6-6:10pm: Intro, Narrating the day, checking in… how are you doing, what have you been doing…?
6:10-6:30: Talk to us about your drafts, post excerpts below and questions for your colleagues. ASK US QUESTIONS.
6:30-6:50: What is the opinion you developed, and what do you want readers of your writing on your author(s) to learn and appreciate?
6:50-7pm: Closing remarks and thoughts before submitting final draft next week.
7-7:07pm: Break
7:07-7:30pm: Writing your own story. Where do you start?
7:30-7:45pm: Let’s start with the people in your story. What do they teach you, have they taught you?
7:45-7:55: How will you start? Not so much where… but HOW and with WHOM?
7:55-8pm: Close
HW: Final Draft of paper…. AND, start writing your story, a story from your life.
#professormikey 
I reread my RD. A part I want to keep, but tweak.
It’s almost like this novel is a blind date, and Lawson is able to stop holding yourself back. The blank page, and alternatively the reader, are her friends, and she wants to become close to them so she can show off all the parts about her. The detours that she goes on or just part of her natural train of thought, and everything will go on the page. By making sure the reader understands this, and bringing them along for the ride at a manageable pace, Lawson shows off the hilarity in her weakness. If the life of Jenny Lawson we’re to be told in a nonfiction story, the author wouldn’t be able to capture the effects of the stories. The fact that her tone about the things that shaped her is the joke, and that’s how she writes her life for the world to enjoy, shows how she is confident that readers will understand how she defines herself as strength.
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It’s not a novel!!!!
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Sorry. Used to replacing the word book with novel. High school teacher instincts
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All good!! Just reacting… 🙂
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For a section of my paper I wrote about how our experiences affect our identity.
I opened with this statement and just let the ideas flow.
“Identity is crucial in a narrative especially when the narrative is about yourself. In telling the story of how you became who you are, and of who you’re on your way to becoming, the story itself becomes a part of who you are”
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My paper has been mostly focused on how society is so caught up on how people view them that everyone is scared to talk about the embarrassing parts of their lives. Not only does Lawson talk about her unique childhood, but she also talks about her battles with mental illness and miscarriages. She is such a powerful woman and I want to display her fearfulness and how she’s unafraid of talking about the things most people wouldn’t dare share with millions of strangers.
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I’d love to hear input from the colleagues on this one…
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I had a similar thought! That’s what I liked so much about both authors, they didn’t in any way try to glamorize their lives and instead laid it all out on the table. I think often times with social media it is easy to just assume that people’s lives are the highlight reel that they portray on instagram, but that’s often not the case. Lawson and Sedaris own that the fact that perfection isn’t what we should be striving for, life isn’t a highlight real, we wouldn’t even know what the good times where if we didn’t have shit experiences to base it off of. Also the funniest stories aren’t usually the perfect ones.
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Could not agree more. And, the most powerful and meaningful stories are the imperfect ones. Thank you for this response, Dasha!!!
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Sure, I’ll bite. There’s certainly a lot to say, and plenty discussion on both sides.
It’s worth mentioning that some people are always inclined to speak their minds and not hide anything. I don’t think it’s a particularly labeled group, maybe the trait falls into extroversion. The super social people, the folks with nothing to hide. I would wager this is the minority, but I could be wrong just the same.
We had this exercise in my English 5 class where we had to look up studies and information surround millennials and how they respond in the workplace versus generations before them. There are quite a few unique trends with millennials, one being that they overshare in the workplace. This was seen as a way of creating a unique personal brand and moving up in the world, on top of making a more positive workplace. Working with friends rather than robots sort of thing.
What’s really unique about the times we live in today is the internet. By chance, everything we say could last forever. Careers are made and broken on this unique platform. It makes sense that some folk would hide rather than share when faced with something like the internet. Or, God forbid, be superficial to make it appear like someone is a saint to maintain their reputation and business. I think we’ve all seen both sides play out nowadays.
As for me, I still think the unflattering stories make for the best stories. I think the topic for your essay is great, best of luck.
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This is great! Thank you!!
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I couldn’t agree more. That is such a strong point. I often get in trouble for being too honest, but I think if everyone was that open then the world would be a much more accepting and understanding place. I think she is extremely powerful to do this despite living in a world where it is so far from the norm. It sounds like you have a super powerful message behind your paper.
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Thank you for this response, Rizz. What do you think, Haley??
