Archive for January, 2006
word of the day - irenic
I never knew what irenic meant until yesterday. According to dictionary.com, it means “Promoting peace; conciliatory.” If I recall Walter Ong right, he’s concerned that our culture is becoming too irenic. That is, we are too concerned with being conciliatory. This also reminds me of Lance Olsen’s book Girl Imagined by Chance, in which the [...]
conversations with Sara
Conversations with Sara Jameson are always nice to have. We talked about agonism in display, or more to the point, what is argument? Is argument good? Is argument always agonistic? We talked about the necessity of conflict in society. When I first came to grad school, I was a very anti-conflict person. Now, I embrace [...]
from Enos’s Encyclopedia
Reynolds, John Frederick. “Delivery.” Ed. Theresa Enos. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition: Communication from Ancient Times to the Information Age. New York: Garland, 1996. 172-173.
Reynolds writes:
Delivery, however, is the more readily revived of rhetoric’s two “problem canons,” both theoretically and practically. In composition studies, especially with the advent of word processing and desktop publishing technologies, [...]
boys will be boys?
In Fighting for Life, Walter Ong states “Boys will be boys” (52). Of course, he is right to a degree, but this statement is used all to often to legitimize dangerous, aggressive, antagonistic behavior from boys to other boys and girls. It’s outrageous to accept this statement. Ong states that we cannot ignore rough play [...]
quotes and my thoughts on Ong’s “Contest and Other Adversatives”
Here are some quotes and some of my thoughts as I read Chapter 1 of Fighting for Life by Walter Ong.
“The biological side of our nature is nothing to be ashamed of.” (10)
“Contest is a part of human life everywhere that human life is found. In war and in games, in work and in play, [...]
King Kong’s mating display
If you’ve seen the new King Kong, you probably noticed the intense mating ritual that King Kong and Ann Darrow engaged in. King Kong starts this ritual atop his mountain by violently displaying his strength and then expressing his frustration that Darrow is not also engaged in the ritual. I can’t remember specifics, and maybe [...]
Aristotelian argument due tomorrow
Tonight I have to write a rough draft to 6-page Aristotelian argument. I’ve never had to write a paper with such format before (other than sometimes with specific headings that were easy to follow and fill in the blanks). This essay is probably going to be one of my most challenging ever organization-wise. I’m looking [...]
my writing process
I haven’t taken much time to post to this blog this quarter. Things have been pretty hectic, but I thought, since I have 45 minutes until my next meeting, I’d take some time to write about my writing process, as prompted by the book The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, a book that I’m partially [...]
permission
Sometimes conferences with students are so short because they just need permission. They come to you with an “objective” fact-based paper for a narrative assignment, and sometimes they just need to hear you ask, “Why did you chose this topic?” so that when they answer with a story about a personal experience, you can ask, [...]
processive?
I assume most people have noticed that the things/activities/events valued most in our society are those that can be labeled “productive,” usually ones that have an obvoius, tangible outcome. I’m wondering if we can’t come up with a word that can be valued as much as productive, but that values process over product. At first [...]
