5-5:10pm: Intro…. How was your break? What did you do?
What did you read, write? Read or write anything for you?
5:10-5:35pm: Lawson’s book…. What is your opinion?
What did it show you?
What do you wish it had done?
If it did teach you something or connect with you in some unique way, what was it?
What do you think she wants for us?
5:35-6pm: Writing an opinion essay on her…. Where do you start?
Writing…
Depression….
“Crazy”….
Family…
Self-talk and self-care, self-love…
6-6:20pm: Your ideas and their structure… where are you starting? What singular word or thought? Forget about essays and an English class for a second… say you’re a journalist, an editorialist, one just authoring an opinion. What do you want to say about Jenny Lawson? What do you have expertise in?
Returning to her book, did you find anything that gives you more understanding of the title? Anything that showed you that there are things in life that don’t have to be looked at a certain way?
6:20-6:30pm: CLOSE…
Start writing your opinion essay…. Please use one of the OUTSIDE sources you found on her to support your idea. Could be an article on her, a video of her speaking on YouTube, whatever. Just no Wikipedia….
ASSIGNMENT: Start writing essay, be prepared to report your progress on Monday. Essay will be due on March 1st, 2021.
LENGTH: 4 pages (not including Works Cited Page).
ALSO…. Email me some thoughts from your journal… how you took notes on Lawson, or your day, and what the journal does for you. Show me that you’re using it, and I’ll award credit.
***For this first essay, and I can’t say this enough… Don’t overthink it. Worry about structure and editing later. To start, just WRITE if you haven’t already. Remember, an opinion… support it. DON’T SUMMARIZE, and quote only when you have to, to support your idea.
I’m wanting to read more of her work, honestly….. I read “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened”… but want to read the others..
In my opinion, Lawson’s liberated style is overwhelming. I tried reading slower and I think it made me feel worse! I felt bad, like there must be something I’m missing since so many of you had nothing but wonderful things to say about Furiously Happy. But at the end of the day, I think it showed me that no matter how many people feel one way about something, there’s always going to be someone who feels differently. “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world. But there’s always going to be somebody who doesn’t like peaches.” Or something like that. I love how effortless it seems to be for her to say what she thinks. I also love that she has made it her mission to make it known that no matter how lonely times may feel, we are never alone. It showed me that 1. I have even more of my own sh** to work on and 2. I like to read to escape, not to be reminded of my own mental illness. I don’t think I wish it were written another way or done differently. Lawson had an intention to enlighten and connect with her readers and I’m pretty sure she was successful.
That passage can help write your essay..
I think that she conquered her mental disorders in very unique ways, it did help that she had an amazing support group with that of her father mother, friends and husband.
The book ended like a day in real life ended….not everything folded and put away nicely–Nothing perfect, but incredibly real and raw. Acknowledgment of what IS in her life, even the uncertain, the scary and complex is also what makes her life rich.
I loved Lawson’s book I never read a book like that so I found it very fun to read. It showed me and taught me to not take laugh so seriously and have fun. I think Lawson wants us not to feel alone when it comes to mental illness and to be more comfortable with it and to get other people to understand mental illnesses.
As I kept on reading Lawson’s book, I found myself laughing more and more. I had a terrible head and stomach ache this weekend so my girlfriend offered to read the book to me. Interestingly I found myself laughing much more. I might enjoy listening to the book via audio format a lot more. I wish it had a bit more structure to hold it together. At certain points it was a bit too freeform to really enjoy. Some freeform is enjoyable. I continued to feel like I was being really seen by Lawson. Her writing made me feel like someone truly understood what I face everyday. I think that maybe what she wants from us is to talk about her book and her experience. To spread the word about what being furiously happy is, for people with mental illness, and without.
I really liked Lawson’s book. While the humor was amazing, it still brought real insight about mental illnesses. Its hard to find a book I don’t lose interest in after 5 seconds. I loved that it gave me some perceptive about how her life and the lives of people like her with mental illnesses. The ending was exactly how i expected it to be, more real and life like than the rest of the book, which I think really finished the book well.
Lawson book showed me how to find my happiness again, how to forget about other for a second and to check in with myself throughout my days to see how I am doing.
Explain…
In terms of writing… it shows you that there is no one way. (Essay topic….)
In the past i have had family members and close friend who have really had to battle their mental health, epecially when it came to depression. I feel that lawsons insight gave me a cleaer few of what they could be going through and helped to shatter the stigma that urround mental health issues. I reall feel like im walking away from this book ith a broader view on what many people silently truggle with on a day to day basis
Also… the opposite of Happiness… Ms. Lawson teaches readers to shed those that embody the opposite of what you’re after.
I think I liked Lawson’s book mainly for the relatability in her humor and her examples. I make the same kinds of out there jokes in my head, I’m just too scared to say them. I also really liked her spoon analogy and the pretend you’re good at it mantras a lot, I think you’re helpful things to remind yourself. I think Jenny Lawson above all wants us to feel less alone because she really shows us how she’s actually thinking and feeling. There is no shame or embarrassment to be found, she owns who she is. I think more than that though her writing shows that it is okay to not be okay and we need to be more gentle with ourselves and the people around us because sometimes even everyday tasks can feel difficult for people. That and we need to say what’s actually on our mind more, it’s much more interesting when we don’t filter ourselves to avoid saying something weird or embarrassing, because that thing was probably funny.