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The opinion I developed is that both sedaris and lawson had unique childhoods that cultivated them to be very candid and honest and that it comes out in their writing style, and ultimately makes them very relatable to all readers. These aspects make their books very beneficial to people going through challenging times because they provide a humorous escape as well as teach the reader how to view negative situations in a more positive light.
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That’s exactly the point I’m going for! It’s extremely hard to be honest during these time, especially if you’re a woman. I want to highlight how Lawson talks about women’s issues in such a flowing manner that you almost don’t even realize is.
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Stress that… Gender. And the feminine voice…
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I need one or two more directions to take my essay to get to a substantial five pages. Honestly looking forward to more editing because leaving something unfinished for too long really bugs me. This is what I wrote recently for the piece:
This is more praise to his dedication and hard work, but Sedaris understands the limitations of his medium. Once a story includes more people, they become characters. An element of reality is lost in that transformation, no longer are they real people but parts of a moving story. Now Sedaris has to encompass an entire human being into essentially an abbreviated list. Sometimes a single feeling might describe the entirety of a relationship with another person, comfort with a friend or drudgery with a coworker, but the task itself is still daunting. There are so many personal anecdotes that can sidetrack an entire story, sometimes a single experience turns a relationship in an entirely different direction and needs to be explained to summarize another human being. The balloons a mother gets for a birthday, the ache of a broken ankle from a fight with a former friend. Because of the limited nature of the essay, five pages and some change, a writer has to keep these things short. Consolidate effectively. Sedaris is exemplary at that.
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Love that… “Consolidate effectively.”
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The struggle of life is the perfect challenge for an author like Lawson to take on because they find a way around anything life throws at them through comedy and happiness. The demonstration of her positivity and optimism through the most awkward and tough situations shows she is in it for herself, but also shows she is in it for her readers too as she shares these moments to make sure the readers know she is listening to them and that there is a way to navigate the hard parts of life.
This is an excerpt from my conclusion, I’m wrapping up my paper by giving that one lats emphasis on my opinion in different words. It talks about how she sets an example and how others can benefit from the way she handles situations. It’s still a work in progress though.
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Comedy AND happiness.. yes!!!! That determines HOW we navigate…
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Wrapping up for my final draft is including me going through and reviewing the wording I used. Make sure all is an opinion and has the appropriate choice of words for this argument and double checking grammar. Stephanie Neeley
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Everyone… please know that this is an opinion piece you are writing. You demonstrate your authority by supporting your own ideas and constructing expert architecture around them. That is to say, PRESENT YOURSELF AS CREDIBLE with how well you argue your opinion. Sedars and Lawson are ALL about opinion… reacting, sharing, presenting their positions on ideas and experience. PLEASE, be more of a human and less of a student with this paper. Yes, be “professional” in your writing, whatever that means, but more importantly be true to your singular idea, and opinion.
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An excerpt about Lawson’s humanness and her contradiction:
“Being more human should not receive judgement and that’s just who Lawson is. She sends the message to readers that you should be yourself no matter how much others judge. Judgement in fact, is essentially the heart of irrational assumptions and negativity. A world without judgement is a world without controversy and points of departure. We would finally be able to find a common ground. Lawson is much more evolved in matters of being human. Even so, if given the chance, she wouldn’t even hang out with herself. She splits her perspective and contradicts herself. By this statement Lawson means that she is lucky to have her mind and heart in the same body. If her mind was in another body, she wouldn’t be able to accept her heart. Her mind contains her doubt and her heart contains her pure humanness. A separation of the two would lead to a loss of acceptance of humanness.”
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Colleagues?
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I love this Alexander. Lawson definitely conveys the message that you should be yourself, no matter what. However, I feel that, at times, she does judge herself, from how she thinks others perceive her. I love what you said about her split perspective and who she is. You captured it well!
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There’s value in that judgement!!
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I agree, I also have a section of my essay similar to yours. I mention how much Lawson grew after her girl hang-out. I say this because she used to be afraid of conversing with large groups out of fear of rejection and after she realizes that people accept her for who she is and feels comfortable to chime in and listen to everyone’s stories.
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hi
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What are your thoughts before submitting next week? Please email me if you want to do a Zoom meeting/office hour… Hope that helps… 🙂
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Far as writing my own story, i’m not sure where to start. 5 pages and only a couple topics or ideas? Not sure which were supposed to do. One place people usually start with is childhood so I guess that’s where i’ll start my paper.
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Enjoy your writing!!
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I’m writing about how Sedaris connects with his past experiences in order to forgive himself for the impacts his upbrining had on him. I’m exploring what Sedaris has to teach about acceptance through his own filters and experiences.
