Five minute freewrite "Literally"

Literally... the reason I'm writing this, is, well, because.. Uh.. I'm embarrassed to admit it; I'm not gonna tell you.

How was that for a starter? Literally, you're still reading this, aren't you?? (Does aren't rhyme with orange? No. Never mind.)

I can remember an English class... Well, actually, I think it was American Lit... Our teacher, Mr. Shimkus, would cadge lights off the kids down by the smoking block in the courtyard out front of school.

On the first day of class I remember learning that the root word for "literature" meant letter: in other words, "literature"--or so was the case in my mind--meant something written.

This kind of "threw me for a loop" because I started to wonder: what about oral "history?" And folk-lore type stories? Did these not fall within the bounds of "literature?"

Another teacher later on said something else which stuck with me: "It isn't the first person who thinks of the idea that gets the credit, but the one who writes it down..."

Thanks, @mariannewest! See the original post here: https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-181-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-literally