What you’re addressing is ALL character. Please consider writing about this for your essay!
WHAT DOES SHE WANT FOR US??
To be compassionate to ourselves. Find joy in the unexpected.
To take ourselves less seriously and take a step outside of our comfort zones
She wants us to live life to the fullest
To live beyond our labels
YES.
To “Stop judging yourself against shiny people.” lol
F/CK YEAH!!!!
FTP: Find more happiness. And more freedom. And more YOU.
FTP: Look past word. Find feelings. Find character. Find LIFE.
with this essay i will probably start with depression, and cats, and self love. Lawson’s reading articulated and brought light to things I haven’t ever really been able to identify before. Her writing is also so unique. I think this essay will spend quite a bit of time exploring writing for yourself like Lawson does.
And I think she really just wants everyone to find their own happiness in life not matter the type and not compare ourselves to others that shine differently.
There is no such thing as something unattainable… especially when it comes to your happiness.
I think she wants us to stop holding ourselves back.
Furiously Happy taught me to be present, make the most out of each precious moment, and enjoy the now because shitty things are always going to happen and going with the flow is vital for survival.
One of my best friends who is an International Foreign Relations major once advised me, as I would vent to him about how terrible I thought my employment was: “You just need to find something LESS shitty, because, let’s be real, you will always encounter shit in your life.”
It resonated with me and leveled expectations out.
Lawson showed me to rediscover new value in my writing and put my stories out there on the page with pride. “Wear my unique badge of weirdness.” Or rather type or write it, say it, be it, OWN IT!
I wish nothing else from Lawson. But from myself, I wish I would have stepped back and seen things more objectively to get to know her more intimately, than constantly trying to relate her stories to my own life. However, I feel like she did this on purpose for the readers???
It was an inevitable connection.
I learned to be patient with discovering unidentified individuals, perhaps people inside of me. (That sounds crazy)
It’s a long perpetual process. Oy vey.
Lawson wants the readers to be more open and free themselves from their bizarre features that make up more or less of who they are.
This is great Dais… possible architecture for your essay…?
Maybe I don’t know.
I feel I could write an essay about Lawson coming from many different angles. She is extremely talented at writing and has so many challenges in life she is inspiring. I would want to write something about how she shows strength. She shows so much by putting herself out there for everyone to judge on their own free will and she is okay with that, she doesn’t hide herself and is proud to be the person she is then going on to inspiring others. Or I could write about her definition of crazy and how I feel that societies definition of crazy is wrong. I just have to choose a topic and stick to it.
I think she wants us to enjoy all the little things of life. To pick ourselves up from the rough times we go through.
Want a hint for a starting point or some added dimension to your essay?? Start with Lawson’s CHARACTER…
Want to learn something today? Don’t quote the book unless you are supporting something, and keep the quote as short as possible.
What’s on your mind, with this essay? No complaining, please….
I write best when relating to what I am writing personally. I’m excited to dive into exploring my need to let everyone know i’m ok when I’m not…rereading the book as I write and letting her character guide me
Good! Just make sure there’s a focus on the book, while still incorporating your life.
yep yep
🙂
I somewhat have an idea of what to write in the essay , probably would just gather all the notes that I took within the chapters and just write freely while playing with ideas
As a Psychologie major, reading furiously happy was pretty interesting. And learning the insides of the mind of someone who has the cluster of illnesses that Lawson has was my main goal in reading the book. I have had my own struggles with some overlapping mental challenges, but lawsons experiences was way different from my own. It was also interesting to me how she would describe e and experience therapy. Even tho I’m not aiming to be working in clinical psychology, it gave me a better understanding of the daily struggles and the adventures that come from being “crazy”.
As far as writing an opinion paper on Lawson, I would start by thinking about the gut reactions and feelings I had while reading he book. The immediate things I felt. Then I would go through that second round of emotions I had that were coupled with reason and conscious thought. I’ll most likely go through all of that and focus on what I feel strongest about, or what gives me the strongest emotional reactions and use that as fuel for my essay.
I think what Lawson wants from us more than anything else, is for us to be true to ourselves, face whatever demons and issues we may be fighting, and I think she encourages us to do so in a more lighthearted manner because it really does make life better. Like she says at the end “Quitting may be easier, but it isn’t better.” and that might be something you have heard before and brushed off, but after reading all of Lawsons experiences and spending some time seeing the world through her eyes, it feels much more meaningful.
Where do you start…..? Start with you, and your read of the book. No need to summarize, as this is YOUR opinion and reading experience.
I wrote some notes in my journal of quotes and stuff I relate to and liked in her book so I’ll probably start on that and see where it takes me.
