Writing "About Something"

Dwight Atkinson's post-process theory article was excellent, and I particularly liked it when he said, "I have rarely encouraged self-discovery as the primary purpose of writing assignments; quite to the contrary, these assignments typically asked students to write 'about something'--some social issue or concern beyond their purely personal, individual lives" (1537). I'm interested in self-discovery in writing, and writing for therapeutic purposes. But I also believe that writing for the sake of composing yourself can be misleading, inauthentic, and egotistical. I am reminded of a woman I met in Louisville, Kentucky, a few years ago; she was an artist who displayed a new self-portrait every summer for tourists and art-lovers in a small studio downtown. Her only project for the entire year was to reconstruct a new image of herself; then, at the end of the year, she would begin to paint over it with a new construction of herself. It seemed.....pointless? Cocky? Strange? I had a sudden empathy for students who hate to freewrite for the sole purpose of bringing their subconscious to the forefront. Ultimately, who cares?

It made me think about the visiting Chinese scholars that came to our class on Thursday, and how their students were enthusiastic about studying different cultures. I wondered if my own students knew about American current events, let alone worldwide ones. I realized that self-discovery can come about best by what Atkinson proposes: writing "about something." What better way to invite the underlives and cultures of students to a classroom than by inviting them all collectively to step outside of their backgrounds and explore new territories?

I only lived in Japan for 15 months, but I did have the opportunity to move between the east coast and the west coast, to live in the city as well as the country. It was exciting to live not as a tourist in these different places, but as a Japanese person. I lived with Japanese girls, ate only Japanese food, and learned the Japanese language. I realized what it was to be an American by living someplace different. I remember when I finally came home, everyone seemed huge (huge bodies, huge voices, huge cars, huge purses and bags), and places like WalMart really creeped me out.

Thomas Friedman recently wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times called "Too Many Hamburgers" about how China, despite its governmental differences, has managed to work together and successfully create and implement great advances in their cities and economy. America, on the other hand, is quickly sliding away from whatever strengths we boast the democracy gives us. The article ended in patriotism and optimism, but with a strong warning that unless politicians spend more time working for the people and less time working to get their votes, we're screwed.

While I don't think that our students are incredibly dumber than students in China or Japan (it was apparent from some of the comments from our visiting scholars that Chinese college students slack off and disappoint their teachers just as much as our student do here), the multicultural influences these students have in other countries make them much more marketable and self-realized than the students who only know about their own hometowns. Bilingualism teaches a person more than just a second language.

I think our students need to be pushed to step outside of themselves more. I think every writing assignment should include research, even personal narratives. The syllabus that I am working on for this class is research heavy. I don't want students to be afraid of research--I want them to crave it. We need more curiosity and less pride. I'm grateful to be entering the field of composition during a paradigm of post-process theory.