Bitch magazine is looking for pieces about “Green.”

When I saw the word “Green,” I first thought of naive and inexperienced. What comes to mind for you? It would be an interesting exercise to take one word like this and turn it into an idea.

Words are powerful beyond their literal meaning, so I think there are a lot of ideas that could come from riffing on a single word. Some of you may want to give it a shot, whether for this publication or as a writing exercise on your own.

The magazine calls itself “the feminist response to pop culture.” As an aside, there’s a good example of a word with all sorts of action going on beyond its literal meaning.

Here’s the call for submissions:

Green: It’s environmental. It’s jealous. It’s money. It’s even, sometimes, a little nauseated. You can see the possibilities, right? Potential pieces might include an exploration of intentional communities; the trope of jealousy between women in romance novels; the feminization of the environmental movement; an in-depth look at pop culture’s female financial gurus; and gender and the stoner comedy. Pitch deadline: June 1, 2006

I don’t think I have ever entered a writing contest in my entire life. But last week I found one that required about six minutes of effort on my part, and the prize was $50. I entered it and lost. But why should my six minutes of hard work go to waste.

So I submit to you, fellow Word Pirates and other interested parties, my losing entry.

The prompt was: Steven Seagal has announced that he will no longer make movies, and this devastates you. In 100 words or less, write your suicide note.

And I said …

Without facial expressions or vocal inflections, Steven Seagal managed to touch a part of me that I thought was untouchable. He spoke to my heart in the language of fists. The silencing of those fists brings the silencing of my heart.

If his films have taught me anything, it’s that life is but a rigged cage match fought to win your kidnapped daughter’s freedom from an evil gambling kingpin even though you retired from fighting after winning the world Taekwondo championship.

In heaven, an “Under Seige” sequel comes out every year. I’ll see you there.

[signed]

PS – “Glimmer Man” Rules!

Winners can be seen (on the April 10 contest results) here

Our first Word Pirates meeting was held at Joy’s house. Ten people showed up.

The prompt: Inspired by Aimee Bender, we each brought in a book that we like. We opened the book to a random page and picked the fifth line down. Then, we copied the line onto our page and wrote for 15 minutes from that prompt.