I had some fun with a little creative writing assignment mashing up a historical figure in a new setting.

Here’s the prompt exactly:

Joan of Arkansas, Queen Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Babe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mash up a historical figure with a new time period, environment, location, or occupation and tell us their story.

You might recognize it as UChicago’s admission prompt for 2015-2016. It was a year before I had to go through the arduous college application process… not that I applied to UChicago. I was born in hot, humid Southern China. My body’s not meant for that type of weather. While I likely won’t be setting foot on their campus anytime soon, I had fun with their prompt.

See if you can guess who I’m writing about.

One for the textbooks

He puts pen to paper as he lives the epilogue of hard work paid off. Ben types out the first pages of his latest book detailing the journey to his current success. The blue screen illuminates his face as the sun ascends over the Delaware River. Always early to rise, the healthy, wealthy, and wise man allows the words to pour over the keyboard.

He remembers moving to Philadelphia for the first time without a dollar to his name. Ben quickly built up a circle of fellow creators, philosophers, and entrepreneurs in the city. They encouraged him and lent ideas while he founded his startup. It was a social media platform that published the news and allowed users to interact and provide commentary. He called it The Almanac. The idea was to combine the community base of Reddit in short form sharing like Twitter. The ad dollars gave him a good foundation, but he wanted to expand the business. He envisioned an extensive database that contained all of the different reference material someone may need for the day. It’s Wikipedia but citable. It’s Google but reputable. For that, he looked to Shark Tank.

Bait and pitch

Ben flew out to Culver City, CA. Shark Tank started filming its 2nd season and was drawing a sizable audience. Ben’s episode would air as the season premiere with guest shark, Mark Cuban. Even if he didn’t get a deal, he knew that the publicity would help The Almanac.

On the day of the pitch, he was escorted to a waiting room. He paced as the walls of the small room faded from his thoughts. He went over his lines and, more importantly, the numbers. Kevin O’Leary likes the numbers. Hair, makeup, the countdown began.

Doors opened to the infamous hallway, the plank before the plunge into the shark-infested ocean. It was shorter than it looked on TV. Monitors of swimming sharks framed the shot that would film him walking past the second set of doors to the sharks. Deep breath. Here we go. Introducing The Almanac…

He did everything just short of an actual song and dance. Ben asked for $300,000 for 20% equity. The sharks came hungry. He snatched a deal with the guest, Mark Cuban, knowing his expertise in the tech industry. Mark was frank and embodied the same idea of, “well done is better than well said.”

Happily ever forever

Now, in 2050, Ben lives the spoils of that first success. He invested his money well and kept learning.
His love for reading spurred him to create a monthly book club that only Oprah’s rivals.
Hurricanes Sandy and Irene shocked him into studying meteorology. That led him to create a more accurate weather forecaster for when, say, lightning strikes and into the business of renewable energy sources to use when disaster hits. 
Ivy League universities partnered with the organization he founded to offer classes and certifications to underprivileged youth.

Ben has become an inspiration to all – so much so that he was honored to become the new face of Bitcoin. He’s ranked as one of the most famous present-day geniuses of our time, followed by big names like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

That’s right, Ben’s Back! Or at least that’s what I’ll entitle this. Or maybe Franklin’s Future? Okay, yeah I’ll workshop that.

To be fair, I was asked to do this. But, it’s so fun to flex your creative writing muscles – something I admittedly don’t do as often as I should. I sprinkle a little spice into my weekly blogs but nothing like this. No, this isn’t the marketing/advertising posts I usually write, but who knows. Maybe I’ll be inspired to do more.