Night Music

Glossy darkness

The shadows,

            |

            |

            sleeping.

The house, the night, those

            Who move with the sun –

quiescent.

An imagined red buzz

3am

cyclic, rhythmic, metrical

Heartbeats and doubts

reCUR.

A vibration that does not cease

as I shift on the bed

Forgiveness is a present

Forgiveness is not present

A dowry of pearls and petals,

golden birds

laden

at the feet

Of

thin men

No.  I cannot uncurl and yield the crop

Cannot inhale

responsibility with sadness.

Clenching

holding

Tightly

Blackbirds…nightbirds…ringing my feet

Underscore

with Brusque claws

The soft whir of wings

Our forward motion                         stalled

taste of salt and iron.

The vibration that does not cease

increased

In the timbre of snores

mumbled

From an untroubled slumber

Alongside.

She smolders slowly

proverbial

red heart of flame

Fanned by

            his snoring

Beginning ascent…

A catch.

The breath

p a u s i n g

in an abruptly silent throat.

Fear has no texture

But has sudden sharp ends

Piercing when least expected.

Rapidly uncurling nightflower

Why do you imagine rage?

This is no thin man

And Haddam is far away.

Reality smothers imagined birds

like brides without veils,

their gold

tarnished

Valuable always.

Love has a texture.

It is the feel of my front, reshaping itself to your back

turned

The sensation of a snore

Pulling your body

back to mine.

interAction!!!

“Constructive hypertexts require a capABILIty

TO ACT(!):

to create,

to

c

h

a

n

g

e, and to_______________[recover]

0000000parTICular 0000000

encounters [the developing body[within] of knowledge].

These encounters … are VERSIONS of what they are becoming—->, a [{/\structure/\}] for what does not yet exist … a |||constructive|||\\\\ hypertext should be a /\`~`~/\tool/\`~`~/\ for vent[in]ing, dis—–covering, viewing<), and testing A. multiple, B. alternative, C. organizational structures…

There is no simple way to say this.”

Michael Joyce, “Siren SsssshapesssS”

Want to experience

interactive fiction?!

Try

interActing!!! with this:

http://www.eastgate.com/TwelveBlue/

An

unUsual

story by the “original“ author of h y p e r t e x t—–> fiction/s, Michael Joyce!

What is

the

RE

MEDIA

TION

of print?

What would it look like if hypertext/computers remediated print in the same sense as “the shift from codex to papyrus roll… remediated the roll almost out of existence” (24)?

Double Your Blog, Double Your Fun!

A Recounting/Response to one of the papers in Rhetoric and Ethnicity and a (brief) bibliography with annotation to Royster’s essay in Cross-Talk for your enjoyment:

Gale, Xin Liu . “Community, Personal Experience, and Rhetoric of Commitment.” Rhetoric and Ethnicity. Eds. Keith Gilyard and Vorris Nunley. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 2004. 103-110.

Xin Liu Gale expresses her hesitance in accepting ideas of community and “-isms”…

(Game playing time! Fill in the blanks:

femin__, multicultural__, Marx__, social construction__, political activ__; Or discourse _____, interpretive _____, home _____, school _____, classroom _____).

…since she emigrated to America’s composition and rhetoric field via China: “At the beginning, the ubiquity of ‘isms’ and ‘community’ was indeed a culture shock” and, thought she quickly adapted to fit in, “the puzzlement was not resolved as to why a country founded on individual expression and freedom for its people to pursue personal happiness and fulfillment appears to be so devoted to social ‘isms’ and community” (103).

Her Chinese upbringing bred misgivings of such concepts, just as the invitation to speak on rhetoric and ethnicity bred misgivings about who she was, what she had to say. Gale queries herself: “What community do I belong to? What ethnic community do I belong to?” (104). She had left China behind in her life as well as her scholarship; She lamented the loss of any roots in her quest to be “American.”

These ruminations, however, resulted in revelation: “…a clean break with politics, communities, and the past is not only necessary but inevitable for the [Chinese] writer” (106). Why? A community wherein “human attachments… made most of us cowards and confined us to a silent existence that in turn forced silence on others” inspired a particular need for “unlimited and unbridled independence” (106-107). In China, “everything is interpreted in terms of political intentions, class struggle, and social good, [and] the most innocent story could be construed as a vicious attack on something” (108). Writers occupy a troubled position in a country that “neither loves its intellectuals nor wants their thinking, if their thinking is independent and different from the ideology of the party and the ‘Chinese community’” (108).