I’m also talking about how it’s easier to connect with his writing because he lacks a polished tone, and is genuine about his struggle to feel included.
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I love the phrase “acceptance through his own filters” so much!!
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Me as well!!
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Take a break y’all… get some ZEN…
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For my writing, I would like for people to look beyond the detrimental effects of Sedaris’s father to explore how Sedaris has grown from this experience and many others.
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Nice, Yara!!
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When it comes to writing my own story I think I would have to do a brief explanation of my life before 11 and then kick off from there into a story or two about how my family and life morphed. I would have to use some of the characters in my story as some of the biggest learning experience. Learning from their mistakes and how not to be while also learning from my own experience on how to protect myself without closing out everything the world has to offer. I want to include times that were good, but also some of the times that were the most challenging yet educational times of my life. I want this story to start out with the subtlety and lightness of childhood, with family and close friends. I hope that it will convey the way I feel about that time in my life and yet still have a positive and uplifting effect.
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For my own story, I think I will write about things that happened to me in different times of my life. Some negative others positive. I want to channel my inner Sedaris and Lawson and see how that unfolds.
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I totally agree about channeling them. I love how they do a fragmented mosaic of their lives.
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Fragmented mosaic… YES!
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For my story, I am going to write about how and what my life looked like 5 years ago. It’s not really a humorous story, but there are some funny-ish parts to it. It’s kind of an outlandish story, and some parts of it are unbelievable. But it’s all real, and it’s one hell of a story. I am excited to write it, but I think it may be somewhat difficult to fit onto 5 pages?
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Disagree. You’ll find 5, EASY.
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For my story, I would like to write about how becoming involved with horses changed my life. I don’t know exactly where to start because I have too much to say. This topic is dear to my heart 🙂
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Start with a character..
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Can this character possibly be non-human?
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OF COURSE!!!!!
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For a personal story, I think the best method is to find vivid experiences that come to one easily. For me, it would be hiking the Grand Canyon. I was pretty young when I hiked it, but the lesson of perseverance was so strong, I remember it constantly.
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Yes!
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My story will be chronological. It will start with what I remember from childhood that I find significant. Whatever events helped mold me into who I am today. There is a consistent thread throughout my life that I would like to use to tie my story together. There were a few years that provided many hardships that defined my life. This will probably take up most of my writing as it defined who I was and what I would become.
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Stay in childhood, I’d suggest. Don’t try to cover too much chronological ground…
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I’ll probably write about my late teenage years then as they taught me the most about life.
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Like what?
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I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for the topic but it’s my story of an insidious drug addiction mixed with an abusive manipulative relationship which led me to multiple lessons. Learning what it means to be a competent man. Learning what it means to love, sacrifice, overcome. Taking risks and working tirelessly for unsure outcomes. appreciating the preciousness and fragility of life. Respecting death. Learning to let go. Learning to forgive. Learning how to be a good son, brother and friend. Learning to be humble and grateful. Learning how to not give up. The list goes on.
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Appropriate is not a concern. Truth is. Always is. 🙂
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Let’s talk about our own writing. And what I mean, what story are you inclined to tell? Maybe not “inclined”, but first to speak. You think of what, when you’re asked to tell a story. My suggest to you, and MSELF, is start with a person. Both of our narrative authors so far, Dr. Thompson as well, are anchored in the people around them… SO, where and to whom are you going to take us?
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I completely agree, when asked to tell a story the first thing that pops into my mind is something dumb I did with my best friend, not particularly anything inspiring, but something that made my throat sore and stomach hurt from laughing. I think what I may end up doing is writing about her and some of the stories that we have shared that I find the funniest, instead of just focusing on one.
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Truth should be your only aim, friend.
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*MYSELF
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As I think about my story more I would start in childhood as background information. Some positive, some negative but also include things from my adulthood including lessons that I have learned and where im at today. Stephanie Neeley
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For my story I think I want to write about how my life in Chicago affected my life here. They are such different places and I want to show how much adapting you have to do when you move half way across the country
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Also for tonight’s page….. Keep sharing those journal entries. Not just with me (which I brightly appreciate), but with each other. And, with yourself!! Know that all entries and occurrences are not only significant but instructional.
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For my story I’d like to write about the most influential moments in my life. Whether that be meeting new people or experiencing new things. Id like to write about how those moments made me the person I am today. I think when telling my own story I’d probably talk about always moving schools because of my parents work affected me and what it meant for me when I finally settled in one spot.
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Love it! Colleagues?
