Thursday, 10 January, 2013

Class began with a discussion of the Dave Barry essay "How I Write." From the essay and from other discussions in class we generated a list of kinds of humor:
deprecation; self-deprecation; absurd; close focus / magnification ; exaggeration; taboo; sarcasm iron; melodrama; mis-matching; parody; irony; satire.

The writing prompt for the day was, "That's not funny...."

The class then viewed and analyzed  this comedy routine featuring some famous contemporary comics.

We then viewed a clip of the great comedians Bud Abbot and Lou Costello doing the piece as they did it generations ago.

Next we examined some of the satire of The Onion.

Man Has Alarming Level Of Pride In Institution That Left Him $50,000 In Debt, Inadequately Prepared For Job Market

and a piece based on a very sensitive contemporary issue. Gorilla Sales Skyrocket

Tuesday, 8 January, 2013

Writers began with the prompt: "It was the worst fight ever."

The class then discussed the homework from yesterday, and the story ideas that writers had.

Homework: Read Dave Barry's "How I Write." Write an brief analysis saying whether or not you think the piece is funny, and why or why not.

Monday, 7 January 2013

The opening prompt today was: "Family is...."

Class discussed the story "Garage Sales People".

During discussions today we generated these questions:

A) What makes a story true? and What makes fiction true?

B) What's more important the family you are born with or the family you choose?

C) What kind of stuff is valuable? and What kind of stuff is not valuable?

For homework writers are to write at least one paragraph for each of two of three of the sets of questions. Then, after rereading these paragraphs identify conflicts or other ideas to identify five different possible stories. Bring this to class tomorrow.

College / scholarship personal essays were returned with grades and general comments.