"The Big Picture, the Rhetoric of Dating, and some logistics.

This afternoon, my wife and I are leaving for Baltimore to pick up a sail boat we bought. Since I don't know if we'll be able to get a room with internet access, I wanted to warn you I may be out of touch for much of the coming weekend.

I've been impressed by how the class has come together over the past week. I've had a chance to comment on almost everyone's work, and the central concepts underlaying the class are now in place. For the remainder of the class, you'll be working on revisions of your portfolio, and an initial draft of the portfolio cover letter is due this Sunday. As you write it, take a few hours to read through the various posts on the blog and to think about what I've said in these posts, in my comments on your papers, and in emails to you. Also, think of the work you've done and, in particular, the advice you've given and received through collaborating with your classmates. As you try to make connections between all of this discussion and work, reflect on how each applies to the outcomes and your inventory of yourself as a writer.

As we move into next week, I want you each to email me with questions you have about what the outcomes mean. I'm hoping to bring the various aspects of the class together over the next week and to provide you with a "big" picture of how you can use the knowledge from the class in your careers and lives. As part of this process, I'll be introducing a post on the the class blog on the rhetoric of dating, and I'd like the class to use the comment feature of the blog to discuss dating a rhetorical situation. Why dating? It's one thing to figure out the fairly straightforward rhetoric of the teacher/student rhetorical/writing situation, but rhetoric gets fun only when you begin working out some ways to make it do useful work for you. If you're married, think of how dating fits and fitted into your current relationship and provide advice for those in the class who aren't in a committed relationship. Finally, as you discuss the rhetoric of dating, spend some time thinking of how the rhetorical situation of dating is similar to those you find in other aspects of your life.

Steve