Sounds like me: ìRhetoric, above all, is about chance and circumstance, about learning in publicî (Farrell, 256). Iím thinking we should call the session on Sunday a ìconversationî because of the way the topics and themes and even the direction of the overall discourse has emerged as weíve progressed: according to Farrell, ìconversation usually takes shape through an emergent sense of directionalityî (240). Originally, my desire was to produce a movie directed towards helping Americans figure out what we need to do differently in order for international students to feel more welcome ñ a climate project. What has transpired is a growing sense of unity among international and domestic students about the issues, concerns, and challenges we face in common. This has already shifted the nature of the dialectic from international/domestic to graduate student/faculty.
Yet rhetoric is obviously part of this process ñ the need for publicity/recruitment as this project competes for another significant chunk of precious time, as well as the planning aspects of selecting clips and organizing themes for presentation. Farrell suggests that rhetoric and conversation are bound up with each other, and ìas long as conversation is possible, the horizon of rhetorical reflection remains availableî (233). He elaborates upon this as ìan important original partnership between dialogue and rhetoricÖ[which makes] possible public reflection with others, in addition to expansion of the world of actional choicesî (235). If I could be so bold as to pose an ultimate aim for the mentoring project, it would be that more choices are made available to everyone who participates. On Sunday, weíll have a unique 3-hour conversation with people who both share and differ from us in terms of ìordinary life conventions and normsî: weíll have the rare opportunity to practice ìimprovis[ing] ways of speaking across such conventionsî (236) regarding the delivery and reception of mentoring. (Wow ñ THAT transmogrified into bald persuasion! {grin}]. :-)
So, while weíll seek to set a tone for a conversation among equally-interested parties, recognizing everyoneís vested interest, we will engage in some intentionality around the direction of the discourse: ìRhetoric is a discourse that develops processually in the direction of something beyond itselfî (255). The ìsomethingî could be the kind of image one wants to be portrayed of any/all of our various subjects, the kind of model of mentoring to be promulgated, a particular criticism that must be heard/received, a hope or vision of what things might become. Whatever the relationship between the desired and actual direction of the discourse (once it is engaged), the particular benefits (!) of participation are not likely to be acquired in any other way. When else are you ñ we - going to have such a block of uninterrupted faculty/student time to discuss an issue of such pervasive reach?
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