Xin Liu Gale concludes her piece by wishing for a time when everyone, everywhere, can “have the freedom to write and be encouraged to write about their personal experience of encountering and living with others” because “only through writing can the tragedy, the comedy, and the beauty of encountering others be captured and become a source of transformation for self and for the culture at large” (110).

Some thoughts…

-I should note that my play with the color red reflects my association of it with the Chinese belief that it represents luck; it is not a commentary on the connections between the color and communism – I leave such things to others.

-I wondered if Xin Liu Gale noted the irony in her ruminations “What community do I belong to? What ethnic community do I belong to?”, so common for m/any “true Americans” (much like the students Linda Cullum writes of in “Lessons from the Turtle Grandparents,” who self-describe as “just a bunch of average White kids.” A reminder, perhaps, that at times “White” can mean the absence of color, the leeching away of connections and cultural understanding that necessitates a rebuilding, the connections that a composition teacher like Cullum or Gale can facilitate in their classrooms [143]).

-The dangers of community and -ism belief: Gale prompts the reader to recall why communal notions can be harmful or dangerous, why we must embark in supporting/sustaining them with great care and knowledge.

-I was likewise interested in Gale’s encouragement at the close of her piece for students to “write about their personal experience of encountering and living with others,” since we see once again a weighting of the personal in writing (110, emphasis mine). The connection makes sense in terms of Gale’s support for individuality to foster writing, based on the lessons China taught her about the needs of writers for total freedom, something Americans often take for granted. After all, it is easy to support “-isms” and “communities” when they are a choice to indulge in rather than a requirement to bind the voices of a people.

Royster, Jacqueline Jones. “When The First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own.” College Composition and Communication 47.1 (February 1996): 29 – 40. Rpt. in Cross–Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader. Ed. Victor Villanueva, Jr. 2^nd ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2003. 611 – 622.

Jacqueline Jones Royster stresses the importance of subjectivity using personal experiences as a guide. She discusses the ways in which race is treated carelessly among discourse communities in our nation. Her purpose is to remind people to be aware of subject position and to treat others as they would wish to be treated in order to avoid violation. The ultimate emphasis is on the need for training in order to respect the point of view of others, singularly or in cultural groups, and the ability to engage others as hybrids. In one sense we must remember that people are hybrids – composed of many parts, all “authentic”, and in another, that all great learning, etc., comes from the hybridization of cross-boundary discourse. To effectively exchange perspectives, however, we must collectively be taught to listen.

“Theme-ing:”

Personal experiences…

Training…

People as hybrids (the complication of subject position/s)

_Literacy in American Lives_ by Deborah Brandt: Literacy Narrative, Part 2

Early Childhood Memories/ Writing and Reading in School Combo 

Earliest memories of seeing other people writing/reading:  I recall my mother writing at the table in California.  Letters, maybe?  Anyway, I was fascinated by her script, and I remember sitting beside her and copying it (scribbles, really, but to me the curvy shapes filling the page didn’t look all that different). 

Earliest memories of self writing/reading:  The scribble-script, I think.  It intrigues me that I was captured by the look of her writing – visuality in writing is so important to me, and I believe it reflects my artistic inclinations.  I recall early writing far less than early drawing.  I had stacks of cheap typewriting paper that I covered with picture after picture.  I won a coloring contest at the age of three and was rewarded with a Hello Kitty crayon set.  The compulsive drawing & script copying would have been around the ages of 3-4, perhaps 5. 

Part of the “mythology” of my reading comes from my mother telling me that she could get me to be quiet for hours on end in the highchair by reading to me from picture books.  She knew them by heart, so I got to hold them and look at the picture while she read.  She also let me draw into the books.  I loved the images that came with the text.  

The only reading with Dad I recollect is on our car-trip when we moved from CA to NJ @ age 5/6ish.  He read to my little brother and I to keep us quiet on my mother’s turn driving.  This is a vivid experience because a.) he never read to us, and b.) he read from a Disney storybook wherein he performed the voices of the various characters.  Casey and I were mesmerized.  I think Mom was a bit jealous of our response; Casey never sat still for stories, with the exception of “Casey at the Bat” – he loved sports, and a story that wrote him into the text was great, even if it ended less than happily.  

