Creative NonFiction
A Denver, Colorado Original: Chipotle Mexican Grill
For this project, we wrote a 2-5 page piece of creative nonfiction based on an artifact found on/in/around campus. The directions were as follows:
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Find an artifact on or around campus that might contain an interesting story. On-campus things could be campus art or buildings or specific locations. In campus could be a trip to the library’s special archives to look at old DU yearbooks or images. Around campus could be things like the original Chipotle or Pete’s University Café.
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Research the artifact. Research the builders/participants of the artifact. Research the context of the artifact. Build a world of context around the artifact. You won’t want to use everything you find—this isn’t a research project. However, you need a pile of information.
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Here, you want to think whether this is a story about you or the artifact. In either case, remember you want to shape your information into an idea—a comment on the human condition; a story that resonates. You aren’t just telling a story, but instead, crafting nonfiction into a different thing.
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You can speculate, as Nate DiMeo does, but remember this wisdom of George Bush’s Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld: “There are known knowns; there are known unknowns; there are unknown unknowns.” In speculating nonfiction, stick to the “known unknown” variety.
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