There's a show called "Wife Swap" on ABC. They take two wives from different kinds of lives and make the change places for two weeks. First week they have to live by the orginal family's rules, second week the family has to live by their's. Free thinkers to devote religious types, uptight type A personalities who rule with an iron fist to wild hippy types. Most are shocked by the way the others live their lives and think their own way is better. They cause trouble, protest and in some instances throw up their hands and walk out. One had a vegan go live with a country type family who just went out and hunted their own food. When the Vegan stand in wife said, "Sorry, we don't have any meat for tonight." The husband picked up his gun and went out and shot them some dinner.
You can see all types on this show except writers.
I doubt they can ever put a writer on a show like this because writers observe life and love to experience new point of views. You never know when you can use that in a book! Put a writer on a farm? Koool, we could learn about planting and cows. Put a writer in the home of a hard core, animal rights activist? Yes, lets see what thats all about. Would there be any place a writer wouldn't want to go for two weeks?
As a writer, what kind of lifestyle would you like to try? Where wouldn't you want to go?
8 comments:
Great post!!! I am a homebody. I love my four kids and the life we have. But in the end, I like my guy in that he lets me be my own eccentric self with ZERO trying to control me (not that anyone could). Never ONCE has he ever, ever, ever told me to rein in the way I am--from loading up my kids--even th ebaby--to march on the White House and protest the war, to my absolute inability to be a PTA mom and do anything remotely homemaker-ish. My political views, my friends (from a broad spectrum of gender and races and religions), all of it, he simply accepts. So I would presume part of this "wife swap" concept is having to deal with some husband. Which just would be not my thing, no matter what!!!! LOL!
BUT, I would LOVE to try a farm, as that is a long-range dream of mine. I would like to try an extremely cold climate, like Alaska (also have great curiosity about it), and maybe being a Christian pastor's wife, because that might be funny to debate various ideological points.
I would NOT want to try to live for two weeks with anyone remotely racist or homophobic. I take it with some of those shows that they intentionally set you up with your opposite.
E
On wife swap they try to find your opposite (I think) so BEWARE!
I did do the PTA thing and sometimes it was torture! I'd rather be home painting pictures on my windows. (strange, but true) I always felt out of place there, but muddled through. I was much better to just take a job and go home and do it. I gave up on the domestic stuff a long time ago. Bonus; My kids are good cooks-they had to figure it out to survive in this house. lol
You're going to get visitors who google "wife swap" for reasons other than the show you describe. The only American TV I'm able to watch is CNN. They're not much into wife swapping.
I can't think of a home I wouldn't live in for a couple of weeks, just to get a different perspective. In fact I've long wanted to be a street person for a while (maybe a whole winter) to see what street people go through.
I've been curious about the homeless too. I often wonder how they got to this place in life. Do they want to change or is there some kind of bliss in the fact that all you worry about is in staying warm and getting enough nourishment to stay alive. Would they take opportunities to improve? If not, why not?
I think it would be neat to swap into a simplistic community, like say, the Amish. On the flip side of that, it would also be cool to hob nob with royalty. =)
Not many places I wouldn't swap, but like Erica, I couldn't stand to be around racists. Truthfully, I probably wouldn't be comfortable in a nudist colony either. :0
you're absolutely 'write'! I find every day a blessing as I'm constantly meeting new people and experiencing new things. Shun no one 'cause you never know what you will learn!
Life is a gift for writers.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it's a memoir about a woman whose family lived really strange lives and then the parents actually made the choice to live homeless. The mother wore a two carat diamond ring and slept on park benches. There was also the hint that she owned land in Texas worth a few million.
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