Later we both got books in the mail that Mom ordered from a catalogue, which printed our names for the main characters – it was like magic!  I loved reading that book. 

Earliest memories of direct or indirect instruction:  Here’s where the ugly get named: Mrs. Blackwell, I declare shame upon thee!  I think she was my 4^th grade teacher.  Anyway, we read an excerpt from _The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe_ and she told the class that she had the complete set of C.S. Lewis’ books; anyone wanting to borrow them to read, could.  When I asked to do so, she told me I wasn’t a good enough student to have loan of the books.  Witch indeed!

On the other hand, I remember exactly when my Mom reading to me changed to my reading for myself – we were reading _Charlotte’s Web_.  She read the 1^st half to me, and I read the 2^nd half back to her.  After that, I was off like a shot.  There was nothing I wanted more in the world than books…

Memories of places writing/reading occurred: My mother, my younger brother and I used to go to a park by our house.  I read _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ and _Through the Looking Glass_ there when I wasn’t running around like mad.  I probably read others too, but that one stood out.

Occasions associated with writing/reading: (not sure school is an “occasion,” – this could go under memories of places, but what the heck…)

In school I was never placed with the “advanced” English students, even at an early age – maybe because I was quiet?  The classroom reader was so full of stories though, so I took it home and finished the entire book in a day.  Mom told my teacher and she was surprised; then the teacher moved me in to the “advanced” reading group (this was 2^nd grade or so).  Unfortunately, that involved spelling and I just because I could read didn’t mean that I had memorized “peanut”…

In middle school, I still wasn’t allowed into honors English.  I was terribly jealous of them – they had the cooler teacher and they got to read my favorite book of all time: _Watership Down_.  A fun book – for school!  Totally unfair.  The honors teacher covered our class one day and I managed to impress her.  I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t take me with her to the “better” class.  By freshman English, I couldn’t stand it – these kids hated Shakespeare!  When I moved to 10^th grade honors English, my grades immediately shot up (the administration reasoned that I shouldn’t be put into a higher level because my performance wasn’t sufficient).  When I brought a book to class for downtime/s, nobody ever asked me why I wanted to spend free time reading.  

As far as writing is concerned, I remember far less.  Two instances that stand out: in elementary school, if we wrote stories we were allowed to read them to the class during a specified time (well, whenever that was).  Another girl, Diane, wrote a story that made everyone laugh, and I thought, “I want to do that!”  Usually, if I wanted to make friends or impress people, I drew them a picture, so this was new behavior for me (particularly doing something so visible).  So I wrote a story; it was highly derivative, but they loved it, and so so did I. J  This started me on writing little short stories.  Mom used to collect them and I used to hide them…

In middle school, we were made to keep journals.  Once a week, Mrs. Stillman pinned a new picture up and we were supposed to write… something… about it.  I wrote a story she was so impressed with she read it to the class (sooo embarrassing) and then gave it to the school paper.  They published it. 

People associated with writing/reading: Mom, always.  Dad from that one car trip – it made a big impression.  Plus he would occasionally recommend books to me.  Because of his love for it when he was younger, he recommended _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_.  We still have a running joke: he wants me to read _Hawaii_ but I refuse because I didn’t like the 1^st chapter or so enough to commit to the whole (*massive*) book.  He’s always bringing it up and telling me I need to go past that into the remainder – the “best part.” 

The funny thing was, at the same time that Mom supported reading, she subverted its importance as well.  I had such a strong desire for books, and I remember Mom didn’t like taking me to the library (yet my brother’s trip to sports practice – no problem!) and she also didn’t like having to spend money on books very often.  I used to want to do anything for reading material – it was good bribery for a youngster.  She also blames the series _The Wizard of OZ_ for destroying my eyesight.

I also associate my older brother with reading – in a negative way.  He was as voracious a reader as I was (am) and he used to steal my books and not return them – or return them mistreated.  I am still sensitive about lending books for this very reason.  Nothing bothers me more than someone borrowing without asking or mistreating reading material.  Marking text in my own books doesn’t count – though sometimes I still like to leave the pages unblemished and visually “perfect!”

Organizations associated with writing/reading:  None very specifically, but I do remember a contest held in elementary school in tandem with the local library to encourage reading (this would be about 4^th grade).  Everyone in the class must have known I was a reader (how?), because they all assumed that either I or one other child would win.  Who was that boy/girl?  Did I win?  Don’t remember. 