Whats on my mind with this essay? I feel like I have a pretty good concept and I hope I can translate what I am thinking on to the page.
the only thing i can come up with for this essay is a narrative about someone i knew named Sage. how much Sage would have loved Lawson’s writing, and how much Lawson’s writing has connected with the people who used to know them. they passed too young, and didn’t get to tell their stories like Lawson does. Sage is why I want to be furiously happy, and Sage is why Lawson’s writing really connected with me.
“they are the realest thing there is. And they want us dead. And sometimes they succeed. But not always. And not with you. You are alive.” (324) this is the quote that really had me choked up in the end.
“Brighter days are coming. Clearer sight will arrive. And you will arrive too.” is what i wrote down for myself in my own personal journal
I like that!
I have already made an overview of what I wanna write about and I have also used the insights of my friends to help me in forming my essay sand what I want to say, because I have a lot to say- lol. I wanna cover the topics I have written down for myself from different points of perspective. But also underline my critical points.
On my mind for this essay is taking the same approach as Lawson. Being blunt, honest, fair, and REAL. Honesty resonates from her writing and I believe that makes it more impactful for the reader. Chipping away at this essay will be key for me, as procrastination is something that I am looking to avoid this semester.
I think I would probably focus on self talk and anxiety because that is what resonated with me the most. I think an overarching theme people bring from the book is dealing with depression, but I think that the anxiety side is just as strong. Anxiety can be really hard to talk yourself down from and feeling less alone and finding reassuring phrases that work can help. Even if you’re the least anxious person ever though, there is something for you in this book because I have never met someone who has always been able to talk to themselves kindly. People don’t always like themselves very much but the more you are gentle with yourself and tell yourself positive things, the self love will come.
For an opinion essay, I would start with the idea of crazy. Throughout the book, she makes her view point on the term crazy very obvious. She is crazy, in her definition at least. Crazy can mean so many different things and I would start there. I would want to talk about what we think of crazy versus how she defines it.
I’d probably start off by looking through my notes and write down a few ideas on what i can say. I’d also look at some reviews and see what other people think about her just to get another perspective.
On my mind, I have a pretty good idea of what I want to write. I don’t want to use too many quotes in my essay though.
Oh… and it’s okay if you don’t know where to start. I’m just offering suggestions. 🙂
Keep giving them please! I’m still a bit all over the place with what I want to write yet and yours helps and same with everyone else’s
Good… just breathe and enjoy your writing Nina.. cheers.
Feeling a little overwhelmed as well seeing other peoples ideas hoping to gain some inspiration!
I feel you Nina, I have a lot of ideas that I need to focus!
Feel free to collaborate, ladies!!
I love how unapologetic Lawson is in the las chapter how she should not be sorry for being depressed, or having manic episodes. I believe she uses comedy as a way to pilot her life, she mentions Smoky the Bare, and how is it on her to put out forest fires. She gooses on to say that it should be ” a team effort”. I think Laws connects with many readers who feel alone who don’t have a voice of their own, she has such an impact on people who don’t think that there worth anything. On page 319 she states she did not know the support her book would get(” me too”, I thought it was just me”, Jenny Lawson). with her words she game so many people that need help reassurance, that they were not alone.
i am going to start with using my journal thoughts and her concept of mental illness
Just a sidebar for a second….. I’m dying to get back in the classroom. I’m over this shit..
I like classes like this wayyyy better in person.
UGH…. I know. All good. We’re here, and we’ll have our dimension delight us with more muse.. <3
Me too i feel like the information gets through better when its face to face rather than staring at a screen for hours on end
I can only imagine the energy and how much more enjoyable hearing everyone talk about their views on the book and perception of it would be in person jeez
Anyone else feeling the same way…?
would be nice, but i cant drive to save my life so this is keeping me safe. lol!
I want you to be safe, P!!!! 🙂
yes, I would love to go back to the classroom feel like ill be more productive that way too.
i think the way i will start is by looking at my notes and annotations i have and gather my notes from other resources. As well as use quotes when needed but not to many i don;t want my quotes to take over my writing. And be bold and blunt like her maybe….
Honestly I have no idea where to to start my essay. I’m reading through everyones response to try and give myself an idea of what I want to write about.
I honestly wouldn’t mind asking Lawson questions, when your surrounded by people you love and somehow distance yourself from them how do you regain that pace of yourself and, not go through the motions of just living day to day. I also wouldn’t mind asking her how many spoons she has on a given day.
Lawson teaches us about moods…. About how to defeat them… about how to defeat another side of ourselves when needed…
Yeah I like how she does this.
Explain….
When she is incapable of being a PTA mom or “normal functioning” parent but spends time with her daughter huddled under a makeshift fort. She replaces the feeling with another thing when she can.
Perfect!! Please build on this!!!
When life is really overwhelming she unleashes her inner dialog on the situation. (Victor and Maury and money talk).
I think I might explore the idea of using humor as a shield for my essay? You can’t be sad if you’re laughing hysterically. It is powerful, and it is even more powerful if you are unapologetic and unembarrassed about things. Everyone if funny when they know they are funny and also are not afraid of becoming the joke themself.
YES!!!
I think I’m gonna focus on the crazy part because that’s what makes Lawson so unique.
You think she’s crazy?
Talk to me y’all….