5-5:10pm: What you want to do with this week, and how you’ll make that happen…
5:10-5:35pm: Sedaris, your notes from the reading over the weekend… BE SPECIFIC. Cite passages, be ready to engage each other, build ideas, and support the opinions you post.
5:35-6pm: Talk to us about Sedaris and attitude, outlook on life… his outlook vs. your own.
6-6:20pm: What is the idea you have been developing over the past 13 weeks? You will be writing about this for your final essay, and I expect you to have something you’re building …. And if not one idea, then a couple that have you inspired and eager to write..
6:20-6:30: What’s on the page, what are you thinking…?
ASSIGNMENT: The next 3 essays in Calypso …. Which should be through and including “The Silent Treatment”.
#professormikey 
Happy Monday!!!!! Who’s gonna kick us off???
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For this week I want to get done with all my assignments early in the week so I can relax throughout the other half of the week
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What’s your plan for securing this?
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OTP: Walk with the pace of your own story, not ahead or behind. Be in concert with your own narrative.
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For this week I want to create memories. Today I started a juice cleansing challenge with my sister for 3 days and this Sunday I’m also going skydiving for the first time!
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Nice! Be safe! Congrats on the juice project.. those are awesome.
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For this week I want to get all my assignments done and feel proud of them, I want to make sure I have everything prepared and ready for my friends birthday, and same goes for my brothers birthday, and I want to make sure I have everything done so I can relax on my birthday!!
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Hey Nina!!!! When is your bd?
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This monday, the 26th! I’m turning 18!! 🙂
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Nice!!!! Happy early birthday!!! 18, you’re old now like your sister. lol
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Thank you! and I know lol, I don’t want to be an adult
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Dude who says you have to be? Look at ME? lol
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Happy Early Birthday!
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Good afternoon class. My plan for this week is to finish my essay about my story. I plan to do this by prioritizing my essay over other things and meditating to help me focus on the real goal /purpose of my story
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Happy early birthday!
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My aim for the week is to consolidate, eliminate certain efforts and projects – simplicity over complication, situation of eradication….
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Howdy friends. This week I want to commit more time to studying and getting all my assignments in. I want to set aside SPECIFIC time for myself though as well. I don’t have many days off this week so I’ll really be struggling to keep my brain organized
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It’s always a struggle, but that’s where the rewards await you..
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My motivation is getting to the end of the semester and watching an eclipse with best friend
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Nice!! Enjoy!!
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Hello everyone! This week I want to be more disciplined and productive to make sure I get everything done by friday. To make it happen I will make sure I don’t let anything around be distracting, maybe shut myself in my room until finished with everything.
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Patyyyyyy!!!! Cheers! Good to eliminate those distractions..
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This week I want to be more productive and finish my assignments. I will have to plan out my days more efficiently and try to get a decent sleep schedule.
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How will you accomplish that?
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Good Afternoon,
For this week I am looking forward to getting all my assignments done so I don’t have to stress over the weekend, and hitting the gym every day. I am also really looking forward to seeing the Mortal Kombat movie this weekend.
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I am starting a new job this week. My goal is to go into this new role with excitement and energy! I’m ready to get back to work so I plan on making sure I have everything I need ready to go (hopefully the night before!). When I get in my own head, I’ll circle back to my goals. Why I’m here and why I’m doing what I’m doing.
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Congrats on the new gig! What are you doing?
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This week I am trying to fix my sleep schedule. I’m busy 24/7 so it’ll be hard, but I have to sacrifice some free time to just have some more sleep.
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Yes… the balance we seek always demands something being shed.
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I want to finish up my essay today and tomorrow, and I am hoping to finish my outline today. I hope to have the rough draft done tomorrow. Then I’ll do any last minute corrections on Wednesday morning. I was wondering however about how long you wanted the essay to be.
