Re: e-mail tutoring -Reply

[bobbie silk <bsilk@keller.clarke.edu>]

The messages from Denise and others responding to this twist in the thread
on email tutoring have been wonderfully rewarding.  I'm pleased that Aunt
Kathryn has touched some of my wcenter friends.  The coincidence of the
thread and my memories of her remind me what a remarkable and fertile
place the mind is--and what a remarkable place this "cyber-place" is.  Our
thoughts touch, combine, and re-combine. We give each other so much.  

Just to draw myself back a short way toward "professional" interests,
Dana's words remind me that we can no more separate mind and body without
penalty than we can separate theory and practice.  She says, "Is that
(finding a connection between an idea or concept with reality), too, what
theorizing is all about?"  Yes, I think so.  

I'm about to take off for Phoenix, but I want to challenge the people
who've been silent on wcenter until now.  I found my "voice" on wcenter at
a time when many people were away at CCCC.  It seemed somehow safer then.
And I found out it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to keep
participating.  So I'm looking forward to "hearing" new voices when we all
come back online.

If I don't see you in Phoenix, I'll see you here next week.  

  --Bobbie

On Mon, 10 Mar 1997, DENISE DILWORTH wrote:

> Bobbie,
> 
> I just read your post about your aunt. First, my condolences. Second,
> I'd like to briefly share an experience of my own:
> 
> I recently lost my dear friend and mentor--Jackie--who was a driven
> and dedicated scholar and teacher.  She died while on sabbatical in
> Poland.
> 
> Jackie was a caring, almost selfless professional.  She was born with
> bad health and was very impatient with her body's limitations. Her
> spirit was so strong, her intellect so lively, her heart so open and
> giving that she seemed invincible.
> 
> Jackie died from complications from a bad case of the flu. In fact,
> she was badly dehydrated--there were not enough electrolytes in her
> to keep her heart going. Jackie hated going to the doctor for a
> number of reasons, but a large part of her feelings had to do with
> bowing to physical weakness. As I mentioned above, she was very
> impatient with her body's weakness. She felt that she should be able
> to overcome her various illnesses through force of will and strength
> of determination. Usually, she did. This time, she did not. She died
> because she would not listen to her body. 
> 
> Your aunt's life and the passage you quoted from Kornfield
> demonstrate that our bodies are not something separate from who and
> what we are--they are inextricably joined. Jackie has taught me that
> the divisions we make between body, mind, and spirit--against which
> Kornfield writes (Beautiful: "this precious animal body)--can be
> dangerous as well as reductive.
> 
> The implications for cyberspace? Well, I think that you and Frankie
> Condon are probably right: We must be careful about the ways we use
> cyberspace and the ways in which we "construct" ourselves in
> cyberspace. We are *not* disembodied minds or spirits. And we can't
> really separate ourselves from the physical and the
> cultural/psychological (and whatever else) outcomes of that physical
> reality. As you indicated, accepting/living with pain and physical
> limitations shaped your aunt. Not accepting/living with her physical
> self killed one of the most brilliant, caring, wonderful people I
> will ever have the pleasure to call friend. Not acknowledging the
> physical, the cultural, the contextual in our online students may be
> dangerous in a different way: We may forget what we represent and
> feel that that kind of interaction is apolitical, acultural. We can't
> do that.
> 
> My two-cents' worth. Sorry about the length.
> 
> Denise Dilworth
> Acting Director, Center for Academic Writing
> Madonna University
> Livonia, MI
> 
>