5-6:15pm
Intro…..
Essays
Freewriting
Samantha Irby….
Essay defiance, in Irby’s work….
Life and when it’s written
What’s on your night’s page?
FROM ME: Essays are an opportunity to not just express and idea but convey conviction, tell stories… and if it’s an assignment a chance for your to develop an original idea, to offer your input, and “expertise” I guess you could say. Yes, there should be a thesis, yes it should be supported, have “structure”(structure, can be debated and defined in a dizzying galaxy of ways)…. But the essay you write should be impassioned, and a part of your thinking, the way you see something. There should NEVER be summary in an essay. Yes, you can and probably should refer to parts of what you read, but not too much! The reader of your work wants to read YOU!
And honestly, forget the word “essay”. Rather, embrace “writing”. Stick to that word, and the actuality the it is YOUR writing. The essay is a time to be free and expressive, yes passionate but full of life on the page. I don’t get why students don’t seize more upon the canvas that an essay provides, the stage to write. Well, I do… ‘cause of how you’ve been taught. Not saying that’s wrong by any means, but try something different. Try a different thought shape and view of YOUR essay writing.
#professormikey 
Hi there everyone !
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Howdy! How’re you doing
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hello 🙂
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Hey y’all??
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Hello everyone
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Hi everyone
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Hey y’all good afternoon
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Feeling good having that essay done. How is everyone else?
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Good evening everyone and Professor Mikey !
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Good Evening! How is everyone today!?
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Evening!! Im good what about you?
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Good I’m doing good as well.
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Hey Shantel!!
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Hey everybody, I’m holding the baby right now. I’ll be watching, so enjoy your time, exchange ideas, and get to know each other’s reactions and ideas.
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Im a bit confused what is todays class about?
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Look at the plan.
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Professor Mikey is giving us the class today. To talk about essays and what makes them, as well as freewriting and talking about Irby as well. I think haha
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How is the baby we all want to know
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He’s great!!!
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yay im glad some happiness can come from a world filled with sorrow!
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No sorrow in my world, man. And what people see as sorrow I see as new scribbles, story, opportunity.
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Wassup everyone!
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Do we paste our essays here guys?
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No you turn it in to professor mikey
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thanks mate
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No I’m pretty sure you turn them in by email
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thanks
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Essays should be submitted over email.
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thank you!
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Guy what did you think about the first 4 essays? I personally really liked them. They were interesting and pretty relatable
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Sorry I jumped prompts I just wanted to know lol
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I could say I think I will comprehend Irby’s writing more than Sedaris
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Much more eased…. inviting.
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Hi everyone. How is everyone doing? Such a beautiful day today 🙂
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4 essays? im confused
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1 essay due today. C’mon man, I’m not in the mood..
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probably just excerpts
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Im balancing a lot of other classes plus two jobs so I didn’t know that there was 4 essays man!
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We all have other dimensions to our life…
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Yea we all do glad you understand
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What I have in my day-to-day would make people your age cry. And that’s just the business dimension, not addressing being a father of 3, a runner, writer and blogger…. When people cite all they have going on, I kind of have to laugh a little. Not to belittle them, but because they’re not seeing the strength they have.
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Im not saying you have to deal with less or more than me. I asked one question and you decided to be rude. you have no idea what I deal with and I have no idea what you deal with day to day. I would not cry believe me I have God by my side and I know we all have challenges in our path I could talk about how I have to deal with my mom having breast cancer which is like my best friend but thats neither here or there. Im 26 and Im just trying to take as much as I can from this class and multiply it. so back to my question since we find ourselves here once again. 4 essays? what am I suppose to write on Sedaris what are you expecting? I am very tempted to not pushing send on this because im anxious ill probably fail this class for speaking my mind but you know what id like to say your wrong. I was only asking a question.
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Not trying to be rude… just believe in you man!! I appreciate your words and posts here!!! Email me and let’s collaborate… cheers.
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4 essays of samantha irby
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How was everyones day? Today I did a lot of school work, mostly for my 2 psych classes. it was a very busy and stressful day. My ASL teacher got very ill so now we have a sub so its hard to get used to a new teaching process.
