Ice Breaker – Mischief Night
The trickster’s function is to break taboos, create mischief, stir things up. In the end, the trickster gives people what they really want, some sort of freedom.
Tom Robbins
Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)
Tonight is Mischief Night. This is the night before Halloween when teenagers participate in acts of mischief in the neighborhoods. I never participated in Mischief Night as a kid, but I remember waking up Halloween morning to discover soap on car windows, eggs on houses, and toilet paper in trees. Pulling pranks on unsuspecting people can be fun (at least for the pranksters). Today’s Ice Breaker question is inspired by Mischief Night – the night of pranks.
Question: Have you ever pulled a prank on someone? Tell us about it in the comments. (If you haven’t pulled any pranks, have you ever been the target of a prank?)
My Answer: My biggest and best pranks took place on youth group retreats when I was in junior high and high school. My last year in 8th grade, I particularly remember pulling several pranks while our church youth group was on a winter retreat at Camp Johnsonburg in northwestern New Jersey. The best prank involved a fish, a toothbrush, and a cat.
One of my friends caught a dead sunfish out of the lake on the retreat campus. While the high school girls were out of their cabin, a few of us took advantage of the opportunity to pull a prank. We found one of the girls toothbrushes in the cabin, and we slid the toothbrush inside the fishes mouth. We quietly crept out of the cabin and waited for the girls to return to their cabin. While I don’t remember the outcome, legend has it that there was a cat waiting on the front porch of the cabin when the girls returned.
Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep Stretching!