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I will mainly bring my personal horse along in my story and reflect on what she has taught me about horses. This will go along with what learning to be at peace with horses has taught me about being more human.
Some other horses and the people who mentored us along the way might be included.
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Can’t wait to read it!
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For my story I would have to include my mom and my sister. It would start when I was around 8. That was when my parents divorced and I lost contact with my bio dad. I feel as though that’s when my story began, also due to the fact that I don’t remember a whole lot prior. Starting off on a heavy note my story may sound as though it would be a dark one, but honestly it’s anything except dark. I have experienced a vibrantly colorful life with two of my favorite humans on earth. Not only are we family, but truly the best of friends. Living in a household of ladies has been enjoyable since day one. Together we have traveled, we laugh endlessly, and we embrace each other’s passions. Being such a tight knit family has its downsides as well as it’s perks, but overall I am beyond grateful. My story would involve the bad and the good intertwined with humor, and I believe that is why I find Sedaris so relatable. I find joy in meeting new people, in experiencing new places, in the outdoors, through art, and learning. I have been very into plants for awhile now and became involved with a very talented botanist. Although we are now just friends, perhaps that would be a story worth telling. The two of us found a lot of joy in exploring our passion for plant life and art, which are essentially my two favorite hobbies currently. There are so many stories to tell and so many memories to share, but mine would most definitely start with my passions and my two best friends 🙂
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Love this so much. Thank you for sharing. Definitely write from your most heartfelt of hearts!!
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Thank you! Excited to write it :)!!
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For my story, I want to write about the loss of hope and the crushing of dreams. How I’ve reached the point where either I feel like I have fulfilled my dreams or have them crushed. I want to write about how my life could be different within a parallel universe. My story starts in the womb. Even before I was born I was filled with hope and the expectation to fill expectations. I was a miracle and was supposed to live up to it. After that my story doesn’t really pick up until middle school and continues until now.
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This is very cool and would make an interesting read.
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Agreed!
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The first people in my story will be my family who raised me (I wasn’t raised by my parents), how our relationship changed as I got older. The good and bads of it. How my relationship changed with my mother over time. That will be my childhood part. My adult part will include how people I went to high school with really changed my life in a positive manner. Stephanie Neeley
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For my own writing, I want to share about a stream of events that happened in the last few months of last year. In my 20 years of life, I have never experienced such a mess of emotions like I did during this period of time. I want to write about this experience because, not to be cliche, but it definitely made me a stronger person and even though it was a tough situation to go through, it led to me being so much happier and to so many other positive changes, which is the best part. So I want to touch on that past event and on where I’m at mentally and emotionally now because they are two very different places.
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Write with heart, and focus on truth not structure or mechanics.
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Some of the people in YOUR story, and life, that have influenced and affected the narrative?
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I immediately think of my neighbor. She sold me a horse at 14, took me under her wing, put time and effort into educating me and was emotionally abusive half of the time. She provided me with so much opportunity while I was a young kid, eager to work all day for free in order to be screamed at the next day. This relationship was worth the emotional stress, as she connected me with a world of knowledge and introduced me to a community of people who shared our passion. As I grew older, she taught me to set boundaries and stand up for myself. How to value my own worth enough to ask for fair treatment and pay.
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Love the focus on horses, Yara!! There’s strength in writing from singularity, and you definitely have that! Cheers, Ms. Yara…. and enjoy your writing!!
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There are many people that play minor roles in the story I’m going to write, yet most of the story is about myself, and my relationship with myself.
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Love that… perfect. To know self is to first explore self, especially in writing.
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The people in my life has taught me that love is temporary, shown through my parents divorce, my family splitting sides, temporary friends that make excuses to not hang out with you and the point of exhaustion of living with my mom. I feel like I’m at a place of limbo right now in my life. A time after the excitement of senior year of high school and before the potential excitement of starting your own life. I feel like I’m drifting along until I finally get to move out from my mom’s place and go to a university.
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Limbo is an opportunity. The PERFECT opportunity to decide a direction and know you have the power to choose a direction. Enjoy, friend!!
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You’re right! And that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I’ve been thinking about my future and maybe overthinking which is probably where the problem lies.
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Not “the problem”, the REALITY.
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I think for my personal story, I want to write about my outdoor life and the significance of it being focussed in Sonoma County. I think my love of the outdoors and recreation, especially in our own backyard of beauty this county, offers us is something that has had a major influence on my character, my appreciation of what I have, and the personal connections I deeply cherish. I think it’ll be an interesting yet challenging topic to write about as there is so much that goes into it.
