The 's Not Funny By Caitlin Flanagan

Frank Bruni gives prominent evidence to back up his claim and referrers himself with the audience to show that college protesters should remember the purpose of education, but where is the connection between the audience and Frank? A connection draws the audience in and allows them to feel more understanding with the authors claim. In “The Dangerous Safety of College” the connection is unclear between the

Louis C.K. is a popular stand-up comedian, film writer, and (more recently) actor is mainstream US culture. Born in 1967, he rose to fame as a stand-up comedian and comedy writer in New York City in the early 1990s. Despite appearing to be a white Irishman, he is actually half-Mexican and spent the first seven years of his life in Mexico City. He is bilingual in Spanish and English, and holds Mexican citizenship. In this database, I will explore Louis CK’s identity as a Latinx-American stand-up comedian, and where he falls on the spectrum of ethnic to assimilated comics.

Amy Poehler has many memorable roles, from being a recurring member on Saturday Night Live, to her award-nominated portrayal of Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation. Poehler is an American-comedian classic. When she was chosen as the 2011 Harvard Class Day Commencement Speaker, she took on a serious and honorable role. Poehler gave the graduating class of 2011, a hilarious, engaging, and inspirational speech. Poehler was chosen to give a speech that was out of her ordinary comfort zone, to inspire a hardworking class of graduates as they headed off into the working world. Her speech is an excellent example of effective rhetoric through its use of artistic proofs, humor, and establishing common ground. Through the content of Poehler’s speech, her detailed care to the rhetorical situation, and her impressive use of rhetoric, Poehler gave one of the most memorable and moving commencement addresses in Harvard’s history.

Amy Tan had many personal experiences in her story. For example, when Amy Tan was living in Northern California, her mother had very high expectations on her. Her mother wanted her to be with the American society and be the best she could be. Amy Tan had to get a haircut very short to the way other famous children were acting in the United States. Amy’s mother was the one who encouraged this. With that, in the story “Two Kinds,” the young girl named Jing-mei live in a part of California and she had to get a very short haircut. Jing-mei’s mother wanted her daughter to look and act the same way Shirley Temple did. Within both of the girls lives, they each had to act like an already famous person exactly to please their mothers.

Chris Lilley's Summer Heights High is a highly controversial mockumentary that showcases 3 different over exaggerated characters. One of them is Jonah Takalua, a stereotypical Tongan delinquent. Many have praised his work, saying that it is a clever use of satire to convey important criticisms of today's society. However after learning about satire myself throughout this unit I have determined that Summer Heights High is an unsuitable and highly ineffective show for teaching satire in secondary school due to the high levels of crude language and stereotypical humour shown in Jonah that conceals the satirical techniques used. Jonah has been represented extremely ineffectively through the poor use of the satirical techniques of exaggerated caricature and ridicule which certainly have the potential to influence students negatively. Lilley’s social criticism of the view that all Polynesian students are seen as trouble makers, is lost by his overemphasis on the very behaviours he is satirising.

In the article, “Another Year of the Chicken: U.S. Beef Supply Will Fall Again in 2015” (2014) the author, Vanessa Wong, analyzes how the the price of beef and been increasing resulting in more of a demand in chicken. Wong goes on to state that the increase in beef resulted from an extreme drought in 2012 “caused feed prices to spike and, in response, farmers thinned their herds” (Wong, 2012). More of a demand in chicken has also been noticed in restaurants. The price of chicken increased five percent as opposed to the nine percent increase in beef at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. However, by the year 2016 Tyson Foods has projected that the cattle supplies will be down to has little as one percent. In truth, the price of beef will decrease.

According to Egan, “Never let the kids see you sweat” (2006, p.1). The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan was announced as “a classical disaster tale” by the New York Times. This book was written to inform everyone about the untold story of those who survived the American Dust Bowl. The story documents how the darkest years of the Great Depression affected the economy and the people’s living environment as well. Egan’s book explains the importance of the Great Depression. Within this theme, Egan explores the struggle of survival and the broken promises made by the government.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan follows multiple Chinese-American women who struggle with their self-identity and creating a balance between American and Chinese culture. Because of their immigration and many hardships in life, many of the women feel like they cannot truly tell who they are anymore, and throughout the novel these women are portrayed as ghosts. Ghosts are used to symbolize these women because they share many parallels including being only a remnant of who they once were, or who they could be. Ying-ying St. Clair is one of the women, who has a daughter named Lena St. Clair, she has had a troubled past in China, which has made her lose her fighting spirit, and her spirit in general. Ying-ying is fully aware of her loss of spirit and is embarrassed because she considers ghosts to be shameful and weak, and wants to save her daughter, Lena, from her fate.