Materials available for writing/reading:  Mainly the good ‘ole stuff – pens, pencils, paper.  The typewriter I never really got into.  The computer is now essential to my composing process – but I don’t remember when that came into the picture…

_Literacy in American Lives_ by Deborah Brandt: Literacy Narrative, Part 1

Demographic Questions

Date of Birth: Octomber 13th

Place of Birth: Southern California

Place of Rearing: Jerz

Gender/race: Female/Caucasian… I am a 13th generation American – a true “mutt” – Irish, English, Scottish, French, French-Canadian, German, and probably some others I forgot. I think we even have the teenyist part Native American on my father’s side, but nothing documented. If I wanted to bother with the application process, I could be a card carrying member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (from my mother’s side).

Type of household (childhood): This question needs more details – is she discussing physical space, famial unit under one roof, or both? I grew up in California in a condo with my parents and 2 brothers (I’m the middle child) until I was 5 or 6; then we moved to Jersey to a 4 bedroom house in suburbia.

Type of household (current): Now I inhabit a studio apt. in Syracuse. I am marrying this summer, so Shawn and I hope to get a condo where we will live with our three cats (and the rabbits I am planning to adopt!).

Great-grandparents’ schooling and occupations, if known: I only ever met my paternal great-grandparents (whose names I can’t remember…Bill and ???).

Grandparents’ schooling and occupations, if known: I always bragged that I had three sets of grandparents rather than two. I didn’t understand what divorce was until much later in life… My mother’s parents, Keith and Mary, separated. They remarried Jan (pronounced “Yawn”) and Evelyn. My paternal grandmother is Betty. Mary did a year of Junior College @ Pasedena College; she did factory work during WWII and held a few other temp. jobs, but mostly she was a housewife. Jan had a college-level agronomy degree from the Czech Republic (not sure which school). When he immigrated here, he worked in Central Park as a groundsman/gardener/landscaper, until he went west and worked @ the San Diego state (Scripts Institute campus) as the same. Keith graduated from high school, but not college (he went overseas in the war – so who knows if he might not have done college?). He returned and started his own construction company in Orange County, CA. Evelyn is not someone I got to know very well; I do know she did secretarial work. Betty did HS, not college. She owned/ran her own restaurant (she cooked and administrated); she went to beauty school and then owned her own salon for awhile.

Parents’/guardians’ schooling and occupations, if known: Suzanne (Mom) finished high school and did some college. She married Richard (Dad) and dropped out after about a year to support him (got a great job with the phone company) while he completed his Masters @ California State – Riverside. Mom was a housewife for most of my life, but as we all got older, she got a degree from Cittone as a medical technician and now works part-time in a doctor’s office. Dad finished his MBA and has never looked back – he has been a businessman all my life and then some. Currently he works as the VP of Purchasing for Gerber (Yep, the babyfood peeps).

Names and locations of all schools attended: Ummm….

James Madison Elementary School, John Adams Middle School, and J.P. Stevens High School in central Jersey

Moore College of Art and Design – Bachelor of Fine Arts, Illustration (plus a semester while there with the American College in London’s art program, for that not-too English experience – the “American” college in London – what a ridiculous name).

Kean University – 60 credits worth of English classes; I never had literature (or even much writing) at a specialized school like Moore, and 60 cr. were needed to attempt the Alternate Route to teaching in Jerz (which is a way for those who weren’t education majors to transition from other jobs into teaching – but it isn’t really accepted, and it’s a very difficult way to get a teaching job. Educational heirarchy/snobbery here…)

Drew University – I translated from the Masters program into the PhD program

Degrees, dates of graduation, size of graduating class: Graduated from J.P. Stevens in ’95; The degree from Moore was – I think – for ’99. Both class sizes were comparable – about 400/500 – largish for a high school, teeny-eeny for a college.

Past/current/future occupations: Graphic Designer; Long-term substitute at the K-12 level; Writing Instructor @ Drew

Quintessential Essentials

“We ought not to assume that

males and females

use language in identical ways

use language in identical ways

use language in identical ways

or represent the world

in a similar fashion.  in a similar fashion.  in a similar fashion.  in a similar fashion. 

And if their writing strategies and

p

a

t

t

e

r

n

s

of representation do differ, then

ignoring

those differences almost certainly means a

suppression

of women’s

separate ways

of thinking and writing” (581). 

