Lopsided Winter Memory: Warm Apple Cider

Summary

The web content describes a personal memory of finding comfort in warm apple cider during a long, tiring day of university classes in the winter, emphasizing the sensory experience over the academic content of the day.

Abstract

The article titled "Lopsided Winter Memory: Warm Apple Cider" recounts a vivid personal memory of a cold winter day spent on a university campus. The author, Lucy (The Eggcademic), shares her experience of fatigue from a long day of classes and commuting, which is contrasted by the comforting warmth and flavor of apple cider purchased as a treat. Despite the passage of time, the sensory details of the cider remain clear in her memory, while the specifics of her academic experiences during that time have faded. The piece reflects on the nature of memory, noting how certain sensory experiences can leave a more lasting impression than intellectual ones. It also invites other writers to contribute to a collection called "The Brain is a Noodle" with their own interpretations of "Warm Apple Cider." The author concludes by acknowledging her frequent use of imagery in her writing, a reflection of how she engages with the world through her senses.

Opinions

The author values sensory experiences (warmth, flavor, scent) as powerful triggers for memory, more so than factual or academic details.
There is an appreciation for small comforts, like the apple cider, in the midst of daily struggles, such as fatigue and cold weather.
The author suggests that the human brain may prioritize emotional and sensory memories over intellectual content.
The act of writing and sharing personal memories is seen as a way to connect with others and explore the intricacies of human memory.
The use of imagery in writing is considered by the author to be a fundamental poetic device that mirrors her own sensory-rich experience of the world.

A poem you can taste, smell and feel

5:34pm, fatigue radiating through my shoulders as we wait for my 3-hour evening class that starts at 6pm, the tiredness building up since waking at 6am, commuting for 90 minutes, and existing on campus all day, lugging everything that I owned (clunky laptop and all) in my trusty ol’ backpack, heavy — but only almost as heavy as my eyelids.

Fighting the chills of descending into winter, I bought myself warm apple cider — a treat, for lasting so long in the semester; they served it to me in a cute lil’ cup complete with a cinnamon stick, for flavour.

I remember the warmth, the flavour, the scent of the calming apple cider comforting my tired, cold body from inside — but not the class I attended, the material I learned, or even who the professor was.

Memories, so intriguing to relive when you realize you only remember a tiny segment, one small spotlight of the world of information that you had experienced.

Tagging: Bingz Huang | K.S. | Gun Roswell | Francine Fallara | Kat of Magik if you’re up to it and anyone else interested in today’s prompt: Warm Apple Cider.

Lucy (The Eggcademic) [she/her] realized that other than metaphors and similes and repetition, the poetic device she uses most often is imagery — not only visual, but involving many other senses. She realized this this is the case because that’s how she vividly experiences the world, with all of these senses engaged in thinking, processing and memory.