Aaron Belz Professions : Professor Born : September 27, 1971 Browse All Authors Top 15 quotes by Aaron Belz Whenever I do a comedy show I still just read poems, some of which are intentionally funny and some of which are just bizarre. The mix seems to work well. Aaron Belz bizarre comedy shows Negative space is important. When I teach students to read critically I advise them to look for what the author isn't saying just as carefully as for what he or she is. Aaron Belz space important negative Humor and absurdism are inevitable. If you look at our current massive flow of consumer products and digital communication and related media from a sort of astute perspective and carefully state what you see you can't help but sounding like you're joking. Aaron Belz perspective communication media The language itself is what gets me interested in writing. It's weird to me that words exist. Never a dull moment with words. They're a layer between our minds and the physical reality around us, obviously, but the layer seems like it's always in flux, like an asteroid belt, constantly moving. Aaron Belz writing reality moving The brands with which we surround ourselves prop us up, make us feel sexy and beautiful, when in reality we're pretty dumpy creatures. Aaron Belz sexy beautiful reality Poetry is a way for me to explore a tingly feeling, to let it play itself out, and also to map it. I feel like I'm making little star maps when I write poems. Aaron Belz stars play writing Surprise keeps the reader awake. The only alternative is to continue saying what the reader is expecting. What fun is that? Aaron Belz alternatives surprise fun I don't really want to write fiction at all. I don't see why fiction is necessary when we have real life already confusing enough. Aaron Belz confusing real writing Writing essays and teaching composition have helped me immensely in writing poetry, because they've forced me to focus on the structure of ideas. Aaron Belz teaching writing ideas I want to leave my readers with a sequence of ideas/phrases that makes them question something they'd taken for granted. Or that confuses them to the point that they laugh, but contains one or two phrases/lines that stick in their minds. Aaron Belz taken two ideas I gravitate toward the larger worldview questions such as, Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing? What does it mean to know another person? To love someone? Of course, those questions are sort of in the background as I'm playing with language in the foreground, but those are the informing questions. Aaron Belz language doe mean After the first few readings in comedy venues I did begin to write for laughs. There's something so gratifying about stimulating laughter. Aaron Belz laughter reading writing Nothing is as easy or natural as consumer brands want us to think - no problem is as resolvable. Your hair will fall out, eventually. Yet we do have these brands, and we line our shelves with them. There's an inherent irony. Aaron Belz hair fall thinking We just watch anything speed by. To stop and really ponder what a product label says, or the tagline on a TV commercial, might be inherently silly. Those are things that are almost designed to be thrown away. Aaron Belz labels silly watches The brand is lying about something, or at least misrepresenting it. When I read a bottle of shampoo or moisturizer or other beauty product, I always perceive a dark subtext. The words haunt me. It comes across as humorous to the reader/audience, but in fact the words really do make me a little bit queasy. Nothing is as easy or natural as consumer brands want us to think - no problem is as resolvable. Your hair will fall out, eventually. Yet we do have these brands, and we line our shelves with them. There's an inherent irony. Aaron Belz humorous lying fall Similar Authors Bryan Stevenson professor Bruce Greenwald professor Bruce Ames professor Brian Wansink professor Brian Schmidt professor Brian Martin professor All Authors