piazza, a local just down the street.
- Yasmin Shah perched on the stairs and writing, and writing.
And one of the things they witnessed: this archetypal
local, sport coat worn like a cape, walking up his street:
PS: I stood under the archway visible in Courtney’s photograph to talk to
one of the students, and a pigeon unloaded fully on me. Luckily, I had my
hat on.”