Flynn d   r   a   w   s

a parallel

between

the developing field of composition studies

and

feminism. 

She feels a

reversal lasrever

of hierarchies has occurred wherein there is a celebration of process/private, not product/public, and women, not men, have been the

main developing force—>—>—>

in the discipline.  In order to engage

the

2

fields,

she makes a survey of feminist research on the >gender0 ]{differentiation[}  [in]social[in]psychological development. 

By working with a small sample of her own students, Flynn locates some distinctions in male/female subject matter: 

interaction/connection/unsuccessful connection for women

vs

achievement

]separation[

/////////UN

successful

achievement for men. 

She finishes with suggestions for linking composition and gender studies in the classroom and with the reminder that the concept “reading as a woman” does not define itself as avoiding reading like a man (similar to the post-process: we’re-not-just-defined-by-not-being-process-pedagogy discussion<).

I have read this article 2xs:

1^st within a majority of English graduate students

(beards and dark twisty mustaches sold separately)

…and 2^nd with

A grad/undergrad mix with far more multiplicity

multiplicity multiplicity multiplicity multiplicity in majors

…and only 1 male.  Important?  Or not?

In scenario numero uno, Most Of The clASS

felt that Flynn’s lived experience within her classroom – the student papers she cites as observable examples of her theory – were, if not irrelevant, than not credible. 

Where were the numbers, they wanted to know?!  How can 1o1n1e1 class

“count” 1234567890 in terms of a

provable

experiment?! 

The women, particularly, were dismissive.

“No.” they said.  simply “Not Believable.”

The second group’s interaction seemed far less HOSTILE

They shared a curiosity and a willingness to allow for the possibility of divergent male/female writing styles, even in an “unscientific” experiment like Flynns’.

Me,

I

vacillate                                  vacillate

vacillate

vacillate                                  vacillate

vacillate

vacillate                                  vacillate

I think she makes rather specific categorizations within limited samples, but then again, we always seem to feel massive #s offer an almost magically monolithic “^proof.”  Yet science is notorious for experimenting and re-experimenting until they arrange the results desired.

I value composition for its ability to engage individual contexts – meaning those that are

not

solitary, but

Personall.

Personall narrative is often inescapably>~~~bound up~~~<in composition philosophy, not only bound up, but

considered relevant

and

important

in a way that it is not in other forms of scholarship. 

“The Problem of Susan” thoughts on a Constructed Literary “Contact Zone” between C.S. Lewis and Neil Gaiman

Laura’s comments on Trish’s blog have made me think about

this one:

C.S. Lewis, beloved children’s author, writes The Last Battle copyright 1956.

In June of 2004, fantasy author Neil Gaiman wrote “The Problem of Susan,” recently reprinted in his short story collection Fragile Things, September 2006.

I had read all Lewis’ Narnia chronicles as a child, and I’ve read much of what Gaiman has published, but I’d never enountered this story until picking up Fragile Things. In it he attempts to problematize the exclusion of one of Lewis’ main characters, Susan, from heaven due to her fascination with “lipstick and nylons and invitations.”

It’s quite fascinating to search the blog world on the story, since best selling fantasy/children’s book writers like Philip Pullman and J.K. Rowling have sounded off about the issue, and people enjoy debating the relative merits of Susan vs. her siblings, why or if she is excluded from heaven, whether it is the lipstick, nylons, and/or the invitations that damn her exactly…

But regardless. I loved Lewis’ books – still do, really, even if they are not “perfect” because he wanted to employ Christian allegory (some ppl. insist this makes it literary propaganda for children). Both Gaiman and Pullman are creating a conversation with his stories – they are bothered by them for various reasons. Gaiman is direct enough to be concerned with copyright laws, and his story does indeed problematize Lewis’ literary disposal of Susan.

I didn’t enjoy Gaiman’s story – in fact, it’s fair to say that it disturbed the hell outta me (spoiler: Aslan and the White Witch divide the children at the end of their summit on a hill; she gets boys, he, girls. Aslan devours the girls while the witch turns the boys into strange, twisted creatures [pulling the life out of them, perhaps - at any rate, they don't survive]. The Aslan performs oral sex on the Witch, then they have sex. Next you see them riding off together, the lion licking the blood from the dead girls off his lips.)

