My Latest Muse Is Flat

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I'm spending two weeks hanging around a piece of photocopied paper...and I'm loving it. It doesn't take much to amuse me (remember the donut machine story?). The photocopied paper isn't full of poetic words, musical notes or delicious imagery. It's full of Stanley. Flat Stanley.
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Flat Stanley is part of a project being carried out in schools all across the globe, it just so happens that I've been invited to help out by an elementary school in New Hampshire. All the kids in one creative teacher's class have been given a photocopied sheet of paper with Stanley's likeness. The kids have been challenged, by their teacher, to send Flat Stanley to a family member or friend. Ideally each child will send Flat Stanley to some remote outpost. My young friend in New Hampshire hit the jackpot by sending Stanley to the third most remote place on earth after Antarctica and Minto....Cambridge-Narrows!
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This isn't my first brush with an inanimate friend. I drove across North America last year with a dollar store doll called Timmy. You can read about it on my web site, and enjoy some 'interesting' images. It's a lot of fun hanging out with someone who just lays around and expects you to do everything for him. Just ask my wife, she seems to relish it!
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Flat Stanley is going to learn all about Cambridge-Narrows, as will all the kids in one New Hampshire school. A brilliant idea! It's also good because it forces me to see my world through someone else's eyes. I know what I like to do in my part of the world, but now I have to look beyond myself to see what someone else would appreciate.
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So far Flat Stanley has been a pleasure. He's mild mannered like Charlie Brown. Come to think of it, he looks like a bald Charlie Brown. If you remember, Charlie Brown had one long hair that he sort of worked into a comb-over. The only little 'incident' we've had so far was when I showed him my paper shredder...he just kind of freaked out. I've put it in a closet for the rest of the visit. .
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I'm off to Fredericton today with Flat Stanley. It's going to be a full day as we'll be going flat out. That's life with Stanley!