LAST WEEK: Monday

 (Period 4-- Finish Hypotheticals)


Detailing your H. A. P. P. Y.

Make sure there are TWO components to your plan: personal and public-- these do not have to relate.

Make sure that for both components to your plan that you have created a very viable plan. You need to troubleshoot every step of the way and make tangible as much of the plan as possible. Think of your two-part plan as something that you are trying to shop to me and the T.A. as possible funders. The more real your plan is presented, the more likely we can see the value of contributing.
You need to think about the following:
Time frame
Materials needed
Funding needed, Funding sources
Facilities needed
Personnel needed
Scientific base to the humor you're using
Alternative options

THESE PRESENTATIONS WILL BE Wednesday and Thursday-- we will discuss days in class.

DAY NINE/TEN

 DAY NINE:

Theories and Genres Mapping
    -Superiority (Response) vs. Relief (Function) vs. Incongruity (Stimuli)
    -Lytle's "Figure 5"
HW: start planning your H.A.P.P.Y if you need supplies, give Leslie a list TOMORROW (FRIDAY).



DAY TEN (Friday):

Using Humor in Hypothetical Situations:


1. Your mom/dad is the project manager in a highly stressful pharmaceutical company. There is a lot of pressure on his/her department to further the research and experimentation on bird flu so that the company can come up with a vaccine before their competitors. People are starting to get very curt with one another and very snippy. It's not a pleasant work environment.


2. Your friend's parents are in the midst of a very nasty divorce. The parents have put their child in the middle of the fight and makes him/her (you define) feel very torn. S/he does not want to be on anyone's side, but the pressure of living with either of his/her parents right now is extremely stressful.


3. Your counselor at camp is having a really bad second day of camp, s/he has just broken up with his/her girl/boyfriend of three years, s/he has gotten an e-mail that s/he has not been accepted into a prestigious research program at their university, and s/he has also found out that due to employment constraints s/he will only be getting one day off throughout the three-weeks of camp. While s/he is trying to keep a good game face, not really complaining, you have the insight that these events are really wearing on him/her.


4. It's Winter term and your senior class is all really starting to lose it. With the pressure of college application deadlines looming, holidays coming, and some generally really bad weather, no one is in a very good mood. In addition your class is getting pressure from the Dean of Students (or Senior Advisor) to step it up because you all are bringing down the spirit of the whole school.


5. You have just visited your great-grandmother in the old folks home and noticed that a lot of the people in there just sit and watch TV all day and no one seems particularly engaged. You notice that no one talks to one another and most people look pretty sad and depressed.


6. You are on a two-week community service trip to Africa with other people from your school who you really don't know. In fact, no one knows each other very well and no one has ever been to Africa before. You can already tell from your preliminary meetings that there is a lot of anxiety among your group and you are worried that this trip is going to suck.

Day Eight/Nine

Finish mini-presentations
Do Joke Presentations

HW (Period 4): come in with 1 joke/2 styles, start really formulating your H.A.P.P.Y
HW (Period 5): Personal Humor Manifesto, start really formulating your H.A.P.P.Y

(Period 5 will do below Wed, Period 4 will do on Thursday)

DAY SEVEN

Little Michael Chekhov re: from the outside in "Face Response" theory--- + idea of laughter yoga ----

Humor Theories-- the break down

Genres mapping with theories

HW: come in with a joke that you plan to deliver in TWO different ways

Day Six

 Mini-Presentations (Cont.)


HW:  Start thinking about the REAL/TANGIBLE work you need to put together for you H.A.P.P.Y

DAY FIVE

Mini Reports on Research
Take notes on your peers' presentations

HW: Humor Observations
see if you can observe or participate in at least three different examples of humor
1. something that is funny because it was a mistake or seems stupid
2. something that is funny because you were expecting one thing and something else happened.
3. something that is funny because it is provocative or breaks convention or social norms
Make sure to WRITE the observations down!!

DAY THREE and FOUR

Presentation Parameters:

• 3-8 minutes
• Information should be presented in at least 3 ways: (visual, demonstration, verbal, interactive, other)
• Be prepared to answer how the information can be incorporated into your H.A.P.P.Y.

Research Days

General:
A Real H.A.P.P.Y in action
Ways to Make an Effective Survey
More Ideas on Effective Survey Making
Dissertation on Linguistic Aspects of Verbal Humor In Stand-Up Comedy 

Physiological/Psychological Effects of Humor:

The Healthful Effects of Humour
Humor Therapy info from the American Cancer Society
Humor and Health, includes history of experimentation

Medical Implications:
Humor in Medicine
RxLaughter: non-profit org studying Laughter in Medicine
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/574688

For Claude:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/07/showbiz/rabinowitz-nkonzo-africa-comedy/index.html
Comedians who have run for political office
Italian Comedian Causing a Stir in Politics

For Eli:
http://www.michaelwidner.com/courses/content/comedy-and-depression
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/09/entertainment/la-et-comedy-therapy-20110209

Articles for Angela:
http://www.laughteryogaamerica.com/read/news/academic-research-laughter-yoga-coming-4190.php

Articles for Helen
     http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/01/can-neuroscience-explain-humor/
    http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v4/n3/abs/nn0301_237.html
 http://creativityseminar.blogspot.com/2010/02/neuroscience-of-what-jokes-are-funny.html
http://www.shockmd.com/2009/01/07/were-does-humor-and-laughter-reside-in-the-brain/