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Yeah me too, I have another assignment due in a couple days so I’m trying to finish the essay in these coming days. I also was wondering how long you wanted the essay to be, but if its up to us that’s cool too. I plan on relaxing after I’ve finished my assignments for this week as I’m picking up some new positions at work and I’m not sure how its going to affect my schedule next week.
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Oh man. I want to get ahead on homework. Been struggling to make sure I get everything done in the week. Going to plan out time in each day to chip away at homework in order to get it done. Also trying to eat healthier, so planning to go shopping and plan out food over the next week or so.
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Hello. I’ve had an extremely crazy day and drove myself quite crazy also. This week feels like I’m going to spin out 2500 rpm with my productivity pace, literally replicating Ingenuity’s aerodynamics. We’ve successfully performed a helicopter flight on Mars for the first time ever. OK, so… I need to update my to-do list and really condense the priorities down to what is realistically attainable in 79 hours (before Friday). I can start knocking everything out by reducing my time thinking about what I need to do and tell my mind 3..2..1… GO and simply do it. Refraining from social distractions also… May all be well these next final few weeks.
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Hey DaisDayz…. Craziness is a tag, productivity is a reality. You should credit yourself more for this mood and internal manuscript.
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Hello! My goals for this week are to practice a few songs I have been learning and just get all my work done for the week early so I have some time to relax between school and work..
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Not quite sure yet about this week. I got hurt on the job again today and am still processing what I can do for work, teaching etc. Physical stuff always puts me in a heady emotional space
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Hope you feel better Laura! Good to see you!
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this week i want to make sure school stays being my priority as we are coming to and end and also keep balancing work out to make sure i dont fall back from school. i will continue to write in my planner and keep myself organized and on top of things.
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For this week I wanted to get ahead on essays, reading and any other homework so I can start some of my final project introduced in my other classes. I already started working on this weeks and next weeks homework. I plan to work on some essays later tonight and probably tomorrow aswell.
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Sometimes I find myself wondering, “Does Sedaris even care? Or, is he just cataloging events and reactions to them?”
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I think he cares about the less predictable events in life much more than the expected
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Such as….
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for example in his chapter You speak english So Good, When the airline pilot says “all rise”
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lol… yes!!
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I think there are certain times where he does care, like he was saying he hates small talk because its not as connecting. He would prefer to ask questions where he can get to know the person he is speaking to.
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I would like to get an A on my nutrition exam this week because I’ve been getting Bs on them and my grade is 89.5% so I could bump myself up to an A. I will achieve this by studying a lot for the exam because I assumed I knew everything about nutrition already from my eating disorder. Huge mistake. My eating disorder didn’t give a **** about vitamins.
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You will reach what you decide to reach. Cheers to you. 🙂
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89.5% is still awesome, great job! You got this!
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Then sometimes I feel Sedaris is playing with us…. like an emotional and observational set of hooks.
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This week I want to free up some more time outside of work and school to focus on settling myself, give my mind and body some rest after working non stop the past few weeks due to being shorthanded. Definitely need some time to center myself and keep going.
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this week I want accomplish more than I did last week I’m going to get my assignments early that way I have plenty go hiking, I have been wanting to go for a while now, maybe Ill wright down what I see.
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OTP: Sedaris is always wanting reaction and connection. Evidence of this is the emphasis and reliance on the people around him and how he reacts to and interacts with them. ‘Sedaris & His Relationships with Others’…. Something to have on tonight’s page and considered for a writing prompt.
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Sedaris continues to be as real and blunt as ever; At what point had I realized that class couldn’t save you, that addiction or mental illness didn’t care whether you’d taken piano lessons or spent a summer in Europe? Which drunk or junkie or unmedicated schizophrenic was I crossing the street to avoid when I put it all together? I didn’t know what the story was with Kevin. The two of us had had every advantage, yet now he was living in a thicket three miles from the house he grew up in.
Sedaris, David. Calypso (p. 56). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.
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Nice, Paul!
