Week One - Response to Taylor's "Junkyard Quote Four Week One"

I think we're all mulling over how to best handle this baggage-heavy material we have in front of us. I, for one, find myself stuck because I'm so afraid of how to talk about, say, cobblestone without presenting only a cliched Italian town, ya know? I think you've stumbled on something worthwhile, though--

"A family of snails sleeps on the wall where Luca and his friends rode bikes when they were our age." You might have a really, really cool toggling piece inherent in this line/image. I'd love to see you develop a scene with Luca (or any other Italian you've met, or one you make up--though my sense is that you'll feel more grounded, less likely to dip into a flat character if you base it on someone real) as a child juxtaposed with either a.) the narrator as a child or b.) Luca/subject now. It would be a good way of going at the subject of the history of a place like this without relying on, well, actual history. It would offer you the opportunity to use the imagery of the aqueduct (a very specific location) and imagery from home (again, I would choose a very specific location—somewhere you/the narrator grew up).