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Ah i hate that
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It is hard to adept to a new teaching process. I hope you can get a chance to relax and enjoy yourself. how are you liking your psych classes? I am thinking of taking it next semester.
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In the event that tonight’s plan is difficult to interpret, we have to hit those prompts in the time specified. Tried to make that simple and straightforward..
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If we’re going by the prompts, let’s start by discussing essays
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No one’s stopping you..
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what was your claim about David Sedaris in your essay?
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Hoping some colleagues wrote about his educational qualities and what he wants for his readers!
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Hi all! Hope everyone is doing well! Happy Tuesday!
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I really liked the 4 essays because of how much we are learning about Samantha and her life. She does remind me a lot of David Sedaris though.
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mine was that I thought he was a truthteller that adovacted freedom through his writing
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Nice!!
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I think essays have a very negative connotation. As students, essays are associated with dread and despair because a lot of us don’t feel passionate about what we write. How does everyone feel about “essays” and the connotations it brings to you? I think of essays negatively when I have to write them, but I enjoy them as a reader because they are often short and sweet.
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Agreed.
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When i think essay I think of piece of writing with rules. Usually one that has som ekind of specific parameters or guidlines you have to follow when writing sed essay.
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For me as well there are negative connotations. When I think of writing an essay it seems like a chore. As for reading them, I am not as much of a fan because i associate it with being boring and solely for education purposes.
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For tonight’s page….. Treat Samantha Irby’s writings as letters.. NOT f/cking essays. lol
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lol
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hahahaha
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Hello everyone
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Also for tonight’s page…. Complication in life is many times invited. Blame is an obvious attempt to dodge your solicitation of the complication.
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Come on yall where you at
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That’s what I’m sayin… show us how it’s done, Dominic. Don’t flex…
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Honestly, I love the idea of an essay, a position paper type of composition. I HATE how they’re taught.
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I prefer free writing over essays because when I think of essays I think on the spot or how will I make write something someone else would like. Free writing I don’t have to worry about that.
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100%
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Agreed! Constriction NEVER leads to composition.
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on my freewrite I wrote about just random things that I found interesting and important about my weekend. what were yours?
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Writing a lot more about the covid world, and essay writing in it.. how often all you have is what is immediately near or around you.
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there is always something positive to take out of a negative for sure. I think i have become more aware of the things going on around me specifially a lot more accurately lately. A greater sense of gratitude for animals oddly too.
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The first 4 essays were okay. Not that confusing and give us a good view into who Samantha Irby is
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Which is what..
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Shes down to earth. She doesn’t sugar coat stories and tells it as it is. Shes self aware of who she is and because of that she makes self deprecating humor. However too much of this kind of humor can get annoying so time will only tell if i feel shes a good author.
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First of all I want to say that I am really glad I am taking this class. I was always afraid of writing and struggled so much to put my thought on a paper. I kind of felt intimidated. Writing would be my last priority and would be more like a obligation. And it is all because of the way I was thought what a essay is suppose to be. Free writing? NEVER heard about it. Writing was just a way to convince my readers that I am right and giving them reasons to believe me and in a lot of times I didn’t agree with my own opinion that I was writing about. This is how you should you writing abilities, my teachers used to say. But since I started this class I have been changing the way I feel about writing and slowly I started writing more and more. It is not that out of sudden I became the best writer but I can totally see my improvement. I caught myself sometimes thinking ”I should write about this or that is a great idea for an essay”. I still have to work on how I organize my ideas because I can get lost sometimes. I could start writing about my day and end up writing about an article I read two years ago about mechanic physics and not get where I wanted when I start writing. I know this is all about practice though.
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Thanks for this, Debora. Good to hear. And I really appreciate your words and positive attitude. Keep writing… -Mikey
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I’m thankful for your realization! I feel the same way- it is nice to be encouraged to write more than what is required from “standards” and to enjoy what we create.
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I love freewriting. It gives me the opportunity to write whatever I feel or think without any restrictions. It gives people a freedom that they aren’t typically given to them. I wish freewriting was more common instead of having to write argumentative essays constantly.