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I highlighted that quote in my book last week! Made me think how scornful and not preventative mental illness is regardless of one’s privileges and opportunities…
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Sedaris makes sure the reader understands his relationship with the characters around him. We know he doesn’t see his siblings very often, but it is also very clear how important they are to him.
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So true! Family is like his anchor AND his handicap… think about that.
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Sedaris makes excuses to make something more funny. He outlawed the word “do” in certain circumstances such as when ordering food. His example however was “I’ll do the snails on cinnamon toast,”(page 104)..What? That was hilariously AND unnecessary but I’m not complaining.
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Nice… gives you insight to his humor and intentions for sure.
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What does Sedaris want to accomplish?
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What does Sedaris want for us?
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Why the F does he write???
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I think he writes to remember, or to be remembered. Possibly to entertain maybe he enjoys writing things, If you make it as an author there’s a chance you’re good at writing or charismatic. Maybe he wanted to point out things in the world. It seems like he is able to make mundane situations like a little fitness pedometer craze going through your family sound entertaining so I mean at least he probably invested some time into learning to write with eloquence.
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I agree with both.
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I enjoyed reading the chapter “Your english is so good”. It was a chapter to me where it almost seemed he was complaining about things at a certain point and gave a list to things he did not enjoy. To me it was a semi relatable chapter that had a few funny quotes I have saved ill look for them now..
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My favorite essay so far.
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I’m gonna be honest and say that this book has been a lot harder to get through than other books by sedaris. I was very close to someone who also took their own life. I’m having a hard time getting through some areas. Not because I don’t like them,just because having the conversations Sedaris is having are difficult and hard to confront all at once.
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Go at your own pace… lean on your colleagues here for help if you need! 🙂
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I really like how you put this Rory. Sorry to hear that ❤
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I find it interesting how Sedaris describes crazy compared to Jenny Lawson. Crazy was one of the main topics I focused on with Lawson’s writing and I think her definition was a very interesting take on the word. However with Sedaris he describes how people can be crazy in two different ways. According to Sedaris, people are either Animal Crazy or Diet Crazy. In the chapter Leviathan, he talks about how his brother is doing his no solid diet and he finds it completely crazy. Although funny, I found that it shows that people can be so enchanted by what the media is saying and one of the biggest fads right now is diet. I don’t know if Sedaris was trying to input commentary about how the media controls how we live our lives or if he was strictly talking about the diets as crazy.
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Does he look for humor is it just his interpretive lens?
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I found it interesting that Sedaris glossed over the stolen bench incident. He seemed to just use it to transition into his main story about his fitbit scenarios. The passage I’m referring to is on Pg. 43, “‘Tinkers,’ he said. ‘Pikeys.’ ‘That means Gypsies.’ Thelma Explained, adding that the politically correct term was travelers.” I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t focus just a bit more on the interaction he had with a traveling thief. Or on the use of the dated words that the thief was called. Pushing me more toward the conclusion that Sedaris leaves a lot to the reader. That he allows distance between his own analysis and intent and the reader’s experience.
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Something I really enjoy about his work is how much he does leave to the reader
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I think Sedaris wants his readers to know that -yeah you might think your life is weird/crazy/boring/etc. but hey look at this so is mine.
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Another example of Sedaris sneaking humor in is he goes on a whole rant about Americans bringing water everywhere with them but he finishes it with ” I think as I stand behind them with an aspirin dissolving in my mouth,”(page 102) He found a way to make fun of himself too, because let’s be honest it makes sense to bring water with you so that you stay hydrated. I bet Sedaris was secretly mad he had to swallow a gross aspirin with no water and he wants you to know that is the true motivation behind his rant because it adds to the humor.
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he likes to mess with people, and sometimes says some unconventional things ” It wasn’t true that Tommy had cancer. I just wanted to get a rise out of her, to feel some kind of pulse.” Your English is good, pg 100
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It’s so horrible of him to do that to people but it really does make the conversation interesting lol
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Why is it horrible? I don’t think he’s “messing” with people.. I see it as creative interaction..
