7-8:15pm
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 
Good Evening Everyone!
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Hey!!!! How goes it??
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Hello Everyone!
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Hello
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Hey Michael!!!
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Hi everyone!
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good evening!
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Hey Garin!!
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Hi guys!
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Hey Patricia!!!
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Hi everyone
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Hi everyone!
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Kaylin!!!
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Hey everyone!!!!! I’m here!!!! How goes it?????
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Good how about you!?
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I’m great, Claudia…. loving work and family.. no complaints. Thanks for asking, my kindest friend.
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HI everyone!
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Just got off work and ready to hear what everyone has to say!
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Hey Claudia!!!
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omg yet another red flag warning got me shook. I’m so over it
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yes! in calistoga the want to turn off power starting tomorrow, till friday!
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damn smh
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OMG… seriously. I’m thinking of moving..
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Hey guys hope everyone is having a great afternoon
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For tonight’s page….. #pozvibez. Positivity ONLY. Want anything antithetical, you won’t find what you want here. I appreciate you all!!!! Let’s exchange some thoughts and ideas!!!!!
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How does it go? Well I am happy to have my paper in so that is a relief. I am also glad that we moved on to a new Author. This lady is funny. All I have to say is NO ROSE.
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Ha ha…
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Essay defiance… that’s what I’m on. More than submitting an essay, demonstrate your understanding… your understanding of your own position!!! You want to convey a strong idea in three paragraphs…. good luck with that.
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The essay is about OWNERSHIP. Of YOUR own ideas.
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Anyone seen Haunting of Manor? Shit is WHACK.
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no and i won’t now lol
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I actually enjoyed! It made me cry at the end LMAO
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wow
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The new one based on the movie called the turning?
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I don’t know what it’s based on. It sucks.
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did hear it was bad, but hill house was pretty good!
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*Haunting of BLY Manor…
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Truth in the meta… Where you are, what you’re doing. That’s how essays should be taught.
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I feel better also after turning in the Sedaris essay because I was overthinking it.
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Well believe that I owned my writing this time, which was no small feat between helping kids with their school and doing the house chores.
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Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope everyone is doing well
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Let’s get into the first item….Essays.. What are your philosophies on style and composition?
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I think essays are more formal and structured pieces of writing as opposed to free-writing.
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That’s how they’re taught, which isn’t necessarily correct.
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Sorry for delay… had to calm the newborn… he was like an angry writer not getting his way with an editor, lol..
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I did have an amazingly funny moment with my 15 month old nephew today. He climbs on the couch with me and looks straight at my stomach and says “Ball”
Me: “No that is a belly”
Nephew: “Ball”, as he starts to jiggle it
Me: Determined this time, “Belly”.
Nephew: “Big Ball”
And that is when you have to just laugh.
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So cute!
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Love this, Michael. Cheers. Great dialogue and sense of scene and symmetry between characters. Just beautiful.
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Where are you guys??? BRING IT!
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Want to learn something this semester? Stopping is a sentence… keep the thoughts in their thrown spiral.
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Hard to see essays anyway different then what we were taught, but hopefully I can kinda break through that, to make it easier and not so formal
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It’s not hard. You’ve accepted it’s “hard”. Write, and write freely.. take ownership of your thoughts.
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Reword here, not hard but more like its the norm and what was expected
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All good. I get it, new friend. We define and re-define what’s in front of us and OUR composition.
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Also for tonight’s page… Irby is a questioner of self, why she’s here.. those existence qualms and questions. If you’re a serious reader, you gotta love it.
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I am not a fan of essays. I really dislike writing them. I feel like there are too many rules to essays, and I prefer to write about non sense that’ll get me thinking straight, or give some clarity towards something that seemed too complicated in my head.
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What if there were no rules? What if there were only YOUR rules?
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That would change everything! But in that case, would it still be considered an essay?
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What if it were just considered writing, expression.. a supported OPINION??
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I’ve only listen to her for a couple of mins but she seems like my kind of girl. She’s honest and very outspoken lol love how she curses like me lol
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Ha ha.. knew I liked you! Yes, she’s honest and unfettered… truthful and loving of freedom, freedom on page and in speech.
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I can’t wait to read more!
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“Likes” are great, written lines are better and what helps your grade, FYI..
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sorry i missed lunch and had to make some food, my stomach was killing me.
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You’re good man. I had to get some wine real quick, so no worries.
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Free-writing is less stressful, more relaxed. You don’t worry too much about the structure of your paper or the grammar. You can technically writing about anything that comes to mind without putting much thought into it
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I find essays to be a love-hate relationship. At times I have so many ideas and feel like I can write so much while other times I cannot think of ANYTHING.
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It should always be LOVE. It’s YOUR writing.
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very true!!! I need to remind myself of this thank you
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Always, Claudia. Enjoy.
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When I think of an essay, I think of it more formal that has to meet certain expectations. Obviously now after talking about essays this semester, I can see essays as being anything whether it’s proving a point or expressing something
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I have had a pretty good day. I met some friends on the way to picking up things in school. It was great to be able to see them in real person (it would have been better if there were no masks involved).
Then I had a discussion based class, and today’s topic was christianity. At the end I ended up with a question. The God(according to the Bible) is supposed to be all loving, why did he create satan or hell, how could he stand by and watch people suffer from them?
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Essays should be more relaxed then formal.
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They should be more personal and indicative of identity, rather than “relaxed” or “formal”…
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I think that my greatest challenge with the Sedaris essay was length. I found myself going long so then when I edited I had a problem keeping it long enough. It seemed to be a tough middle ground for me.
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Just like Sedaris, Irby is brave and creative. The bravery of putting ideas out there that many would not
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Sedaris and Irby have that similarity i feel like. They both had challenging pasts
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“I don’t believe in pretending to be cool anymore.” One of my favorite lines. Why? Because that’s acting. Ms. Irby is about truth… here I am, and if you don’t accept well then that f/cking sucks for you.
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Style is completely up to the freedom of writer, there many ways to write an essay, persuasive, research/informative. It could be nonlinear nonsense and its still an essay, Essays are just writing that either tell a story, argue a thesis, or give information. Ussualy set up in some form of introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion,kinda like the form of what’s written on our agenda for tonight.
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*usually
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I don’t know, essays are as artistic and interesting as the writer.
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I think Samantha is free and expressive. Her essays aren’t necessary formal, they’re free! This is how I believe she shows “essay defiance.”
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Which essay did you enjoy most? Easy question.. if you can’t answer this with some support and evidence you read, I WILL cry.
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Sedaris and Irby have very interesting and unique personalities. Very, “I don’t care this is who I am”. Some may like them, some may not, but them being their authentic selfs, is what many people find to be very admirable and refreshing.
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I’m waiting….
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Samantha Irby is more self depreciating than Sedaris. Which is the kind of humor I like more. I did not read all four stories yet but I do look forward to all of them. She hooked me with the first one, her Bachelorette Resume had me rolling. When she describes herself as, “Real 2 Percent Large Cottage Cheese Curd Ass”. I was fucking dying.
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Honesty in her words. Like a new world of realization and thorough passion for expression and passion… linear, but not. Wild and meticulously molded.
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