"Writing Center Tutors Have the Luxury to Focus on Individual Student Care Giving as Opposed to Formal Classroom Settings That Are Less Care Centered"

In our case, I think Renee A. Pistone, author of this article, is preaching to the choir. I believe our staff is especially caring, and we show it in a number of ways: asking about students' home life or their weekends, commiserating with their frustration over a particular assignment, and being sensitive to their vulnerability in the case of very basic writers. I liked Pistone's analogy of a midwife. Surely a writing project that can finally stand on its own can be compared to a brand-new life. It truly is a new life--for a new idea or an insightful new perspective. (It may be even better in that it doesn't involve any diaper changes or middle-of-the-night crying jags.) My only suggestion is that we keep pulling our conversations with students back to writing. Although we're caring and friendly, we are tutors--not therapists. The boundary between the two sometimes seems blurred, but it's a boundary we need to acknowledge. By putting friendship before tutoring, we're not really serving the student. That student may need our caring, but he or she also needs our expertise in writing. How do we recognize this boundary? How close is too close regarding our relationships with students? Or should this not be an issue? What do you think?

"Helping Writers Across the Curriculum"

This is a chapter from The Bedford Guide to Writing Tutors. It's really more of a reference than a heavy-duty scholarly piece. I like it, though, because it speaks to the importance of understanding one's audience and that audience's expectations. In fact, when working with students on their research essays, PowerPoints, resumes, etc., we could look over the appropriate checklist with the student.

I'm intrigued with the question of audience because so many writers appear to be oblivious to it. I'm not talking just about students--we see it in public spaces, too. For example, Gov. Walker states that he's complying with the wishes of Wisconsinites, completely ignoring the thousands of protestors at the capitol in Madison and all the negative media coverage.

I guess the deeper question is: Why? Do some writers/speakers just not think about who their reader (or listener) is, or do they just not care? Is it difficult for some of them to imagine any attitude different from their own?

What do you think?