BUILD A BRICK on me* (in celebration of blog entry #100)

Okay, everyone.  So I need people here.  You are people (so I expect).  You are creative and wondrous.  You are also busy.  I am busy.  I have a proposition.  HERE IT IS:

To the first 5 (unless I just get a crazy-huge response, in which case I will expand to 10) responders--and just a word is enough--to this post will be sent in the mail, the physical mail operated by the worthy USPS (once, of course, they've emailed me their mailing address), the following:

• 1 or more pieces of paper (white, colored, textured, who knows),
• 3 or more random art supplies (crayons, tissue paper, chalk, glitter, stencils, whatever), and
• 1 BRICK prompt (book quotation, author, poem, title),
• 1 SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope) for return to me, hopefully within a week or so.

SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS FABULOUS ARTISTIC OPPORTUNITY?

1. be one of the first five people to COMMENT ON THIS POST,
2. send me your US Postal mailing address to my email address,
3. wait for your letter from me,
4. get crazy creative,
5. mail the results back

Piece of cake, yeah?

DO IT!

***

* Imagine what Weird Al would do with this song under the title of this post:

Let's Tell EAST OF EDEN in 55 ILLUSTRATED SENTENCES

Maybe this is impossible from within this format.  It could be friggin' cool, though.  And I said it earlier: it would make a great book if it's done right and well.  See what you think:

So, I've titled each of the entries for the book (listed below by chapter).  The titles are getting a little more creative as I go, and I got thinking about this and how we all did the Wall in my old classroom (so perfectly compiled by the Brown sisters, by the way).  So let's put it all together.  We could do an illustration/cartoon for each chapter title and pair each a single-sentence caption encapsulating that particular chapter.

Chapter 1: The Salinas Valley
Chapter 2: Introducing the Hamiltons and Our Gods (not exactly the same people)
Chapter 3: Cyrus, the Trasks, and Sexism and The Fall of Gods
Chapter 4: The Aches of the Restless and Young
Chapter 5: Meanwhile Back on the Ranch
Chapter 6: Restlessness, Part Deux -- Maturity
Chapter 7: The Return Home
Chapter 8: Nature versus Nurture
Chapter 9: From the Bottom Up
Chapter 10: The Trasks: Family Drama
Chapter 11: Adam is Taken with a Devil
Chapter 12: unblogged, and subject to your creativity
Chapter 13: The Glory Boys
Chapter 14: Olive, the Olympian
Chapter 15: Divination
Chapter 16: The Golden Man with the Goat's Eyes
Chapter 17: Of Meteors and Monsters
Chapter 18: To Bury Secrets
Chapter 19: What's the Opposite of a Church
Chapter 20: Treacherous to Her Master
Chapter 21: Calculation, Poison, and Patience
Chapter 22: Baptism, Minus the Water
Chapter 23: Flies on the Brain
Chapter 24: Timshel
Chapter 25: Resurrection and Glory Via Timshel
Chapter 26: The Beginnings of a New Beginning
Chapter 27: Abracadabra
Chapter 28: [no title; no reading questions]
Chapter 29: Just Call Me Joe!
Chapter 30: Shot Through the Heart
Chapter 31: Adam to Cathy to Liza to Will
Chapter 32: Purple Eggs and White Pigeons
Chapter 33: The Great Acorn Contest
Chapter 34 - 35: Believe It or Not
Chapter 36: Liars
Chapter 37: Lettuce-Head
Chapter 38: Cal Trask, Softer than He Seems
Chapter 39: Caleb Trask, Super Hero
Chapter 40: The Troglodyte
Chapter 41: Prep for a Bean Bash
Chapter 42: The Great War Strikes the Salinas Valley
Chapter 43: Abel's Sacrifice
Chapter 44: Humans Just Smell Bad Sometimes
Chapter 45: Catch Me If You Can
Chapter 46: Hypocrisy, Stupidity, and Shame
Chapter 47: Who Is to Blame?
Chapter 48: **sneeze**
Chapter 49: Murder
Chapter 50: Alice in Evil-Land, Lost Through the Looking-Glass
Chapter 51: "Am I Supposed to Look After [My Brother]?"
Chapter 52: Disillusioned, an Active State of Being
Chapter 53: Love and Timshel
Chapter 54: Late Azeleas
Chapter 55: The End

Okay, so if we do this, or if someone wants to just take off and get started, let's set a couple standards:

1. The work must be original.
2. Compose the piece within a square--you know, so there can be a uniform format without ever having the crop some of your hard work.
3. You automatically give me permission to post the work on the blog, but all credit will go to you, the artist/illustrator.

Email it HERE.

Karli and Britany: YOUR BOOKS

You've already seen the bookmark.  (Less than spectacular, I know.)  But here are the books I will soon mail you:
 

for Britany

for Karli

TIME'S UP: announcing the WINNERS (yes, with an "s")

CONGRATULATIONS BRITANY AND KARLI--

YOU WIN!

The very first contest is over.  As the turnout of entries included but 2 individuals, I'm not going to bother running their names through some randomness generator (random.org, I think it is), and simply give the prize to both of them.  That just means I need to make a second bookmark and choose a second book of poetry, which I will do (the latter) right now.

I will be back with scans of the covers of the books for Karli and Britany shortly. 

In the meantime, Britany and Karli, send me a facebook message with the easiest way to get a hold of you so I can get your address so I can mail you your prizes.

East of Eden -- CONTEST: Free Stuff (and my most textually flamboyant entry yet!)

Sorry, this contest is now

CLOSED.

Check in regularly for more.

So it doesn't look so hot from the scan; it looks better than this.  Really.  Anyway....  So this is the prize:  

CONTEST ENDS ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 18 @ 9:00pm Mountain Time.

One beautiful bookmark depicting the primary members of the two central families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, from East of Eden, half of which has already been shown on the website (click here). 

This bookmark features:

• high-end scrap-booking paper,
• front-and-back graphics,
• high-resolution laser print of Mr. Center's original masterpiece,
• and tip-top hand-stretched lamination. 

But that's not all! 

If you act now, you might also win as sconce for this timeless artwork, a RANDOM BOOK TAKEN FROM MR. CENTER'S VERY OWN POETRY SHELF!

*****

So how, you might ask, does one enter such a titillating contest as this (you can tell just how exciting it is by all the ridiculous text effects, right?)?  Easy!  Just follow these TWO simple steps:

1. Register as an official FOLLOWER of the blog.
2. Post a comment to this entry. (Keep it clean.)

The FINE PRINT:

Entering the contest does not guarantee that you'll win something, unless you're the only one, which, let's face it, is actually kind of likely.  The entrants' comments, no matter how witty or wondrous, will only kind of and possibly be taken into consideration in the final decision; most likely, I'll just have one of my kids read through the names and pick an entrant at their whim and based on whatever frivolous criteria they might invent in the moment.  The future winner having specified (if he/she specified) a type of poetry or a particular poet in his/her comment does not guarantee that such will be the book used to hold and protect the wonderful bookmark (that was a really awkward sentence; sorry).  Finally ,when it comes right down to it, I'm unlikely to separate myself from a favorite book; though all the books on my shelves are good, and the selected book will indeed be one taken from my shelves.  Questions?  Post 'em!  Cheers.