Thursday, April 29, 2021
GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon
6
WRITERS: MINE YOUR LIFE FOR
LAUGHTER
■ Combat pandemic fatigue by finding the humor within the chaos
ENTERPRISE — As an antidote
to pandemic fatigue, consider joining
“Mining Your Life for Laughter,” an
online writing workshop led by Bob
Balmer Saturday, May 8.
Hosted by Fishtrap, based in Enter-
prise, the workshop will examine how
humor writers have taken incidents
from their lives and turned the painful,
the absurd, the odd, the embarrassing,
the memorable … into humor.
Fishtrap describes the humor writ-
ing workshop like this:
“We will look at what makes people
laugh and the fact that what is funny is
subjective.
“We will look at the various ways
writers convey humor — exaggera-
tion, identifi cation, embarrassment,
self-deprecation — and practice them
through short writing exercises.
“We will look at structure as a means
to convey humor — essay, tale or story.
“Then, to follow James Thurber’s
adage — ‘Humor is chaos remembered
in tranquility’ — we will sift through
BE A FISHTRAPPER!
Your membership helps to support all Fishtrap programs. It’s
easy. Sign up for an automatic monthly contribution and receive
some cool perks in return. Memberships start at just $5 per month.
Fishtrapper Club benefi ts:
• Fishtrap sticker
• Fishtrap journal
• 10% discount on workshop and program registrations
including Summer Fishtrap, Winter Fishtrap and special
events
Join the club at www.fi shtrap.org/be-a-fi shtrapper.
our lives to fi nd our truth in stories,
anecdotes and incidents gilded with
humor. ”
The virtual workshop will run from
10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Registration is $120 ($110 for Fish-
trappers — see below). Scholarships
may be available.
For more details on the workshop,
how to register, and how to access the
class, go to www.fi shtrap.org/workshop-
balmer-may8 or call Fishtrap at 541-
426-3623.
BOB BALMER
gleans much of his humor-
writing material from his and others’ everyday
experiences and observations. His fi rst humorous
essay was published in the Oregonian in 1992.
His work has appeared in numerous publications
including The Smithsonian, The Oregonian, The
Seattle Times, Golf Illustrated and Willamette Week.
It has aired on the radio shows such as The Savvy
Traveler and MarketPlace as well as on Oregon
Public Radio and Television.
Balmer has an MFA in creative writing from
Portland State University, and he attended the Iowa
Summer Writing Workshop and the Tin House Sum-
mer Writing Workshop at Reed College. In 2017 he
took improv and sketch writing classes at Second
City Comedy in Chicago.
He has led humor writing workshops at the BARN
(Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network) Write in the
Harbor, Portland Storytellers Guild, The Oregon Writ-
ers Colony, Sitka Center for the Arts and Ecology,
The Write on the Sound Writers Conference, The
Hoffman Center for the Arts, Mary’s Woods Retire-
ment Center and The Oregon Council Teachers of
English Student Writing Festival .
LA GRANDE
541-963-6033
BAKER CITY
541-523-1533
ENTERPRISE
541-426-9228
www.CarpetoneEO.com