From the Encyclopedia Britannica—
Divisionism (see also, Pointillism): the practice of separating color into individual dots or strokes of pigment. Contrasting dots of color side by side so that, when seen from a distance, these dots would blend and be perceived by the retina asa luminous whole. The term divisionism refers to this separation of color and its optical effects, the term pointillism refers specifically to the technique of applying dots.

1. The first piece of pointillism you ever see is “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat.
The painting took Serurat two years to complete. When you first saw the paining, two years was one-fourth of your life so far.
When two years is one-eleventh of your life so far, you will still maintain that parsley and cilantro look equally green and frilly if you hold them up next to each other.

In the closet of your bedroom, with 11 different Crayola markers and 27 pieces of printer paper, which image are you most likely to recreate using the same technique?
a. a flower
b. a dented car door and a ticket for 125 dollars
c. a stainless steel soup pot

Below, outline the ways you felt safe in the closet. Divided by the number of years spent doing selfish things (e.g. stealing your brothers markers), how many times will you choose others’ safety over your own (e.g. telling Michael you’ll drive if he wants to take a nap, because he’s driven all night)? Show
all work.

Bonus: How many self portraits will you draw?

2. There is a small trail of freckles that runs from your collarbone (up your neck) to your jaw. Should someone draw lines freckle to freckle, the trail would look like a half-moon. It is your favorite part of your body.
You have been dating Michael for 18 months.
Michael has a lot of freckles. Your favorite is below his collarbone, to the right of his sternum. When he breathes, you can see the freckle rise and fall beneath the collar of his shirt.

Divided by the number of times Michael sneaks into your house to make you soup, how many times will you wonder why he didn’t go for Mary instead of you?

Bonus: How many freckles does Michael have?

3. While swimming in the Lake St. Clair, you cut the sole of your right foot on a zebra mussel.
Zebra mussels have no natural predators in Michigan waters, and as many as 700,000 individual mussels have been discovered in one square meter.
Individual mussels are indistinguishable until you lean over the edge of
the dock.
With your face ±2 feet from the surface of the lake, you can identify each mussel (but not the one that cut your foot).

After examining the cut, you feel foolish for walking in a bed of sharp mussels.
erched on the edge of the dock, you squeeze ±4 drops of blood back into the water.

Because the water cycle recycles all the water on the planet, all the water on earth is all the water earth will ever have. What are the chances from 0-100 that the blood you are squeezing back into the lake contains water from the River Seine, the body of water that appears in “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”?

Based on the number of minutes you wait for your foot to stop bleeding, what are you most likely to find while swimming in a lake?
a. a wedding ring
b. a fossilized clam covered in zebra mussels
c. a pair of eyeglasses (with bifocals)

Bonus: What percent of the water supply exists as blood in your body? Mass from the ±4 drops of blood is negligible (units of measure may be given in drops or gallons).

4. Eggplant lasagna takes 40 minutes to prepare and bake.
You have two bruise-colored eggplants that you chop into 37 pieces.
As you slice through the milk-colored flesh, you notice the different patterns the seeds create, including (but not limited to) a daffodil, a waxing September moon and a pair of lungs from a non-smoker.
Absentmindedly, you nick your left index finger once with the knife. It only bleeds a little. Michael gets you a Band-Aid.

If eggplants contain on average 278 seeds, how many times will you cut yourself preparing eggplant lasagna in the future? Outline
every occurrence.

Bonus: Divided by the number of cuts you’ll make in the future, how many pictures actually exist in the eggplant flesh?

5. The first time you crawl onto the roof outside your bedroom window, you huddle by the chimney, wrapped in a thin quilt your mother made you for your 12th birthday.
The pattern of the quilt is made up of exactly 100 small diamonds in varying shades of blue and purple. As you watch the sun begin to set, you trace the seams with your index finger.
The evening light is the color of tangerines, and you can see the silhouettes of 13 birds on a telephone wire. You can see your neighbors garden, but you can’t tell if she has planted orange zinnias, or red and yellow zinnias very close together.
After 14 minutes, you crawl back into your bedroom with a slight chill.

Based on the number of shingle pebbles that stick to the back of your thighs (±27 per leg), the roof is the best place to:
a. count stars
b. peel off your t-shirt off and take a nap in the sun
c. have whispered phone conversations with Michael (during which you discuss your factory job, your ailing mother and the brass bear head he found at the scrap metal yard)

Using the space below, outline all the constellations you said you’d learn, but never did. Show all work.

Bonus: How many years will you continue crawling onto the roof to look at the stars?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Hinman is a senior at Grand Valley State University double-majoring in writing and Spanish. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, cooking enormous dinners with lots of cumin and working on a farm. Upon graduation, she plans on learning French, practicing slam poetry and farming once again.

Contents

Story Problems: Divisionism

ABOUT THE AUTHOR