Humor and Satire
Earlier this month a satire piece I wrote lampooning a professor of mine attracted some attention when the popular New York gossip blog Gawker reported it as a straight news story. Needless to say the whole episode amused me- and happily also Professor Thurman- to bits.
Since then I've noticed that two additional blogs have weighed in. The University of Pittsburgh newspaper published a paragraph describing the incident and wrote "satire or not, the publication was clearly trying to boost hits for its website. In other news: Sidney Crosby, Michelle Obama, astronauts, naked women, naked men, Chuck Norris. "
Very funny. Of course we write with the intention of boosting hits for our website. I'm sure the Pitt students feel the same about their own site, as does everyone else who publishes their thoughts online. For every Emily Dickinson who prefers to write in total obscurity there are a million scribes who recognize the value in reaching a wide audience.
That being said, neither I nor the editors at The Morningside Post expected my post to generate much attention at all. I thought that the 250-odd students who knew Professor Thurman might get a couple laughs out of it and was as shocked as anyone when Gawker and The Huffington Post picked it up. After all, if I was truly looking for attention I'd come up with something much more scandalous than a story about a professor with a strict late policy.
In another comment, the Student Press Law Center warns that authors such as myself are at risk of being sued for libel if we fail to explicitly identify pieces as satire. Perhaps I'm being naive, but one of the reasons satire works is that it resembles actual news- if I had made the fictitious elements of the story more outlandish people would not have found it as funny or interesting. Prior to publishing the piece my editors assured me that the satire was obvious, hence my shock when Gawker didn't get it.
For one thing, how many people who mug students in broad daylight have the tact to remove their homework from the bag? Secondly, no professor to my knowledge would include a snarky comment about the crime if one of his students had just been mugged. These two facts I thought would be sufficient in setting off everyone's bullshit detector.
Then again, these days media sources who compete for content don't always take the time to read the stories they link to carefully. For Gawker, the publicity they received made their loss of face- such as it was- totally worth it.
China Divide, This Site, and Me
A couple of announcements for a lazy Saturday morning in hot and sunny Kunming, China.....
Keen followers of the China blogosphere may have noticed that there's a new kid on the block: China/Divide. Combining the talents of Stan Abrams of China Hearsay, Kai Pan of CN Reviews, and Charles Custer of China Geeks, China/Divide has already become a go-to source for smart, witty analysis on all things China.
To my delight, I have been invited to join the team. My first contribution, a piece discussing the recent thaw in Sino-American relations, is now live. Go and have a look.
Some of you- ok, maybe just close friends and family members- are probably thinking, "Damn, Schiavenza. You already write for Lost Laowai, China Intelligence Online, Yunnan Magazine, and MattSchiavenza.com. Don't you think you're stretching yourself a little thin?"
Perhaps. There is only so much time to blog each day, and only so many things to blog about. As a result, I've decided to change the direction of my personal site and make it, well, more personal. Since its launch in summer 2007 I've consciously tried to devote this space to thoughts and reflections about China, deviating only occasionally into rants about US politics and other subjects. Doing this has brought focus to my writing as well as a group of intelligent and interesting regular readers.
So while I still plan to write often about China, those posts will likely appear elsewhere. This space, then, will become a repository for the millions of other things clamoring around in my brain. In the past I've wanted to write about books, baseball, movies, politics, and other subjects but refrained in an effort to maintain the China focus on this blog. Now, posts about those things will begin to appear more regularly.
With that out of the way, I've got another announcement to make, one which will likely not be news for most of you. Beginning this fall, I will be a student at Columbia University in New York City, pursuing a Masters in International Affairs. Leaving the Dragon for the Apple will be a big change, no doubt, and I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about it. Though I'll be sad to be leaving China after six wonderful years, I'm excited about this new challenge in my life and feel now is the best time to go for it.
Anyway, I hope all of you stick around for the ride- writing this blog has been one of the best things in my life both personally and professionally, something that would not have been possible had you not popped in with comments. Once again- thank you very much.
Now, back to regularly scheduled programming...
China Travel Feature Up
A piece I wrote over a year ago about "kite jumping" in Kunming, as an example of the sort of lifestyle choices available in this city, is the feature travel story on the Chinatravel.net website. The link to my piece is here, as well as a few photos contributed by friends of mine here in the city.
I like the title of the piece, as well: Optimus Prime China. (I didn't choose it but it fits).
Fame and Fortune
It isn't often that flipping through the pages of a week-old China Daily provides a moment of delight. But it was so, when notified by a friend, I found that in a narrow column called "Your Say", snippets from this Lost Laowai post I wrote about a month ago were used.
Of course, being lumped in with the splittist Dalai clique would be more exciting, but I'll take mention by the state-run media any time. Even if they only use my first name. To protect anonymity, of course.
Yunnan Magazine On Air
Yunnan Magazine, a beautiful little magazine I have written for, is now online- check out an abstract of my article!
/shameless self-promotion
Go Go Kunming
Recently I was invited to join the team of gokunming.com, the city's premier English-language news and listings site, as an occasional contributor. My first article is now up. Go look!
Just Another Lost Laowai
Recently I've been given the opportunity to contribute blog posts to Lost Laowai, an excellent site that serves as a guide for expats in China, both present and future. The site combines a blog with a language guide, forum, job bulletin, and several other resources that are invaluable for one looking for more information.
My posts will mainly be dedicated to learning Chinese and teaching English, and so quite a few will be similar (but not identical) to posts I've written here. The blog has several other interesting contributors so bookmark it fast!
My debut post, concerning three fallacies that students of Chinese ought to avoid, is now up. Have a look!
Off-Road Article Up
An article I wrote about my experience interpreting for the off-road competition in Jinggu has been published by Gokunming.com, a website covering all the ins and outs of Kunming experience. Have a look
Correction: URL originally cited as www.gokunming.net.
Matt About Town
Recently, I was asked to conduct a brief online interview with a site specializing in interviews of expatriates around the world. Click here to read.
In addition, yesterday I was interviewed for a podcast series featuring expats in China for At Home in China. The interview focused mainly on the travails of teaching English in China, so mostly I discussed experiences from my first two years in China. I'm told it'll be up on the site in about a month or so, and when it appears I'll remind all of you to give it a listen.
At Home in China also features an interview with an old friend of mine from Fuzhou, Ron Simms, who made several brilliantly funny video podcasts called "Black Man in China". In addition to being a vehicle for Ron's humor, the videos are a pretty interesting look at daily life in an ordinary Chinese city. Check 'em out.