This week Pegman takes us to Haiti’s neighbor, the Dominican Republic, in the central Caribbean. Feel free to use the crazy capture I posted, or find your own photo sphere anywhere within the country’s borders.
Your assignment is to produce 150 words (or less) inspired by this week’s location. Will it be fiction? Essay? Poetry? The only limit is your imagination. After you’ve polished your piece, you can share it with other participants at the link up:
I’m back after being MIA last week and probably will be a few more times. However, when I saw Dominican Republic in my inbox I was hooked.
Genre: Memoir
Word Count: 150
HOMEWORK
There’s a special place in my heart for the Dominican Republic. However, not in the way one might think. I’ve never played on the sandy beaches of Santo Domingo nor lounged under its palm trees beside the Caribbean Sea.
From 1964-65 I was in 6th grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Humo, assigned each student a country to study for the entire school year. This included keeping track of current events.
Those lucky ducks given Laos and Vietnam, as you might imagine, had much to report and clipped tons of newspaper articles. Not so for the hapless girl assigned the República Dominicana.
I diligently studied, drew detailed maps and combed the Kansas City Star for any news of my tiny tropical island. Nada.
The following spring, after I’d moved on to the trials of junior high, revolution broke out. The Dominican Republic headlined the news. What? They couldn’t have revolted last year?
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 
Oh my word, this cracks me up! What an amusing connection to this location. I can relate. For me, it was native peoples of Bolivia.
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Dear Karen,
It’s funny how those things stick with you. All those years ago and I still feel somehow connected to the Dominican Republic. 😀 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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That’s funny. We had an international pot luck as part of our world studies. I had England (lucky duck) and my brother had Ecuador. For the pot luck, dad insisted on helping me make steak and kidney pie and my brother make blue corn gruel. The pie smelled like a skid row alley because the kidneys were still full of urine. Also, there wasn’t blue corn available, so they used food coloring in yellow corn meal and came up with leprechaun green mush. So much for world cuisine!
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Dear Josh,
Your powers of description make me never want to try kidney pie. What can I say? The DR and I will forever be oddly connected. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Euwww…
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Oh dear, a steak and kidney pie gone wrong is a foul-smelling thing. Perhaps you needed to swap that chef’s hat for a bowler hat, Josh, and if still not joy rustled up some fried fish and chips. 🤣
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Rats! Revolution once a century and you had to miss it! 😉
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Right, Christine? Very inconsiderate if you ask me. 😉 Thank you for coming by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It brings to mind a The Wizard of Id cartoon I saw years ago where someone yells, “The peasants are revolting.” and he replies, “You can say that again!” It’s unfair sometimes, isn’t it. you do an assignment or project and struggle. A week later what you needed just pops up and you’re like, “Aaaargh!!!”
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Dear Lyn,
Exactly! That said, I loved the Wizard of Id! Thank you so much for reading and relating. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Obviously, they didn’t get news of your assignment for a year. Slow communications I guess. Lol. Nicely written piece. Love the humor.
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Dear Jan
There was definitely a failure to communicate. 😉 Thanks m’luv.
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Dear Rochelle,
That was hilarious. It is the most inane things that stick in our memory files, isn’t it?
Lotsa love,
Dale
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Dear Dale,
It is weird what sticks. Forever after that I’ve felt somehow linked to the Dominican Republic. A sense of ownership. Craziness. Happy to humor. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Love It!
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How dare they disappoint a sixth-grader! The nerve! 😀
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Dear James,
Yes they did have a lot of nerve. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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What were they thinking? In the future, schoolkids will be consulted first before holding a revolution. Funny stuff, Rochelle! 🙂
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Dear Eric,
It really was inconsiderate of the revolutionaries to wait a year. Harumph! 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Sweet memoir.
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I was graduating college that year.
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Wow Ted. You are a couple of year older than me. 😉 And still going strong! Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Haha. Crazy stuff. I have this high school flash backs all of a sudden as well when a word or a random phrase takes me back. I am glad they revolted a year later, which is how we got this funny story😂
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Dear Lavanya,
Do we ever really leave those years behind? 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I am glad we don’t. Nostalgia serves its purpose on many a boring work day and often brings a smile.
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When I was in about 4th to 6th grades at my school we weren’t encouraged to read newspapers but just read what was in the textbooks. The newspapers were probably full of the Korean War. I remember reading about and seeing a picture of terraced rice paddies in China. It was so different from anything I had known it impressed me. I also remember in the early 40’s the National Geographic copies my parents possessed had a lot of pictures of the islands as it was during WWII. I couldn’t read yet but the pictures were pretty with all the palm trees and beaches. Good writing as always, Rochelle 🙂 — Suzanne
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Dear Suzanne,
About all I remember of the newspapers as a small child are the Sunday Funnies…Brenda Starr, Steve Canyon and Peanuts were among my favorites.;) Thank you for reading and saying something nice as always. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I remember the Funnies of the time and the strips you mentioned. At one time the Strip Brenda Starr used to have a paper doll of Brenda and clothes for it. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Loved the glimpse of the child you in school, doing her best with her assigned country. And the wonderfully wry ending ! At least you must have learnt a lot about the Dominican Republic.
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Dear Francine,
It’s true. I did learn a lot about the Dominican Republic. .To this day I retain a sense of ownership. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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That was really funny Rochelle and something that one can instantly relate to 😀
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Dear Dahlia,
It seems world-wide we were all children and students. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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That was a great take on the prompt! You told the story with charm and a lovely tongue-in-cheek twist!
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Dear Penny,
What a lovely thing to say. 😀 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It’s true. It’s not true. Is it true? Or is it fiction? Whatever this piece is, it is most entertaining. Shalom, Rochelle.
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Dear Kelvin,
This one is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 😀 One of those things I can look back on. 😉 Glad it entertained. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I love the thought you were scanning the headlines for a year, only for revolution to break out the year after – you must have been so miffed! Can you still remember any facts and figures about the DR? Crops, population, GDP? As you say, funny how these things stay with us.
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Dear Lynn,
I can’t say that I remember a lot about the DR, only all the work put into the project and feeling panic-stricken that when it came time to report on current events I had basically nothing. I do remember making maps and feeling satisfied with the details. At least I could draw. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Yes, you must have had one of the best illustrated projects handed in that year! 🙂
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Damned inconsiderate of them 🙂 I hope she/you got a good mark for the work anyway. Fun!
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Dear Ali
I don’t really remember what my grade was for the project. At any rate there will always be that little connection for me for the DR. Yes, the story’s completely true. 😉 Thank you for coming by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Love your sense of humour. 🙂
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Thank you, Magarisa. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I remember doing homework like that, though I don’t remember it being very interesting. I think part of it (as you hint at) was being to young to properly understand things like politics. When I was in the later years of middle school I started reading about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict which was breaking out again at the time, and I felt I had a better grasp of the topic than the stuff I read when I was younger.
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Dear JM
By the time I was in junior high, everything was about Vietnam. I learned more about politics then than I ever wanted to know. 😉 Thanks for coming by and taking the time to comment. This is why I love these blog challenges.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It helps to have an assignment that coincides with current events. At least the better~late~than~never connection provoked an interest in what was happening
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Dear Larry,
My lament was that there weren’t any current events interesting enough to make the news. By the time the DR made the news I’d moved on. Thanks for coming by, stranger.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Yes current events can be inconvenient that way.
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