I've never been the type of person to log my thoughts in a journal. And to be completely honest, the concept of a blog fascinates and astonishes me. Not only does this medium allow for me to dispense all of the radical speculations that plague my mind, but others are able to read them and scrutinize. So I suppose that I'm just prefacing for my inevitable awkwardness in the next few posts until I get the hang of this. 

Okay. Enough of that tangent. 

My name is Emily and I'm a junior here at OU. I've arrived at the major of Creative Writing only recently after spending the past couple of years trying on different versions of myself. After Vocal Performance and Theatre Performance didn't instill excitement any longer I switched to English in the fall of my sophomore year. I couldn't imagine anything that is more suiting. I was drawn to english 284 Writing about Culture (consequently the class for which I am managing this blog) simply by the course name. I suppose it's foolish to "judge a book by it's cover", but with a title that incorporates writing and societal issues I think that my decision was justified.

I was in a class recently in which the professor outlined seven different prominent features of literature. These included ambiguity, parody, and satire. I was taken off guard when my professor proceeded to discredit the legitimacy of satire in literary contexts. Now, part of me wonders whether or not this is simply a cultural difference stemming from the fact that he grew up in Africa, (I assume? Is that politically correct for me to make that judgement? I figure that's a whole discussion topic in itself) but I've read and loved a great deal of satirical text. It's a wonderful way to communicate serious issues with the guile of humor. And it's proved itself to withstand the test of time dating back to Shakespeare, up through Oscar Wilde, and manifesting itself in works by Kurt Vonnegut and Chuck Palahniuk. What do others feel on this topic? Is satire outdated and illegitimate in today's society?