5-5:10: How are you feeling, now that the semester is over? Plans for Summer?
5:10-5:40: Sedaris….
-Your opinion.
-What he showed you.
-How you connected with him.
-Are you going to read other works of his? Why or why not?
-Again, considering out semester’s dominant idea or theme of Truth, how is Sedairs’ truth-telling different than Lawson, Irby, YOURS?
-What did you write on Sedaris and send to me? Share with your colleagues….
OTP: More than his comedy and humor, reflect and review your notes on his intentions.
OTP: His form and definition of essay writing is essential in his delivery of truth and experience, self-talk and growth.
5:40-6: Your final essay, your idea… talk to us.
-How do you have it structured, so far?
-Where did you start?
-What have you done?
OTP: This essay involves more ownership than the others. And if not more, then a different kind of ownership and onus, composition and narration.
6-6:20: Now, you start writing…. So what are you writing in this idea of yours and how does it involve our three authors? What do you want to say???
OTP: How do you start, from that one word, whatever it is…. Truth, Love, Self, Self-talk, Humor, Form, Life….
6:20-6:30: Close…..
OTP: Thinking is essential, but it’s also toxic…. Meditation and excess contemplation do NOT finish the essay. Just write, edit and organize later. Mind the architecture of your essay.
OTP: Time…. Know it, control it. And the way you do so is by inventorying and controlling your
ASSIGNMENT: Work on final essay….. Inventory what you do, log your steps, specific points of progress. This really helps!
#professormikey 
I wrote about communication, in particular about his family relationships and the interactions between them individually and as a unit. the comfort and trust he has in all those relationships is quite fascinating.
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Talk about that fascination… why. In what ways? How is Sedaris speaking directly to his readers rather than just writing another book?
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I remember reading about his sisters staying over at his house, how he included all his honest feelings regarding their stay, or any guest staying over. A lot of those feelings, the feeling of being happy to be around your loved ones but also the feeling of needing being independed from them, to be able to do what you want to do without feeling tied to your guest is something I value a lot. Seeing those similarities made it very easy to connect with Sedaris, because it is real
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By now, I’ expect you to have several pages in your journal filled with ideas, approaches, possibly quotes, and just freed writings…
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POP-PROMPT: Give us an update on your final idea/essay….. Take your time, write it out. I’ll award credit on depth, description, and energy. GO!
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Is there any topic off limits?? We can write about whatever?
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Has to to be an idea stemming from the three books….
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Well, where to even begin. I have found the ability to write in my own style has been immensely helpful as a starter. I find myself writing in a way similar to that of Sedaris, in that I have a rather blunt approach to speaking about my life, given I’ve been through enough shit for a lifetime, or so I’ve been told. Anxiety has been and will always been a massive factor in the events within my life, but nothing compares to my incredibly close friend attempting to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Getting a call at 3am from a hospital in Marin saying my friend was in bad shape and that he would need to be picked up in the morning made it so I didn’t sleep the rest of the night. The next two weeks were the most impactful weeks of my life. I didn’t let that fucker out of my sight. Going to the bathroom? I’m chillin in there with you. Getting a haircut? Cool I will too. He ended up living with us for 2 years starting from those initial weeks. He became my best friend, the best man at my wedding, and my closest confidante. Those two years consisted of more smiles and laughs then the rest of my life combined. I still talk to that man every day, and with vaccinations being acquired, I’ll be damned if I’m not giving him the longest hug of our life in a couple of weeks.
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How does this connect to the books?
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It’s my truth, as bluntly as I can put it. Every book I feel as though has been encased in the idea of truth and honesty. Whether it be in a sporadic nature such as Lawson. Or in the dry sense from Sedaris. Or the unique perspective of Irby. It’s all about what has impacted their life, and simply putting it on the page for the reader to take their own understanding.
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Awesome… show your connection and argument.
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Yes. You can write about ‘whatever’… connect to the three books, and show how this idea is present in them, how it interests you… MAKE IT YOUR OWN.
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Mine: LOVE. Love of writing, love of life, love of stories and people and what ordinary moments teach….
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While in class and thinking about it during my free time I have slowly constructed a small structure for my essay. I have it as a prompt right now which I tend to work on almost as a question for essay for me to build off. So far I have gathered up quote, passages, and thoughts from the past three books onto a page to use for examples/evidence for my essay.
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Such as………
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My essay topic idea is about Self acceptance and Individuality. After reading all three books I have simply put sticky notes in my books to refer back to. Things like in Irby’s book on page 225 she says “I am beautiful nor smart”. Or like how Sedaris talks about his family throughout his book and how he feels about it.
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I was going to go with the singular idea of engagement, whether it being family, strangers and or the world around them. After finishing Sedaris I may have to switch. I have tabs and notes on all books so it wont be hard to get a better perspective.
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Nice!
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Things going very wrong make great stories…maybe. still working on it
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Truth!!!
