Presented by Beacon College

Dr. Leigh Camacho Rourks: Appallingly Funny: Humor and the Taboo from War Literature to Social Media

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About This Event

Appallingly Funny: Humor and the Taboo from War Literature to Social Media

From gallows humor to coarse jabs, humans have a habit of laughing at the most inappropriate things. While humor is cultural and generational, in every group there is someone joking through their pain, their fear, their weariness, their boredom, and even their hate. And someone else who doesn't quite "get the joke." Whether it is the margins of medieval illuminated texts filled with dirty quips scrawled by bored monks or the comedic war novels and poems which refuse to treat death with the solemn respect it disserves, literature and pop culture is rich with examples of "inappropriate" jokes and "offensive" humor. In this presentation, Dr. Leigh Camacho Rourks asks what it is about the taboo that makes us want to crack a joke.

Each ticket includes a free meal (vegetarian and gluten-free options available).
Meal service begins at 6:00 p.m.
Speaker presentation begins at 7:00 p.m.

About This Event

Appallingly Funny: Humor and the Taboo from War Literature to Social Media

From gallows humor to coarse jabs, humans have a habit of laughing at the most inappropriate things. While humor is cultural and generational, in every group there is someone joking through their pain, their fear, their weariness, their boredom, and even their hate. And someone else who doesn't quite "get the joke." Whether it is the margins of medieval illuminated texts filled with dirty quips scrawled by bored monks or the comedic war novels and poems which refuse to treat death with the solemn respect it disserves, literature and pop culture is rich with examples of "inappropriate" jokes and "offensive" humor. In this presentation, Dr. Leigh Camacho Rourks asks what it is about the taboo that makes us want to crack a joke.

Each ticket includes a free meal (vegetarian and gluten-free options available).
Meal service begins at 6:00 p.m.
Speaker presentation begins at 7:00 p.m.

About the Speaker

Dr. Leigh Camacho Rourks is a Cuban-American author living and working in Central Florida, where she is an assistant professor at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida. Beacon is a nonprofit liberal arts school and America’s first accredited baccalaureate institution dedicated to educating primarily neurodivergent students with learning disabilities, ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning differences. She won the St. Lawrence Book Award for her debut story collection, "Moon Trees and Other Orphans," which, among other accolades, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. She is also the recipient of the Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award and the Robert Watson Literary Review Prize, and her work has been shortlisted for several other awards. "Digital Voices," her new book on creative writing pedagogy is now available from Bloomsbury Publishing.

Getting There

Venetian Center
1 Dozier Circle
Leesburg, Florida 34748
United States