As I was packing some of my favorite books today (faerie tales, Italio Calvino, Brothers Grimm), I wondered what my first social experiment was. As I flipped back through my memories I came to 3 year old Heather. I went to a Montessori school just down the block. I was bored, having already finished the assignments - I had too much energy - my teachers didn't know what to do with me.
It was picture day. They lined us up. As I stood there, waiting for other kids to get in place, settle down, they said they would take three pictures. Bored, waiting there, I wondered how I could know which picture they would use. There was no way I could know this now, before the fact, or during the picture taking, but I could do something that would tell me which picture they used in retrospect. I decided to make three faces. Then I could remember the order, thus knowing which one they used. Ready for the first shot, I made my big usual smile. Second time, a slight smile, Mona Lisa style. Third shot I went full emo frown. (I wanted faces that didn't look like I was making faces.)
When the picture came back, I was disappointed with the choice but I knew which one they used. It was the third one. Of course, then I wanted to know what criteria they used for their selection.
It's probably not my first social experiement, but it's the one I thought of today.
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