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I can’t still get over the essay word, I been stressed all about it. Honestly never have been good in writing an essay.
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Right? The word alone gives me anxiety
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That word, essay, turns me into a fighter. And I already have a fighting way about me, attitude. You are stronger than the essay!!!!!! ❤
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Because you’ve been told that shit, which isn’t right. And if you haven’t, then you’re telling yourself which is even worse. Be a fan of Evelyn!!!!! 🙂
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I despise the way that we are taught to write essays in school. The structure is an important asset to a writer and helps the reader to understand, however, the best writing comes from when people are curious about the world surrounding him. Sedaris is curious and so is Irby. We should strive to empower individualism to encourage others to seek their truths!
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Word. Well put, my new friend.
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well curiosity killed the cat however
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No it didn’t. It gave the cat a REAL life. Only lapdogs would call it death.
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well satisfaction brought it back. Being curious is a great thing
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YES!!
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Totally agree!
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Writing can be used for self expression, but I don’t tend to use it that way. Writing to me is boring, even if I am passionate. I’m a more creative person so I would rather take that time to paint or build something rather than write an essay. I see the beauty in my own art but I dont pick up on the same thing with my words. Not to say writing cant be art because it can be truly beautiful, just that I dont view my own that way
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I really enjoyed the layout of Samantha Irby’s book. It is different its more like a journal i feel like.
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I think free writing increases the flow of ideas and reduces the chance that you’ll accidentally censor a good idea because when we write essays we seek for someones approval idk
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Hi everyone! Sorry I am late, I just got off work. My day went really well, I hope everyone else’s did too. The word essay intimidates me, I like the word composition better. I think it makes me think of written down thoughts instead of ESSAY!
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Samantha Irby’s thought process is really intriguing to me.
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How so, Paige??
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I agree with this! Her and Sedaris both definitely have an ‘unconventional’ style in my opinion. Just in that its not typically what you see in literature, whether it be for educational purposes or casual entertainment. Lots of honesty and candor
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I see Irby as radically honest…. not self-depreciating. Also, she likes to go from moment to moment with a sort of gentle jab at herself. There is no loss of self-love in her work, I feel..
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I can see honesty and confidence on Irby’s writing. She is confident of just being her and making fun of it.
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Freewriting to me means being in the moment! My work really focuses on capturing life in small moments throughout the day, and it has really made me observant of smaller details in people’s lives. Little things matter, and by taking the chance to look around, I am able to understand more of the world that creates my existence. Freewriting is my conscious self expressed on a page. Freewriting is about being “free”
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I also enjoy how the beginning of the book it has a little history of her. I think it is beneficial because I know when I am looking at books to buy I always like to know a little about the author.
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I’ve really just enjoyed reading the essays. Each essay is new and interesting. I like how some are shorter than others and that they’re care free expressing how they are.
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What’s your favorite so far?
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I love A Blues For Fred.
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Examples?
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I dont have the physical book yet, Im getting it on friday, but ive been listening to the audio book and chapter 3 was my favorite out of 4 because she got into more in depth topics like the guys and girls standers but not focusing completely on it. And she told us about herself and ideas by doing so
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I feel that again we have an author who wants to encourage us to write. What do you all think??
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I think that almost all authors want their readers to write! The tradition of storytelling has advanced so much throughout time. Writers know that we are in the most advanced version of storytelling and we should encourage others to write about the current human condition. Irby seems to be a truth-teller like Sedaris, but she has her own fashion in telling it like how she sees it.
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Yes… “fashion in telling it…” I love that.
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yes! Even though both Sedaris and Irvy have the same values (I am not sure if this is value is the write word to describe), I have a different feeling with Irvy’s essays comparing to Sedaris. Maybe it is their personality difference which brings us the meaning of free writing and how our readers can see and understand us
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I think Irby loves to implement humor almost into all of her writing relying on it as the foundation I guess of her ideas and creations.
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Most definitely! I found the same with Sedaris! Almost as a way to make the topic of discussion a little easier to get through and the essay to flow better
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