Re: The Personal

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

I agree with Jeanne. I've come to the conclusion that the personal --even
post-Faucault--has a place in academic writing--if the writing has a point,
an idea, appropriate definitions and contexts. Pat Hoy of NYU administrates
the program there on this premise--moving throughout the year to
increasingly "academic" argumentative essays. Students, of course, must
learn "audience"  and other rhetorical maneuvers to make decisions about
the how, when, and where of it all. If the NYU presenters at CCCC are
representative, they do much innovative and productive work doing this. We
are not talking narratives here--but essays centered on an idea that in
responsive and centered on academic work, but are not "voiceless" or
impersonal. While I prefer to use "energy" as an appropriate term rather
than "voice," I have long looked for a method which did not teach "writing
in the plain wrap banner" but which did not violate issues of language and
social construction which I think are appropriate.
	Hoy and DiYanni's Encounters is an excellent book which models and
presents all kinds of ways to do this. The book works best I think, with
those writers who are good readers, but I only say this because that is the
make-up of my current class.
	I used to "teach" an assignment that asked them to describe a law they had
broken, or were interested in, or they knew to be broken often, investigate
the law in the USC law library. The paper then was narrative introduction,
expository and analytical middle, synthesis conclusion. The papers were
terrific and we all "learned" much. I had to drop it ultimately because I
learned more than I could handle. So I know where Dee is coming from.
Debby 





At 12:03 PM 3/21/97 -0600, you wrote:
>I hate to see a polarity established between personal and non-personal
>writing.  And I don't think saying "never" or "don't" about writing
>assignments that elicit shocking or difficult personal revelations is the
>way to go either.  As with any writing, what we are really after is to
>help writers make informed, considered choices.  And pointing out the
>perceptions of others, the risks involved, and various rhetorical options
>is part of the job of leading writers to understand that they have choices
>and how to make them.
>
>Jeanne Simpson
>csjhs@eiu.edu
>
>