Whistles

This past weekend I attended a three day writer's workshop. It was on tethering micro essays. It has been quite a few days since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd share one of the pieces I was working on in the workshop. It is still a work in progress, but I really hated not staying current on here and my brain is still recovering from the workshop. I hope you enjoy it. Stay strong and stay loud!!

Whistles

1. My dad was a high school football coach. The sharp sound of a whistle has always brought a warm feeling of nostalgia to me. Add to it the sounds of grunts, yells, and body collisions, and I am in my happy place.

2. My parents divorced when I was five years old and my dad got me on the weekends. Every Saturday morning in the fall, my dad and I would stop to get donuts and head to football practice. I always got a Boston Cream; I could barely wait to rip the donut open to get to the creamy goodness on the inside. My dad would always have to clean the chocolate off my face with a wet napkin before we got out of the car. He would let me carry the rest of the donuts into the players and would tell them, "Look at what little Hutch brought for you guys today. You better play well. It's up to her at the end of practice whether or not you deserve a donut." I'd start the morning watching carefully to see who was practicing hard. I would watch my dad coach and listen to the whistles grunts and, "32, 33, hut, hut, HIKE!!"

3. Sometimes, I can still smell the fresh cut grass. The earthy smell of dirt mixed with adrenaline and sweat that would tingle my nose as I sat on the sidelines. Eventually I would get distracted by all of the dandelions. I would pick the big ploofs and blow as hard as I could, dispersing seeds far and wide, thus ensuring there would be plenty of flowers for me to play "Mama had a baby and her head popped off" the following week. How to tell I'm Gen-X and from New Jersey without saying I'm Gen-X and from New Jersey.

4. The Ehecachichtli is a type of whistle formerly used by the Aztecs to scare away other humans and animal predators. It would sound like the wind angrily howling through the canyon when someone would blow into it. Now, you can buy reproductions handmade in Mexico out of clay. They are called Aztec death whistles and they mimic the sound of a person screaming. Loudly, very very loudly.

5. Ancient Celts used a type of horn called a Carynx and the Norse used a Gjallarhorn to signify going into battle. Conch shells have been used in multiple cultures to intimidate enemies, signify battle, and claim victory, the Shankha in Hindu and Jinkai used by the Samurai.

6. Now, the sound of a whistle represents fear, oppression, injustice, and violence. The sounds of grunts, yells, colliding bodies, and concussion inducing tackles are no longer mutually consensual. A whistle no longer signifies the end of a play. Instead, it is a call to arms. A short sharp whistle means that evil has arrived in your neighborhood. Violence is on it's way to take your neighbors and you, if they think you are in the way. There are long sharp whistles as well. They mean violence is HERE. The masked armed men are actively taking your neighbors. The long whistles are the last thing you hear as they take you away for trying to help, or for going to the doctor's office. Or for trying to go home.

7. Soon the sound of a long whistle won't be the last sound people hear as they are beaten, hog-tied, and disappeared into an SUV. Instead, the long whistles will be followed by sound of Aztec death whistles, Carynxes, Shankhas, Jinkais, and Gjallarhorns signifying that an army of fierce warriors are about to come charging through the tear gas, death, and destruction. They will be donning their gas masks and Kevlar armor and they will signify the coming together of cultures to fight an unjust and oppressive regime trying to take over the free world.