"Writing IS Thinking"

I can't remember which of you found this article, but I think it's a good one, even though it targets faculty writers. Author Kerry Ann Rockquemore emphasizes what Ann Russell often tells us: That early drafts can be sloppy, disorganized, discombobmulated and all the other "dis-es." How many of you feel you have to complete all your research and thinking before you commit anything to the page? And of those who do, how many of you feel paralyzed to start?

Maybe those early drafts are like late-night, free-wheeling conversations, at the tail end of parties, that dart all over the place, unstructured and possibly incoherent but incredibly fertile and alternately hilarious and profound. Don't you wish you had some of those conversations down on the page? (Well...maybe not. They could be blackmail fodder for future generations.)

Besides being tutors and, in some cases, teachers, we're all writers, whether we're writing for class, for publication, for art, or for fun. And we all get stuck because we're not used to "thinking aloud" on the page.

Do any of you write a half hour to an hour a day? Does anyone want to take on the challenge (30 to 60 minutes daily, Monday through Friday)? We might feel we don't have time, but surely we could use the half-hour we typically spend watching Modern Family or half of Glee and put fingers to keyboard. Maybe we could try this for two weeks and figure out a few prizes for those who stick with it. Perhaps we'll come up with something we could submit to MU Voices.

What do you think?

"A New Generation?"

J.J. Berry (author of this article and OCC Dean of Academic and Student Services) is targeting my generation while talking about the "iYs" generation--the generation many of you belong to. I think he's right on target as far as the technological changes. The college generation today has far more distractions than we ever did.

Berry suggests that many young students today have more fluidity/flexibility and tolerance; on the other hand, attention span and depth are in short supply. For example, some "iYs" have thousands of "friends" through Facebook, but may lack face-to-face, committed relationships.

He also argues that, although our worlds may seem very different, academia has something important to share with the "iYs": self-discipline, intellectual substance and rigor, the importance of understanding context, etc. (I may be projecting here.)

What do you think about this? Are J.J. Berry's reflections accurate or not? Do you "iYs" need the challenge and demands the academic world places on you? Is the academic world still relevant, or are we lagging far behind a changing world? Or is the reality more nuanced than that?

I'll be interested in reading your thoughts about this.