Kendall

Kendall

Contributing writer for The Artifice.

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Latest Topics

5

Allow Writing Students to Choose Their Own Courses

With Journalism, English, or other writing-based majors, students should be able to choose what classes they want to take, rather than forcing them to take general electives and studies that will not benefit their chosen career path. The student can choose which courses will best help them develop their sense of writing style and technique. Students will then be able to take classes about topics they are interested in writing about.

With all majors, there a certain core classes one must take, and then there are electives that they can take, but most of these electives need to be in their school– Journalism College, or College of Arts and Sciences. Instead of restricting their electives to their college of degree, students could take a course from any college that would best fit their chosen category of writing. For example, let's say a student is majoring in creative writing. That student might creatively write about cultural differences, or even hotel management experiences. That student would normally have to take electives that are other forms of creative writing, but with my idea, they could cover the aspects they want to creatively write about, and still receive credit for them.

Also, if a writing student wants to take another beneficial writing course, rather than a mandatory math class, they would be able to swap out for certain courses.

  • This could also translate to other categories other than writing. For example, a theatre major would be well served to take certain Business classes, since Theatre Management is a lucrative career and offers employment possibilities outside of acting and technical theatre (which are what most undergraduate theatre programs are centered around). Ditto Computer Science courses. It would be interesting to argue the angle of taking an elective instead of mandatory general education course (swapping writing for math), but I think that might be a separate article; additionally, it would be easier to argue why they are important rather than superfluous. Students often underestimate how often they will use courses such as math in their chosen field. Algebra, for example, is often used in scenic construction and design, and even writers still need to do their taxes! While they may seem like a waste of time when pursuing a specific degree in the arts, often they are useful later on (especially when looking for alternate means of employment to support yourself while you write/act/illustrate/film/animate/etc.). – Katheryn 9 years ago
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  • A thought to consider would be the cost of these classes and finding staff to run them. The university I attend has cut back staff so we have to video call into another campus in order to take our class. Not only is this disruptive to the learning process it would also would assume that it would be frustrating to teach. I do however love this idea as I have been forced to take journalism classes for my degree to make up credit points, all that time spent learning how to write media releases will be wasted in my field. Good luck to the writer of this topic i look forward to hearing your ideas. – geopikey 9 years ago
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  • I'm not exactly sure what this topic is exactly. What exactly do you want the author to write about that you haven't already stated? – Lexzie 9 years ago
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  • I think you should narrow down what you're trying to say here. I think it's extremely beneficial for budding writers NOT to study literature straight away, and instead study something that will broaden their views on the world, thus allowing them to have interesting ideas that will then lead to creative writing. As an author myself, I have extremely benefited from not studying creative writing at university. – CJFitpatrick91 9 years ago
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  • As an English undergrad, I would love to read about the possibility of having a more open course that would facilitate more creative writing about topics that the students could choose, and the pros and cons of the class. – HelenaH 9 years ago
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  • The University of Indiana's Individualized Major Program (I. M. P.) allows one to designs their own curriculum. Under this program, Will Shortz, the New York Times' crossword puzzle editor, became in 1974 the only degree holder in enigmatology, the study of puzzles. Your topic could start out by reporting how students at that university have used the I. M. P. to create new majors related to the traditional English major. – Tigey 9 years ago
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3

Ranking SNL Featured Players

I'd love to see a list of your favorite featured players on SNL that never made it to full-time cast members. There's quite a few that I found worthy enough to make the cast, but unfortunately didn't. Many of them went from writer, to featured player, and then they were either fired or went back to writing. I think a list of 1-10 of who you found was great, but didn't make the cut, would be best. Also, add an explanation or video clip for each of the 10, as to why they are ranked where they are. For example, if you had a favorite sketch or Weekend Update appearance that made them stand out for you.

  • Good topic! I think a list of 10 would be better in order to be able to be more thorough/detailed and keep interest throughout the whole thing; perhaps with a short video clip of each person's work (sketch or update, as you suggested). I'd probably click on this to read, but I know I wouldn't make it through 20 unless I was a die-hard SNL fan that already knew all of the performers - choosing a smaller number and adding clips will make this more accessible for those who don't regularly watch the show. Also, is the list focused on actors the writer feels weren't good enough, or that the show felt weren't good enough? It might be more interesting to choose people that the writer feels were worthy of full-time status but did not make it (and the tone would be more positive by pointing out their strengths rather than listing their faults). Your phrase "if you had a favorite sketch or Weekend Update appearance that made them stand out for you" suggests that you are talking about people who deserved to be on the program full-time, but your earlier sentence "There's quite a few I found good, but not good enough." suggests the opposite. If the article is about your favorites, the reader will want to see if their favorites match your own, which is fun, and invites comments. – Katheryn 9 years ago
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  • A video clip would add a lot to the article. – Munjeera 9 years ago
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  • I like this because I think right now SNL is in transition period. I think diversity is great and the voices are bringing out new forms of comedy. I think this would also be a great way to compare what sketches worked, for example, in the 70's and whether those sketches would work today given the quality of the performance and writing of the sketch and the sketches today. I think this is solid, relevant, and would open the article to go many directions while still being clear. – Matthew 9 years ago
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Latest Comments

Kendall

I like the idea of Transgender’s playing a Transgender role on series, such as Orange is the New Black, in order to raise awareness. Then again, I feel it’s very important that they don’t play a role as Transgender, in order to show that they are much more than that, and are not to be defined and only recognized as Transgender. I do agree with quality over quantity. Very good thoughts depicted in this piece! Good work.

Transgender Characters on Television: Quality vs. Quantity
Kendall

Very interesting. I didn’t realize parody began so long ago.

The Art of Parody: Imitation With a Twist
Kendall

I enjoyed your take on this. Women have finally started rising to equality, the industry’s next step will hopefully be equality among all races.

Diversity Matters in Movies
Kendall

This is a wonderful article. After watching the previous episode, I am anxious to see what Neagen will do for the series (I’ve been led to believe he’s far more evil than the Governor). Also, I am excited to see how Carl will overcome his new weakness.

The Walking Dead: Rick vs Deanna