At the beginning of each class, ideally to limber up our brains, I randomly ask the roundtable of students to verbally “tweet out” a thought about something they’ve seen or done or had a mental blip about since we last met. (I totally, totally stole this idea from American University writing prof/lecturer Glenn Moomau, whose nonfiction class I spoke to last spring.) What I’m trying to get them to do is blurt out something they’ve noticed. It can be pop culture or not. If you’re on Twitter a lot, you know how quickly your brain converted to the 140-character thought-scoop or laugh line. We give these away for free. That’s just how it is.