But it did make me ask questions: How is he speaking to Lewis? And how would Lewis have answered? Gaiman is forcing me to look at and consider some really ugly things (as Laura asks: “What texts aren’t we responding to today? Do we dismiss arguments that stem from a political stance that we don’t share? From a religious stance that we don’t believe in? What do we ignore and how does that change our world?)

How has my acceptance of Susan’s exclusion blinded me to some ugly things in a favorite childhood text?

TRIM-Buuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrr!

Trimbur, John. “Consensus and Difference in Collaborative Learning.” College English 51 (October 1989): 602–16. Rpt. in Cross–Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader. Ed. Victor Villanueva, Jr. 2^nd ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2003. 461 – 478.

Collaborative learning = Intellectual Negotiation

& CCccollective Decision-Making

…according to Trimbur according to Bruffee/Wiener

Use of CONSENSUS by collaborative learning is inherently dangerous/potentially totalitarian: stifles creativity, individual voice, suppresses difference/s, enforces conformity!
(

)

According to Foster, Bruffee overvalues social practices and “den[ies] the primACY of individual consciousness in creating knowledge” (462). (Elitist ideals of perfect solitary authors, anyone? (‘scuse me, [mY] ggarrett) is calling.

Trimbur wishes to FO<cus on the critique

from the

left

Which comes to us thru—>Greg Myers:

That collaborative learning may unintentionally UNempower students because it will only reaffirm existing consensus/ power structures and support those who and in power and the systems that maintain it.

Trimbur wants to revisit revise consensus.

It need not inevitably promote conformity/ improve the performance of the system.

Consensus can generate difference/s, identify the systems of authority that organize these difference/s, transform relations of power that determine who may speak and what counts as a meaningful statement.

Compositional Thought Butterflies

Things on my mind…

Big School Envy; Y’all know these famous people and come from these big places. I’m at this big place. Kinda wanna be a part of it. Kinda don’t. Who should we know? Just got the invite for RNf@C’s – Cheryl Glenn “signed” it. Mini-glee moment there. My professor, Erec Smith, studied @ a school that is “big sh*t” for comp ppl. He mentioned knowing Peter Elbow. Every time one of these names is spoken, I hear it “echoed” in my mind. Why this need to mythologize?

How much is enough? I often don’t feel like I can speak. I often don’t think I know “enough.” What is enough, anyway? When will “enough” arrive? At what point will I convey expertise on myself? Eileen reminded today that I am *not* the prototypical 1styr student. Said I was “part of the landscape” (thanks!:) and that sometimes she forgets that I’m at a different place in the process. Some of this is review for me. I should liken myself akin to a Derek Mueller, for instance. But I know I don’t – why else would she remind me and point at that I shouldn’t look surprised. I feel frustrated with this modesty I can’t seem to relinquish. Why hold it to me? It is not helpful, is not precious. Can you be an academic and an introvert? Yes, damn it! But how???? *S…i…g…h*

Basic Writer Fears; Eileen challenged my last blog for being soooo succinct that it really expressed no content that emerged from my relationship to the text. She was spot on. But the readings made me deal with a truth: I don’t know how to discuss this subject fruitfully. It pulls at my opposite scholarly spheres: On the one polarity, discomfort with even the use of this term: “Basic Writer.” On the other, the comfort that I believe comes from the best teacherly place: a desire to aid learning whenever and wherever possible. So, if losing the home discourse because you want them to embrace synthesis, abstraction, analytical thinking, et. al, if you want them (“them,” for God’s sake!) to find success in the academy, if that happens, that’s okay. If they must be grouped together as a basic writing group to grow and learn, that’s okay. And it is. But it’s also not. And I – who love organization, structure, definitions – must deal with this “no suitable black and white answer” situation.

Cognitive Development and the Basic Writer

Lunsford, Andrea. “Cognitive Development and the Basic Writer.” College English 41.1 (September 1979): 449 – 459. Rpt. in Cross–Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader. Ed. Victor Villanueva, Jr. 2^nd ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2003. 299 – 310.

Lunsford discusses cognitive development as applied to basic writers.  She offers practical exercises based on this understanding; the reader can either use them or extrapolate their own.  The central idea is how to use collaborative learning  (headed by an “expert” – the teacher) to work on assignments that decenter the learner and thereby aid their progress in inferential (and therefore conceptual/abstract) reasoning.