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So far I have definitely outlined a handful of passages I would like to use for my essay which have resonated with me and my idea which is self acceptance (especially when society tells you otherwise). I also have an introduction paragraph and a few bits of writing I’ve done in class that I’ve been starting to revise, reword and group together because a lot of the things I want to talk about in my essay I have also written about in class or even for brainstorms that I did for other essays. I know which passages I would like to reference and what I would like to say about them but I also will likely find more ideas as I revisit those passages. I have also been watching Shrill and have been considering scenes from episodes of that show I would like to discuss in my essay. I’ve been a bit stuck on my other outside source though, so I’m planning on looking though other works that our three authors have been involved in to include, or other similar writers/speakers who talk about similar things(we’re allowed to do that right?)I definitely feel a little overwhelmed because I don’t have all my ideas on a document yet but I have a good idea of what I will include and how my essay will be pieced together. I’m going to be honest outlines really aren’t my thing because I prefer to just put it as a rough draft instead so I don’t have a formal outline since I do the same thing in my head.
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My topic is self acceptance and I will be talking about body image, accepting mental health diagnosis despite stigma, and accepting your own individual personality and being true to yourself even when society says that’s “being weird”.
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my essay is going to be about self growth and developing self worth. I feel like being comfortable with youself has been a major focus between the books that weve read and I have been trying to work on it myself.
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My idea is confidence. It’s noted in all 3 books and the stories of each individual character because some stories are very personal, but these authors have built up the confidence to tell them, write them, publish them which takes confidence to do. It’s something that I can’t relate to because I wouldn’t be able to write a private story about my life and publish it, but tell me to streak at a football game and I’ll do it for free. Sedaris talks to people with confidence and without it he might have never gotten his tumor removed by someone he had barely met.
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In Sedaris, Lawson, Irby, in all of the books and in life I have learned that we learn through experiences. Be it my own, my neighbors or Lawsons. experience=knowledge. And that knowledge is what is important to me. I want you, as my reader, to learn through my experiences. see the world and the elements in it through my eyes, my successes and my mistakes, because I have made so many of them. I want to enrich my reader and give them something to write from themselves.
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I want to convey the message that self acceptance is necessary for growth, and fulfillment, changing yourself in loo of acceptance won’t make you a better person. This connects to the books because all three of our authors have grown to accept themselves, and want the reader to do the same thing. They have journeys that can teach us a lot about what a positive mindset can do for you that a negative self deprecating one can’t.
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Love this!!
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all three authors write about experiences they had where things went badly or “wrong.” Later on its much easier to laugh about them and connect with others by sharing your story. These stories share that we are all human and further connect us to others
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My idea is stemming from self but centering in on self confidence. It’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time and still do but reading these authors works, not only the books but blogs and other sources, has inspired me because they’re all so confident in who they are and able to expose it all to the world.
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I will be writing about how each of the three authors present their own sense of self through their writings. I want to be able to take parts from how each of them hold themselves. I want to then input my commentary and what i think I should be and what I want to be.
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Knowing what you want to say IS the essay.
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The past three authors have had a heavy influence on what my final essay is about. Each authors book represents themselves and their story, fully putting themselves out there for everyone to read. Lawson and Irby both share stories of embarrassment and self acceptance throughout their lives in their books, I feel I can relate to them and their stories on some levels.
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I will write about and continue to right about coming to find yourself in this world after filtering through so many emotions through life. I find just like the authors I am now finding that I can be myself instead of putting on a show for others.
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What’s on the page y’all…?
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OTP: Sedaris and all these authors show us there is a statement and position, an ARGUMENT, in being who we are and writing about what we have lived.
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OTP:Self acceptance is the key to success and happiness, not perfection, discipline, or rigidity.
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OTP: Find a new perspective!
Have a GREAT night everyone!
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OTP: Work on essay, Individuality is what makes us human. Gather quotes.
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Have a good night!
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OTP: Each author presents different ways in which they think of themselves. Finding out where I fit within my own story is more important than anything
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OTP: write what I love, love what I write.
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OTP: Get this shit banged out early. Let your thoughts just flow onto the keyboard. Don’t be confided into typical english ideals; just be open and honest. HONESTY.
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I like this!!
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otp speaking and writing my truth, keeping it realistic but also expressing humor
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It’s weird to think about the semester already being over, I guess my perception of time really does speed up as I get older. I feel like David Sedaris writes for himself more than for other people. He doesn’t necessarily seem to push any opinions on the readers, but seems steadfast with his own. I was glad to see that he formed a relationship of sorts with a snapping tortoise after him and his father bashed on reptiles in the beginning of the book. That is what I call character development. My final essay is going to be about self acceptance and the acceptance of others. Agreeing to disagree is better than arguing with somebody who doesn’t want to change. I need to get better at accepting myself. David and his family seem happy, despite their differences and personality quirks.
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