Does Not Work and Play Well With Others. Part 1.

Some people should come with a warning label, and one of those people is me.

Note: Scowling Su.

I knew when I first saw the syllabus for my rhetoric class that we had a group project at the end of the term. And the brain cells that control happy thoughts trampled one another in their race for the exits when they received this dismal news.

I hate group projects. I hate it when I'm clueless and I feel like I'm letting the group down (pretty frequent in elementary & middle school), and I hate it even more when I know what I'm talking about but can't convince the rest of the group to listen to me (college). The only group project that I have ever enjoyed was my speech class at South Plains College, when the instructor divided us into groups according our course grade and appointed the "A" student in each group as the project manager. You know, kind of like what really happens in the workforce. My group was spectacular; they had lots of ideas and worked hard, and consequently we all had lots of fun with it.

Unfortunately, there are those who have not gotten the memo that fun is the result of a job well done, and a job does not magically get to be well done by goofing off as much as possible along the way. Our group had one of those in it. Ugh. And for his supporting role in the hit movie, Making Su's Life Frustrating, he gets a nickname: Acts Really Goofy. (It's only "acts" because I have glimpsed a more-serious side of him, but he tends to keep it hidden.)

Rhetorical analysis is hard. And even at our basic level, it's especially hard on the first try. But it's impossible to get if you don't try it at all. We were analyzing the humourous media's coverage of the oil spill, and Goofy thought that meant we should crack jokes during our presentation. Including, but not limited to, adding a random photo of Richard Simmons to our powerpoint to get a laugh.

The class did not laugh.

I left class on Monday ready to cry and desperately wanting a large cup of caffeine. Preferably with some chocolate on the side. Come back tomorrow to hear the rest.