Dave Achieves Total Daveness (in the Group Chat)




In College Writing class, the new opening activity-- created by Rutgers-- prompts students to examine themselves as readers and writers, academic and otherwise; we had some fun in class talking about the other stuff, such as what kind of persona you employ in your various group chats and I confessed that in group chats I only like to do a few things: 

1) stir-the-pot. . . I like getting people wound up about stuff-- for example when we had the hot weather at the start of the school year, and I found out that Metuchen had called a half-day, I immediately sent this information to the teacher group chat, to get folks riled up, in the hopes that we would also get some half-days (we did)

2) complain . . . my wife gets annoyed when I complain to her, so instead I do it digitally

3) make absurd jokes . . . such as when my friend Bruce shared a lovely picture where he was having a great time at a "Blues and Brews" Festival in Colorado and my friend Jason remarked on the fabulous weather and I noted the irony of listening to blues music in such a temperate, convivial atmosphere when blues music-- which was appropriated by white people from working-class black folk-- was intended to help these black folk forget their troubles and hardships while they worked the cotton fields of the deep South, in intolerable heat and humidity, surrounded by snakes and swampland, etcetera-- and while I was quite proud of this observation, perhaps, as evidenced by these recent screenshots, I am becoming a caricature of myself and my comments are becoming entirely predictable . . . so I need to lull people into thinking I've changed so then I can  surprise them with some clever pot-stirring joke/complaint . . . and I guess this fiendish plot involves "liking" some photos and posts, responding with the occasional emoji, and answering sincere questions with practical and helpful information and I honestly doubt that is ever going to happen.

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