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Enjoy!!
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How and with WHOM will you start your narrative? Write in your journal and share next week!!
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The people in my story would be my mom and dad as well as my sister and brother and talk about life being the middle child. Talking about what a canine companion meant for me growing up is something I can’t glance over considering how much of an impact they’ve had on me. When I finally settled into high school talk about how one of my best friends got me really into tech which is actually a field that I’m pursuing for my major.
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it is difficult to imagine telling my own story without it being all morbid and depressing, after all, i was born a pessimist. But after reading Lawson, perhaps i can offset that by adding a comedic narration, or something to simply lighten the mood a bit. Story telling is uncharted territory for me.
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Tell it anyway. And, who are you to say you’re a pessimist? It’s the reader’s job to decide what you are.
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I know that I’ll struggle with finding a balance between talking about myself and my parents
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That’s means it’s worth writing. Enjoy!!
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5 full pages for our story? or topping the 5th page?
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Get to page 5…. That’ll be easy for you. Love you journal entry submissions!!! 🙂
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My sister has very much influenced and affected the narrative in my story. She’s five years older than me, but we’re literally two peas in a pod. My mom actually says my sister’s the pot and I’m the lid because I keep all her secrets, and vice versa, and we’ve always got each others back and we’re always together. In my story, my sister was really the one to get me out of the rut that I was in and the one that knocked some damn sense into me. She gave me space when I needed it, but was also there to hold me if I needed that too. I truly don’t know where I’d be without her.
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Enjoy the writing… 🙂
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What initially comes to my mind is the impermanence of life. I’d like to tell of my life at completely different time periods and how the focus and fascinations have completely varied and changed over time. Like how what was the most important thing for me when I lived in Australia and how the vision I had for myself while I was there felt like The only reality, but in actuality my life would change in ways I had previously never thought possible.
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Want to see where this goes, Rizz. You have many fans in this class, with your writing…. I’m one of them. Enjoy the composition, friend!!
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Truth. Narration is about TRUTH. Not fanciness or structure, or any type of perceived or hoped-for appeal. Truth is a cascade of pages…
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The planet I grew up on, instead of parents I had folks who bickered through these paper-thin walls. Not to say I didn’t have normal days with folks who loved me, namely my Mother whom I love and appreciate dearly in short doses. When it comes to finding out about life and the world around me, I took to the internet. This thing is an umbilical cord to me. I couldn’t tell you how many things I’ve learned from anonymous strangers. How do you define a group of strangers? Either way, we all met here, like Virgil leading Dante through suburban hell.
It’s what I’m passionate about. In this country of constant flux, there’s this entity of connection that I’m lucky enough to experience the inception of. I’m the third or fourth or fifth generation of immigrants that are so far removed from my life that we haven’t shared a meal or a recipe once ever. But we can meet here on this platform of a few wires and circuit boards, as I have a countless number of times, my family and those around the world. And at some point, while you’re online you sit back and think how lucky you are to be alive in these times, face to face with family and strangers as, hopefully, equals. And sometimes you sit back and wonder about the close-knit family that you missed, a hundred or so years ago.
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Wonder where this will take readers…. Lots of life and movement in this …. Love it.
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Can our story be longer than 5 pages? Just curious, as I think 5 pages is not enough? I guess that’s the point of editing down though..
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Why do you have to be so pugilistic? Ha ha… of course… just not longer than 7 please.
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I want to start my story as a happy and clueless child, experiencing life as much as he could. With my mom, dad and sister, we were all happy and hopeful for the future that would unfold before us.
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I would like to begin my story in a small village in Mexico where my great grandma and great grandpa met.
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For tonight’s page….. Seriously, if I get one more question about page length, I’m going to lose my shit. Of COURSE I’m joking, but please friends…. your presence and intention should be on the telling of your story, not some numeric obsession and measure of its length. ENJOY YOUR WRITING. Why don’t more teachers, in high school at community colleges stress this????
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Hahahaha!! Don’t lose your shit Mike. 🙂
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🙂 Thanks friend, I’m trying.
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Because the teachers in the K-12 system have to follow a script. What to read, what to write, there’s no creativity, just get the highest grade so you can get into the best college etc etc
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True that, friend..
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What’s on tonight’s page, y’all?
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Narration is a mix of chance and intent, or not… either way it has to be written.
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I have “stop thinking too much. It is imperative but also the most crippling impediment”
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My bad Paasha already said that didn’t mean to steal that
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All good. Appreciate the respect..
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