This material isn’t my attempt to write the assignments I gave you; rather, it’s my reflection on the authors and (to be honest) some of the thoughts which your papers generated.
Alex Myers
Generally I’m on the same page as all of you: almost everyone pointed out that there really are a lot of good men out there. Myers reflects on growing up in a “safe environment: a small Maine town with loving parents.” I have to wonder just what Papa Myers was like. Did he make lascivious comments about women’s bodies? That wouldn’t fit with the “safe environment” comment—I suspect that Alex did know at least one good man.
I find myself wondering just what part of manhood Alex was yearning for before the transition. When I think of an ideal man, I think of mental strength, fairness, and a willingness to do what is right even if the act involves personal cost. That’s why we think of “real men” doing things such as joining the military or volunteering as fire fighters. The more I think about the Myers article, the more I’m drawn to the idea that for Alex “manhood” is simply a physical body thing. Yes, he has escaped the catcalls and the unwelcome woman’s body shape, but there just does not seem to be much else about “manhood” in the article.
Ignoring cultural, racial, and national norms for manhood (and that’s a LOT to ignore), there are so many ways for a white, middle class American like Myers to be a man, but the only one Myers seems to be aware of is the good ol’ boy in the locker room telling dirty jokes. I can go months and months without spending time with that sort of person, but I am constantly in a world of men.
One positive thing here: William Wordsworth’s poem “My Heart Leaps Up” includes the often-quoted line, “The Child is father of the Man,” and the Myers article reminded me strongly of that. What happens to the child gets carried forth into adulthood.
Jef Rouner
Again, I agreed with nearly all of you: a smart article with real problems in the “audience awareness” department. What on earth were the editors of the Houston Press thinking when they let so much of that language pass? Nearly all of you agreed that the content of the piece was really useful and important, but the tone really worked against it.
All of us writers (even a teacher who is writing a Blog) need to court the reader, to woo or entice the reader to fall in love—at least a little— with our words. The language which would make your righteous grandmother slap your face doesn’t do that, and Rouner missed the point that the late-night television audience for John Oliver is not the same as the newspaper audience on a Thursday afternoon in July. (Yes, I did look that one up.) It feels like Rouner is trying just a bit too hard to be hip or relevant or something. Consider the difference between “My dad said it. Hell, everyone’s dad probably said it” and a sanitized “My dad said it. Everyone’s dad probably said it.” Nothing lost. If you want to express frustration, try “My dad said it. Good grief! Everyone’s dad probably said it.” Just as powerful, and we haven’t alienated the righteous reader.
Or consider the comment about “selling [babies] for phat cash.” Why “phat”? It’s a specifically hip-hop subculture word, probably a bit outdated. Is Rouner implying that Planned Parenthood is part of the hip-hop subculture? Or that he is? Or that I am? I doubt it. Probably just trying to sound cool and relevant. And it doesn’t work.
To be a bit more constructive here, a big part of what goes on in college is the battle between arrogance and humility. A lot of things which seem transparently obvious (flat earth with a tiny sun that hangs in the sky) turn out to be wrong when you really know things (or at least have an informed opinion). That last little bit about water freezing is a great model of what happens to all of us in college. It’s tough to take, but it should be our daily experience.
One more final note here. Rouner begins with a personal gripe, so I will end with one of my own. I will occasionally get an oppositional student who looks at my comment on a graded paper and says, “Well! That’s just YOUR opinion!” Umm… Yes it is. I went to the dermatologist with a concern about a couple of spots on my arm, and his opinion was that I have nothing to worry about. It’s not cancer. He spends his life studying skin spots and has done extensive graduate study on skin spots, so I assume his opinion has some weight. He doesn’t know, but I think his opinion is worth trusting. The same thing happens when I take my car to the mechanic or ask my stockbroker about an investment. When an English teacher with years of graduate school and thousands of papers graded makes a comment, yes it is just my opinion, but that should count for something.
In a way, this is the opposite of Rouner’s problem. He keeps running into people who say that their opinions about vaccines and autism constitute absolute truth; I keep running into students who say that no opinions (even those formed from experience and study) are better than anyone else’s. Or maybe these two statements are the same. My student is saying that his/her opinion is that the paper (in spite of all its faults) deserves an “A” so that is absolute truth.
Comments
Post a Comment