JAY WALKING? I THINK NOT. TWEEN WALKING? WHY YES!
I love to watch the Jaywalking segments of the Jay Leno show. Jay takes to the streets to ask questions he believes the average American should know. It is hilarious to hear some of the answers Jay walkers give.
For example; he interviewed a woman who had just graduated from college. She still donned her cap and gown even!
Jay:“What was the Gettysburg Address?” Woman:“………”
Jay:“Have you heard of it?” Woman: “Yes, I’ve heard of it. I don’t know the exactaddress.”
OR there was this one where a man was interviewed.
JAY:“Where is the Panama Canal?” MAN: “Uh…I don’t know.”
I have decided if I want to feel super smart, all I need to do is some Jaywalking. J
Pulling from the concept of Jaywalking, I decided to add a twist. I hit to the pavement to find answers to questions I was curious about.
The streets: The stomping ground of Brooks Elementary School, Windsor
The victims: Fifth grade students.
My mission: Knowing I needed to change the middle name of my main character, it was important to me that I pick the perfect name. Liberty goes by her first and middle name, kind of like they do in the south; Jamie Jo, Mary Lou, etc. I thought, who better to ask what name to chose than my target audience, tweens! So, I took advantage of being a teacher and asked two classes of fifth graders which name they would chose for Liberty’s middle name. I gave them my on line poll name list and was SHOCKED at the names they chose!
Here are the results of my tweenwalking: Layne 29
Paige 03
Skye 19
Kate 02
Belle 04
Trying to replace the beloved name Jane these last few weeks, has prompted me to ask my family and friends a million names as I regurgitate them from baby name books. Once I solidified a list of names I thought could work with Liberty’s personality, most of my friends liked the name Paige and Skye ran a close second. Layne was not top of anyone’s list. So, I was pretty confident tweens would follow suit. NOT SO MUCH! A lot like Jaywalking, I was surprised at the answers my tweenwalkers gave. Their answers however definitely provided some telling information; adults and youth have very different ideas as to why they picked a name. Can’t wait to see what name the final vote reveals!
Well, Liberty Layne has been growing on me! And I love the segment Jaywalking. One of my favorites was when Jay pointed to a flag and asked a woman, “how many stars are there on the American flag?”. The woman stares for a while and than says, “I don’t know. I can’t count them; the wind is blowing it too fast”. Hahaha