10/1. Lies, Lies, Lies

We identified, classified and ranked lies associated with James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces.  Lots of good things to think about in this discussion.  I am hoping it served as a place for you to begin thinking about your personal relationship to "truth" in your own writing - whether it is fiction or nonfiction.

In a later conversation, another student brought up the point that writing into the cultural stereotypes (corrupt, fat police; the possibility that "willpower" can overcome all obstacles, the vulerable, suicidal lover, the bad guy with a heart of gold; etc) - even if it is in fiction - works toward oversimplifying the world - which is a kind of a lie.  This is a complicated consideration - and I am hoping you continue to think about it.

In general - lies that affected others - seemed to hit the top of the list - and there are reasons for that.  And our in-class conversation raised the point that while some lies affect the lives of others more directly than others - in some sense any lie ends up contributing to an imagined world - the world of stories we use to make sense of experiences - and that in itself will always affect others.  So - yeah - that's pretty philosophic.   Thanks for the passion in this discussion.  I was left with a lot to think about.

For next class, 

I said the blog was to write about truths you are connected to - but I was wrong = it has to be a post of Essay 2.  So. . . 

Blog 9:  Draft Essay 2

In class Thursday I will go over the assignment for Essays 3 & 4, and set up conference times  for Essay 2.  You will also spend some in-class time journaling + getting feedback on your second draft.  Over the weekend you can catch up on the readings for "eye" essays - and we will be back on schedule.

Great class today.  Thanks.