Re: colleague's skepticism

["Dr. Deborah Martinson" <dmartin@oxy.edu>]

James,
	I could have sworn that your colleague is a professor at 
Occidental! What we've done, not to quiet him but to blunt his attack, is 
beat him at his own game.  When he gets on a roll about writing pedagogy I 
bring out all sorts 
of research studies, throw in a little Foucault, add a dash of Vygotsky, 
refer back to Burke, then Aristotle.  He sputters,  makes 
clear he has his own opinion, but he doesn't continue because he knows he 
doesn't know this stuff and he knows I do.  My favorite remark he made 
is:  "for the past 20 years the more writing pedagogy there is, the worse 
the writers get..." That did stop me for awhile!  At public meetings when 
he is totally absurd and out of control and says something absolutely 
inane, I write him an e-mail--my tone is buttery and I praise him, but 
then remind him of what he said and, with humor, give him some 
interesting information he might want to consider.
	Did I say all this works?  Well, I meant it makes me feel better 
about what I stand for, and he knows I will not be victimized.  It helps 
that the whole college knows an ass when they see one....thank heavens he 
is a thorn in everyone's side, not just the Writing Center and Writing 
program!
Debby