Dave Chappelle was the king of comedy. He had his own show on Comedy Central, did many stand ups and guest starred in many SNL skits. His works were filled heavily with racial satire with the intent to attack and expose racism throughout America in a non-threatening way. Dave Chappelle’s masterful delivery and extreme horatian satirical techniques allow for top-shelf entertainment with an underlying, thought provoking message.

I am reading Crossed by Ally Condie, and I am on page 240. So far this book is about Cassia who was sent to a work camp, and Ky who was sent to the outer provinces. Ky, Vick, and Eli ran away from the village they were sent to, to escape a shooting. Ky admitted that he grew up very close to where they were and insisted that they hide in the Carving, and they did. Cassia and her friend Indie were coincidentally sent the same village that Ky had just escaped from. Cassia and Indie decide to run away and search for the boys in the carving. In this journal, I will be evaluating and questioning.

One show in particular, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, frequently uses comedic satire in its’ episodes. The program follows four unethical, lazy friends that own an unsuccessful bar outside Philadelphia. Due to the gang’s frequent premature judgments and twisted views, they often find themselves in troubling situations that only get worse before they begin to get better. Through the particular style of television this show uses, the viewer is able to laugh at how senseless its’ character’s actions are in order to highlight certain social issues. ‘The Gang Gets Racist’ episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia uses satire to criticize modern day racism as well as homophobia through the dysfunctional humor of its characters.

“Neither a Wallflower Nor a Paris Geller Be” by Rebecca Schuman is a witty article about classroom participation in college lectures. This article is primarily directed towards college students around ages 18 to 25. This is obvious through Schuman’s references to professors from the student viewpoint and through direct addresses to the students who are reading the article. She also uses the pronoun us to refer to herself as a professor and to speak on behalf of college professors in general. Additionally, in an attempt to relate to students, Schuman references the struggle that students face when it comes to shyness, overbearing classmates, and completing reading assignments. These college students are of all genders and all races/ethnicities.

“6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person” is a listicle written by David Wong, the chief editor of the website “cracked.com”. In this article, Wong takes an atypical side to the tradition self help style of writing. He approaches the genre with an aggressive, volatile, angry tone to motivate those who find themselves unmotivated. Wong divides his audience into two distinct groups. He uses a scene from the famous 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross to his aid. This particular scene is the Alec Baldwin, “If you want to work here, CLOSE!” speech that received massive critical praise. Wong uses this scene to parallel the audience to those who worked under Alec Baldwin. Wong directly then divides the audience into those who get things done in the face of adversity, and those who fail to even step up to challenge. After making this distinction, Wong then targets those who fail to step up to the challenge, and proceeds to portray his ideas on how to improve one’s dire situation. However, what Wong doesn’t fully understand is that through this article, he truly alienates the group that he is trying to assist in the first place. Wong’s use of vulgar language, from the very first line to the concluding paragraph, makes an informal attempt to grab an audience’s attention. This caustic style of informality effectively makes the audience cringe and not responsive to the article’s message. Wong also uses different forms of media, ranging from pictures and videos to help assist his

College students are well known for being creative with ways to make money by creating new products and services. A Massachusetts college student is facing pressure of getting discipline actions for listing up his dorm room at Airbnb for renting as a way of making some money. According to the article “Emerson student could face disciplinary action after renting out his dorm room on Airbnb” from Boston.com, Jack Worth, a 19-year-old sophomore studying visual and media at Emerson College, provides his dorm rooms to three renters before he gets caught (Hoover, 2016). The reporter uses both epideictic and pathos to lure readers’ attention about the story, but she neither states her opinions over situation nor focuses on the target audience.

Humor makes it easier to acknowledge a sad truth. When an image, a symbol, a phrase, or a video is made humorous, it becomes a medium to pass out the information. The medium can be of various kinds. Some of them are so funny that makes it horrible to the readers.Some emphasize on contemporary issues to create cultural mass awareness. And, some are so humorous that it reveals some bitter truth. Those media are called as memes. There are few examples of such humorous memes related to college that has been spread rapidly through the online media .Those memes crave reader’s attention towards truth about the students going through in college in paying for their tuition fees and how it has impacted, especially on the life of the students from a middle-class family.