lenny bruce is not afraid

For Sunday's blog post, please select from among the following topics:

1. You've had another week to let the uncanny brilliance of the The Onion seep into your mind. Why let that Onion-y flavor go to waste? Using the subject title as your headline, write a news-story parody that will amaze passersby with its huge amounts of ironic insight.

2. In "Politics and the English Language," Orwell says that you can "shirk" the responsibility of being a "scrupulous" writer "by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you--even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent--and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself." He also writes, "In prose, the worst thing one can do with words is surrender to them." How do you understand what Orwell means here?

3. Maybe "fuck" isn't an acronym for "Fornication Under Command of the King" after all. But that doesn't mean we should stop wondering about its origins. Write a satirical history of this versatile, dangerous word.

For Tuesday, I want you to read a few chapters of Lenny Bruce's hugely influential autobiography, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People (a take-off on Art Carnegie's famous self-help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People). Start off with the introduction written by playwright, actor, and L. Bruce fan Eric Bogosian. Bogosian, who isn't as famous as he was fifteen years ago (think a darker, artsy-er, less cartoonish version of Lewis Black) makes some great points about Bruce's importance that we'll discuss together next week. Kenneth Tynan's foreword might be harder to follow, but it'll give you a sense of how Bruce was received across the Atlantic (do you think Tynan is a Marxist? yeah, so do I). As a theater critic, Tynan's championed the dramatic realism of the so-called Angry-Young-Men in Great Britain, which makes sense, given Bruce's own comedic/satirical style.

The rest of your reading assignment is divided into two parts. There's the sections I want you to read closely (more on that in a moment) and then there's the chapters you can read if you get the chance (I realize that time is limited for most of you, so I'm trying to be realistic here). The important sections: pp. 1-30, pp. 97-103, pp. 129-133. Less important sections: pp. 31-51, pp. 79-90.

Now to reading L. Bruce closely. Try to go some place quiet to read the "important" sections of the autobiography. If you find yourself put-off or confused by him, give him another chance. Imagine that he's the wacked-out but totally fearless guy that everyone knows from high school (well, a lot of us knew in high school--in fact, maybe some of us *were* that person in high school), and you've just run into him at the bus stop. You weren't that close to him, and you're not sure you really like him, but for an hour or so, what's the harm in listening to the strange, interesting story he has to tell? If you're lucky, you may begin to understand why he's one of the most important performers in the US since World War II, and why so many people from previous generations think of him as Saint Lenny.

Oh. And prepare to be shocked. And offended. And, yes, a lot of what he says will seem dated to you.

Area Man Ruins Weekend With Delusional Demands

Time to peel your own onion and make us all cry. Please choose between the following two topics and post to the blog by 8PM Sunday:

1. Write your own satirical newspaper piece for The Onion. Your post title should function as the headline. Everything is fair game except for people in the class. And their family members. And their friends. And their pets. And their--you get the point.

2. Write a satirical Letter to the Editor commenting on a recent on-campus event or incident.

Peeling the Onion, Blogging Away

(This info is also posted on the Class Blog)

Hey, everyone. First, let's talk about the reading assignment for Tuesday. Then we'll move on to the blogging assignment for Sunday.

Did you get pick up a copy of The Onion, Ad Nauseam, Complete News Archives, Volume 14? Great. I don't expect you to read all 264 pages by Tuesday, but I do expect you to spend some quality time browsing through it. So let curiosity, your critical intelligence, and your funny bone be your reading guides this weekend. If you've got Post-It Notes, affix them to pages of The Onion where you find articles that relate to issues we've either discussed in class or should discuss in class. The articles don't necessarily have to include a then-topical reference to post-9/11 culture. For example, you could flag a Herbert Kornfeld column that uses hip-hop slang in a way similar to David Rees' Get Your War On. But you should take your own questions and concerns to the course materials so that we can discuss them together in class (by the way, encouraging you to generate your own critical thoughts is one way for me to correct for my own political biases). As you're browsing through the book, take a close look at the stories on the following pages: 7, 8, 31, 43, 91, 133, 217, 223, 229, 235, 241, 253. I think you'll like what you find.

For this weekend's blog post, which is due by Sunday 8PM, please write at least a paragraph on one of the following topics (for the questions that can't be written in paragraph form, use your best judgment when deciding on length):

1. On page 3 of Get Your War On, one character muses, "Maybe I should write a poem about my feelings since September 11th; that might help! What rhymes with 'alcohol-saturated dread?" The travails of this hard-drinking lyricist highlights the inadequacy of poetry to convey post-9/11 anxiety, at least according to David Rees (you might remember Art Spiegelman making a similar point). Write a post that either argues for poetry or for the comic strip as a form particularly well-suited to representing post-9/11 culture. What does poetry or comic strips allow you to say, show, or represent that can be especially powerful for post-9/11 themes? Can you give an example?

2. You're a clip art character wiling away another day at your cubicle. (Sigh) All of a sudden, Voltron appears at your desk. (Gasp!) What do you two say to each other?

3. Why do Rees' characters repeat the phrase, "Under God"? (For instance, on page 12.) What kind of critique is Rees offering about US foreign policy? Post-9/11 US culture?

4. Finally, your big chance to create a comic strip that satirizes David Rees' Get Your War On. So what are you going to call it? Who are the characters going to be, and what do they do? Sketch out some details and then give us a sample of your anti-Get Your War On satirical humor.

first blog assignment, david rees

(Your actual post for Sunday should be on the other blog. Since that blog will sometimes get crowded, I'll put all the assignments on this blog, too. Think of it as an easy way to see what you're responsible for.)

For this weekend, please post on one of the following topics by Sunday at 8PM.

1. Still have things to say about Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers? Did I not call on you when you had something brilliant to say? Here's your chance to share your thoughts. Describe the panel/s or essay/s that you'll be talking about in your post (i.e. give us enough detail to know what you're referring to) and then let us know what's on your mind.

2. Give us an example and explanation of how Spiegelman uses irony in In the Shadow of No Towers.

3. Respond to Jonah Goldberg's decision to drop Ann Coulter from "The National Review Online" after her "This is War" column.

Finally, we'll be reading David Rees' Get Your War On next week. You can find his comic strip at this website (which you can also get to using the "Useful Link" listed on the left-hand side of the blog). We'll be reading pages 1-17. Please print out, read, and think about the panels on pages 1-9 for Tuesday.

Email me with any questions or comments. Good luck!