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Well the context of the thing he’s lying about is kind of morbid. I mean I don’t care if he does it because it helps him get material for his writing. He’s playing with people’s heart strings.
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Strings are meant to be played… it’s instrumental in our existence.
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Hahaha okay fair point
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Just a thought, sis… no point trying to be made. I appreciate your reactions here. Nice insight.
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If you were to write him a letter, what would you say? What would you ask him? Why would you write him a letter? And before giving me some dismissive JC student answer, just say you WERE to write him a letter? Why? What about? What would you hope to accomplish?
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I think I would want to talk to him about what it was like for him growing up? What made his character what it is today. I wanna know more.
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Great direction for a communication with him, love it!
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My favorite so far has been from the chapter “Your English Is so Good”. While reading I was met with “In fact, there are only two kinds of flights: ones in which you die and ones in which you do not”. (Page 98). This quote made me chuckle enough to write it down, but also as I was thinking about it I realized I have never agreed with a quote more.
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I’m a big fan of the level of detail Sedaris goes into when narrating, like in the chapter Leviathan when he talks about his father and his almost eccentric views and beliefs, Sedaris is watching him eat and talk at a point and comments on how his face muscles twitched as he ate.
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In the chapter stepping out i liked how he compared his kidney stones with a cow giving birth because even though hes comparing the pain and suffering the cow was happy with her calf and he was cured himself. Its like if he is trying to tell you to have hope when the situation isnt good because there is light at the end of the tunnel!
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” Did she think she was dying, or has instinct somehow prepared her for this?
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Interesting take away, I didn’t think of it like that! What I interpreted was a little different. He says the cows stood next to each other like strangers standing in line at the post office, which to me sounds incredibly boring. Then along with the comparison to a kidney stone and child birth.. leaving me wondering if pain is meant to be the commonality between the three.
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“This can make you feel like youve been sprayed against your will with God cologne. ‘ Get it off me!’ pg 98. I kind of like how he put it because sometimes I feel like people push their religions on people and it makes it uncomfortable. And I mean no disrespect on religious people because I know it isn’t all of them, I’ve just seen and have had bad situations with it so I can relate to what he said.
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Nice one.
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Sedaris wants us to know that his character is based on family. After his sister taking her own life, I reflected on how it felt when my friend took his life as well. Sedaris mentions his sister Tiffany was evicted from her apartment and he also says ” Looking for one of my many houses “(64). It made me think that perhaps after hearing that his sister got evicted and how she took her life, he fell into this depression (Grief) that made him buy houses for him and his family to go to in case one of his other sisters got put in the same situation as Tiffany. That could explain the sea section.
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My kids just got something stuck in a tree… a ball. Why. WTF.
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I would ask Sedaris how he gets the bravery to put his funny and also weird thoughts out there! He isn’t afraid to be embarrassed as long as he pulls a reaction from people. I’m sure he gets a few weird looks sometimes, but the writing that comes after is worth it.
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Sedaris nailed critical and informative curiosity here in this txt on p. 96:
“Cashier: Hello, how are you this evening?
Me: Has your house ever been burgled?
Cashier: What???
Me: Your house – has anyone ever broken into it and stolen things?
….With me, people aren’t thinking ‘What did you say?’ so much as ‘Why are you saying that?'”
In other words Sedaris is not here for any small talk type of questions. Small talk is not very meaningful or colorful. A question like the one he asked above provides much more insight and liveliness about someone’s life and personality. This struck me as very relatable because I work in client service and know how dull basic conversations can be, especially as I also live downtown and have a neighbor who I asked that same exact question “Has your house ever been burgled?” and she answered “HELL YES! AND I GOT TO FIGHT THEM!” The dialogue was so rad and I learned more about her from her experience.
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This is great Dais, thanks for sharing. Give us mentality, meaning, and that internal manuscript of Mr. S…
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His outlook…. I want more of it, personally. And his writing is dependent upon it.
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