An ILLUMINATION challenge
Best Stories of Jennifer Geer
My self-selected all-time favorites

This is a collection of five of my self-selected top stories, written in response to a challenge by Dr. Mehmet Yildiz:
A Pragmatic Path to Excellence
1778 ILLUMINATION writers are illuminating 15,708 readers!
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I enjoyed revisiting some of my older stories, but I also enjoyed reading others’ stories. There’s something very telling about a writer’s self-selection of stories. You gain a lot of insight into someone by seeing what they highlight as their best.
This is yet another example of the unique and special community Dr. Yildiz has created with ILLUMINATION.
And now…my top five as rated by…ME!
#1: It’s all about Karens
This is the second article I published, and the first one curated. Such early curation success was both good and bad. I thought it meant I had this curation thing all figured out (I didn’t.)
This is a light-hearted (meant to be humorous) piece about my reaction when I first learned the younger generation was calling those of us in Gen X, “Karen.”
It was written last November, and since that time the Karen meme has taken a much darker turn. This article isn’t about a racist, mean, and bigoted “Karen”. This is more about generational differences. The never-ending cycle of misunderstanding between young and old.
#2: My favorite thing — running
I love to run. I write about it a lot. This article breaks down the common myths that runners hear all of the time. (No, running is not bad for your knees! Don’t believe me? Read my article.)
It’s my most successful article in terms of views. By and far more successful than any other story I have written. Leading me to have new sympathy for one-hit wonders. Is this how Soft Cell feels? (My fellow Gen Xers will know who I mean.)
#3: Kintsugi
I’ve been fascinated by this ancient Japanese art since I first learned about it several months ago. It’s a method of fixing pottery that doesn’t hide the flaws but highlights the cracks in gold. How cool is that?
#4: Me, a food blogger?!
This one makes me happy because I’ve always had a secret desire to become a recipe blogger. Sadly, I haven’t got the photography skills to make my food look appealing.
My food blogging dreams are on hold for the time being.
#5: My favorite author
Whenever I’m feeling uninspired, I think of my favorite writing quote.
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.” — Ernest Hemingway
If I had done this exercise on a different day, I feel certain it would have resulted in five different articles. But these are my five top for today.
Thanks to Dr. Yildiz for the writing prompt. And thanks for creating a fun and collaborative environment with ILLUMINATION!
Here’s the article that came out of this challenge. It features ILLUMINATION writers’ self-selected best stories.
