sometimes, when you're writing a paper, it helps to lean off the side of your chair and rest your head on the floor to find a new perspective.

keep leaning backwards until your spine gives a nice loud crackling sound.

you might notice something lying on your floor that you never noticed before--perhaps a small wooden grizzly bear statuette lying on its side, wedged half-beneath the piano.

but then--ouch, goshers, all the blood'll run to your head and you'll have a terrible headache and then you really will not want to write your paper anymore at all.

p.s. d'you see that picture behind the basket in the last photo up there? it's a poem i copied out when i was seven. i did it at the howards' dining room table as a surprise for my dad for father's day. i accidentally spelled the word "house," which was part of the poem's title, with a lowercase H. "oh no!" i said. (i was really into capitalization back then.) mrs. kate showed me how to turn that "h" into an "H" simply by adding one line to the right side. it revolutionized first grade.