What does it mean to transgress?
Most of the definitions have to do with violation of one kind or another, but the most generic sense is to "pass beyond." Beyond what? A limit. To where? The other side of a boundary.
Transgression is also a scientific term describing "an advance of the sea across the land."
"When you write to fulfill a task, it is noticeable because every paragraph will seem alike and as if they are only meant to complete your assignment. If you write more openly to the reader, then they will feel more comfortable and will enjoy reading it more." ~ Neil
Proofreading: "Though it may not catch every small grammar mistake, I often find argument flaws and discontinuities in my writing as I proofread, making it an essential step in my path to great writing." ~ Sharon
"I realized that while fixing my first essay I did not look up my mistakes. Instead, I just corrected what Steph had written without knowing what I was fixing and why I was doing these corrections." ~ Megan
"I realized that everything that is written in a paper, affects something else." ~ Megan
"I need to reserve a large amount of time to write good papers. I can not write an effective paper in one night; I need to reserve time over a few days to revisit my writing to make changes and corrections. I will always need to allow time to write a quality paper." ~ Nicki
"It isn't that I do not care to fix my mistakes; it is that I did not know I was making a mistake until recently....Now that I know it is a problem, it will be easier to fix." ~ Nicki
One of my students referred to Philip Pullman; I was intrigued.
"...fighting the forms in the air, those dark intentions..." (392) "...a catastrophe of flame..." (385) "...no one thought it would ever be possible...Well, we were wrong...we had to learn to see it..." (376) "...at last there was a physical proof that something happened when innocence changed into experience" (373).
"Everything out there is alive, and there are grand purposes abroad! The universe is full of intentions, you know. Everything happens for a purpose" (330).
"But you cannot change what you are, only what you do" (315).
"We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not," said the witch, "or we will die of despair" (310).
"And how do you know where these meanings are?" "I kind of see 'em. Or feel 'em rather, like climbing down a ladder at night, you put your foot down and there's another rung. Well, I put my mind down and there's another meaning, and I kind of sense what it is. There's a trick in it like focusing your eyes" (151).
"It only works if the questioner holds the levels in their mind...without fretting at it or pushing for an answer, and just watch..." (126).
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I came across this quote posted on the commercial website of the "life on a train" powerpoint author. The idea of creating possibility is something I've come to believe; hence, the quote is a resource, if not an actual reference that might work its way into the "This I Believe" essay I'll write along with my students in English 112.
The essays will be modeled after NPR's national media project, described as "a public dialogue about belief." I began considering content a few weeks ago.
Some of my students may choose this essay structure for their fourth and final project of the semester. I've had periodic conversations among friends about creating a group blog as an experiment in public writing (discourse), community-building, and dissensus-for-social-change (I just invented this term, smile). As an outgrowth of these conversations, Ambarish posted a quote from Arundhati Roy concerning the role of writers and artists in society? I responded at his site, but the notion of writers as artists intrigues me. In particular, I've been thinking about the performance aspect of writing in a public space where people who know me can measure my way in the world, face-to-face, with what I write about and how I write it.
The public display of writing as myself (not with an alias, not to an audience exclusively of strangers) has been of interest to me since I began the blog under Leda's clear perception five years ago. Five freaking years!! It seems impossible. I've fielded questions about "why" many times (hopefully becoming more clear each time, at least for myself if not satisfactorily so for readers), and blundered through more instances of social inetiquette than I care to recount. :-/
The one class I'm sitting in on (now that I'm DONE WITH COMPS!!!) is on Performance and Public Culture. It's the first course of its kind here at UMass and is filled with an eclectic and hilarious bunch of brilliant characters. I'm honored to be there, squeezed into a corner seated on a nested pair of upended recycling bins. :-)
As a marginal performer in the class (meaning I am under no requirement to perform - eat your heart out!), I've become more selective about what I say, when, etc. (Some of my peers may wish I'd had such discretion when I did have to perform. Self-tease, HA!) The class has exchanged some intense email (a partial response awaits in my draft file) about gender, when/where/how the performative can be questioned/challenged (formally - as in when expected, and/or informally - everyday, when not necessarily expected), and the extent to which politics must conform to what appears to be the dominant norm or strike out more radically in a different direction.
[Tangent: Grad Lounge. Glass of red wine. Miguel. "I was born at night but not last night." Dan tried to convince me that Einstein accomplished a lot on his own. Yes, but he was also stopped by his own limitations! "God does not play dice with the universe." Einstein saw relativity but could not go there by himself. We're only going to get beyond our limitations with each other. These guys are setting up the stage for karaoke, piano, poetry recitation, etc. Show starts at 7. So does my class.]
The point? Life is real. It happens now. I could have dissed these guys but they appeared. Gotta honor 'em. That's the risk zone. Allow myself (my plans, intentions) to be changed by their presence.
I'm thinking I'll write a "This I Believe" essay too. I've been getting closer to my own sense/definition of agency. Briankle complimented a sentence I wrote in a comps answer, something to the effect of "Agency requires freedom." Last week I wrote: "This I believe: the only transgressive zone in our de-authorized world is personal risk."
Time to make the case.
Theory: voice is a theoretical construct from discourse analysis that articulates power. Power is always present in discourse. While thinking well is the most important skill to be gained from writing well, learning how to negotiate authority is the most important task of all teaching. "Negotiating authority" means learning when it is necessary to self-authorize and when it is prudent to acquiesce in order to accomplish longer term goals. Self-authorization includes a range of actions from resistance to collaboration; above all, it means exercising voice in the practical tasks of everyday life.
Being unfamiliar with a particular department means I would approach the material fresh, bringing the challenges and questions of an outsider. Additionally, a certain "lack of knowing" can balance the knowledge bases among students and myself: we would all bring content, I would facilitate our engagement with it. The art of teaching is enabling the balance of labor - it is less that I am there "to teach" as students are there "to learn". I have to find a way, with each new group of students, to create an environment in which students want to learn. Under such conditions I can stop policing and be less concerned with discipline because the goal is no longer coercion but growth.
I probably relaxed overmuch in the interview for junior writing teacher. I blended with the mood and vibe of the interviewing team. I provided anecdotes as illustrations without explaining why or how the example served as an answer to the question. I assumed transparency of ontology: I am not afraid to live on the edge of intellectual, emotional, and professional risk. If there is a primary task of liberal arts education, I believe it is to cultivate the capacity to engage vigorously yet sensitively in discourses of disagreement. We must learn to recognize and embrace difference as difference, and from that basis, without needing to change it, co-construct commonality.
Meanwhile, we have to hone our perceptive acuity to recognize ways that structures, systems, practices, and taken-for-granted elements of daily interactions move us toward homogeneity, the same dull tones of consumerist and survivalist so-called individuality.
Ah well. I had hoped to "turn" some of the questions critically back on their sources. I may have succeeded in some instances but certainly not in others. Theory is static: nonetheless, theory has heuristic value and can be extremely useful for structuring and deconstructing perceptions and knowledges. I definitely could have prepped better for responding to the elements in the job description that privilege theory.
We laughed often; that made the interview an hour well-spent. :-)
(And, even if the evidence of their learning didn't carry me over the top, my current students are still the rockin' best.)
