geekiness

There's a feeling of community and understanding that washes over me when I'm with people who teach writing. I think there's just a part of myself that I forget is in there, that does get much air time, that I don't cultivate much--the part of me that loves teaching writing. I need to do something about that.

sometimes, I miss rhetoric and composition

Lately, reminders have popped up here and there, drawing my attention back to the fact that I do like rhetoric and composition. I liked talking about them. I liked teaching them. I choose not to continue my work in that area, though.

I just came from a meeting with faculty who will be teaching our seminar for first-year students in the fall. This was their training day, and I was there to talk about working with students with disabilities. Before me, the director of our writing center (a faculty in our education department) spoke about what those folks at the writing center can do for the first-year students. I don't necessarily miss the writing center work I've done. I still get to do a little one-on-one writing instruction now (thanks, H!).

What struck me when the WC director was speaking was her bit on students who will be funneled into English 100, our writing fundamental course. (FYI, not all students are required to take the course. It depends on a lot of factors, mostly determined by the application materials.) She talked about her process for deciding who would be placed in English 100, and she talked about other writing support would be in place courtesy of the WC. She also spoke about how the faculty should be teaching writing in their seminars--how to model writing, considering it when creating assignments, etc.

I got this twinge of jealous during her presentation. I can feel it in my chest now as I write this. I'm jealous of her, the person who gets to talk to the faculty about teaching writing. She even admitted she's not a compositionist but is instead someone who's done a lot of work with composition and teaching writing; I used to be a compositionist. And today, I miss it.

And in New Orleans, surrounded by a sea of writing instructors, I missed it.

When I working with a student on writing issues, I feel that I miss it.

I consciously chose to not go on in graduate school. I was unfocused and tired. What would I possible work on in a PhD program in English? Granted, I'm still all over the map in what I'm interested in. Maybe it's just that composition is something I know and that I find comfort in that. Maybe it's where my interests are lately. Maybe it's something I'll one day go back to. I don't know.

Today, though, I know I miss it.

Seriously??!!

Remember when I threw this together?

Well, today I got this email:

Dear [T]:

Congratulations!

With pleasure, we invite you to participate in the 59th annual Convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, which will be held in New Orleans, April 2-5, 2008. We are following the CCCC policy of allowing only one speaking role in the peer-reviewed concurrent sessions in order to maximize the participation of the CCCC membership.

To ensure your place on the program, you will need to do the following: click on the links for Invitation Response and Convention Registration, check your personal information and presentation title to insure accuracy, fill them out, and return them. You will also need to pay the appropriate convention registration fee by November 16th to ensure you are listed in the program.

*dies*

it's a good thing I love her

Oh, that Heinous... She invited me to submit a proposal for a panel she and a friend are putting together for the 2008 CCCC's conference in New Orleans. She obviously forgot how long gone I am from theorizing comp/rhet! She tempted me with "medical rhetoric." What could I say? No? And let all the goods I have one Feminist for Life go to waste? Hardly. On short notice, I put the following together for her:

By examining the online communication of two feminist non-profit organizations engaged in providing educational information on abortion, [I] will consider the ethical obligations organizations have in the communication they provide to the general public, specifically to potential medical patients. Through a rhetorical analysis of two organizations' (one "pro-choice," one "pro-life") online material, [I] will discuss the rhetorical positioning of women as patients, decision-makers, and agents of change by these organizations. The implications for how these technical communications [re]construct women's realities and the reality of medical procedures could provide rich discussion material for students of technical communication exploring their ethical obligations for presenting accurate medical information and how their presentations of that information position patients.

Yeah, that took an hour to write, but I'm pleased with it. I don't have high expectations for actually being accepted to present, but I certainly appreciate Heinous's confidence in me and the chance to stretch my tired academic wings a little.

This is what happens when one of your best friends is finishing up her PhD.