Workshop 8: On a Lighter Note

Beautiful orange sunset over a deep blue ocean. — Tapestry is Sunsetting

The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Part of Exploring Our Values Through Poetry, High School

In This Section

Introduction
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

The gods, too, are fond of a joke. — Edward Albee, from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf This workshop gives participants a chance to have fun, and it comes at just the right time. In the next three workshops, youth examine the fairly solemn topics of faith, identity, and transformation, and after…
Workshop-at-a-Glance
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

ACTIVITY MINUTES Opening 5 Activity 1: Apple Acting 15 Activity 2: Fruity Whine 10 Activity 3: UU Humor 15 Activity 4: The Kiss Off 10 Faith in Action: Allied in Humor 30 Closing 5 Alternate Activity 1: The Great Debate 15 Alternate Activity 2: Journal Review…
Spiritual Preparation
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Humor is such an individual characteristic. We do not all find the same things funny. Luckily, most of us find humor somewhere. Humor can be an effective tool for dealing with some of the challenging situations you discussed in Workshop 7, Difficult Times….
Opening
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Chalice and lighter Description of Activity Use the Opening designed by your group or the one provided below. Gather around the chalice. As a volunteer lights the chalice, ask the group to focus on the word “funny” in silence. After about fifteen…
Activity 1: Apple Acting
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity Newsprint or a dry erase board and markers Preparation for Activity Be prepared with several apple allusions in case participants need help. See Find Out More or Handout 1 for examples. Description of Activity In this activity, participants play a…
Activity 2: Fruity Whine
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Handout 1, “Pear’s Complaint,” by Greg Youmans Preparation for Activity Photocopy Handout 1, “Pear’s Complaint,” one for each participant….
Activity 3: UU Humor
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity UU jokes, at least as many as the number of participants you expect to attend A bowl or other container Preparation for Activity Write UU jokes on slips of paper or print them off the Internet and cut them into slips….
Activity 4: The Kiss Off
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Handout 2, “Bladder Song,” by Leonard Nathan Preparation for Activity Photocopy Handout 2, “Bladder Song,” one for each participant. Description of Activity Ask one or two volunteers to read Handout 2, “Bladder Song,” aloud….
Closing
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Chalice Copies of Singing the Living Tradition, one for each participant Description of Activity Use the Closing designed by your group or the one provided below. Recite together Reading 712 from Singing the Living Tradition: Do not be conformed to…
Leader Reflection and Planning
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Review today’s workshop with your co-leader. Did participants have fun? Fun can be a strong bonding experience. The next few workshops will ask youth to share in a deeper way. Do you think the group is ready?
Faith In Action: Allied In Humor
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 30 minutes Materials for Activity Journals and pens or pencils Information about how to be a good ally. See Description of Activity for suggestions….
Alternate Activity 1: The Great Debate
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity Newsprint and markers Description of Activity Youth debate the merits of apples versus pears, for fun. Only use this activity if you are also doing Activity 2, Fruity Whine. Divide the group into two teams….
Alternate Activity 2: Journal Review
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Materials for Activity Journals and pens or pencils Description of Activity Participants review their journals and finish incomplete work. As the date for the Poetry Slam approaches, encourage participants to use whatever time remains at the end of the workshops to review the writing in their…
Taking It Home: On a Lighter Note
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

The gods, too, are fond of a joke. — Edward Albee, from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf DURING TODAY’S WORKSHOP… We read humorous poems and played a game based on apple allusions. We heard UU jokes and thought about the roles stereotypes and put-downs play in humor. We also asked ourselves what…
Handout 1: Pear's Complaint

Greg Youmans

From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

I have raged for thousands of years. I was on the other tree in Eden and I escaped Greece unexploited by the Gods. I never was fruit of fantasy for seers and bards, nor the food of tales for old wives. For I am not so red, not so self-contained, no so easily held or thrown. Never have poets said…
Handout 2: Bladder Song
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Leonard Nathan, “Bladder Song” from The Day the Perfect Speakers Left (C)1969 by Leonard Nathan and reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.On a piece of toilet paper Afloat in the unflushed piss, The fully printed lips of a woman. Nathan, cheer up! The sewer Sends you a big red kiss.
Find Out More
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

“Pear’s Complaint” is from the anthology, FromTotems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry across the Americas, 1900-2002, edited by Ishmael Reed (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2003). You can find “Bladder Song” in A Book of Luminous Things: An Anthology of Poetry, edited by Czeslaw…

Download all of Exploring Our Values (Word) (PDF) to edit or print.

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Workshop 8: On a Lighter Note

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