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I've searched for earthworms in the still-frozen ground, cracked open the piggy bank, and begged my children for a short term loan, but I haven't collected enough money to attend Inkshed 13. So, my record ends at 12 consecutive Inksheds. I wish all of you who attend happy and productive inkshedding, good food and company (a given), and a marked shortage of snow. - Post-CCCC thoughts: some Canadians did not have the CCCC program mailed to them prior to the conference, but others did. I am going to complain about not getting it, and would be bolstered by support from like-minded whiners. Does anyone else care? How should we go about sending a message? Cheryl Cannon-Shaw (sp?) of NCTE told me in Milwaukee that she would give me stats on the number of Canadian presenters and participants and advice on how and where to complain, but she won't be back in her office for a while. I'll collect and forward individual notes of Canadian protest, if that seems an appropriate strategy - just send them to me at <[log in to unmask]>. Any other tactics? - After the Canadian Caucus-sponsored session, some of us were talking about the possibility of pooling our research resources - especially work that would support our claims that composition, in all its varied and glorious forms (tutorials, courses, WAC/WID programs, advanced comp and rhetoric courses), is valuable and worth continued funding. I'm not sure what sort of initiative might be helpful here, but maybe we need a Canadian version of the CCCC Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric; or perhaps we need a central clearinghouse for reports on Canadian writing programs: descriptions, assessments, vision statements, relevant research. My own concern is that we be prepared to counter the budget cutters who eye writing programs so greedily these days. We can't simply SAY we're doing good and necessary work, we have to SHOW it as well. Many of us have had to write reports defending our programs, justifying their existence, arguing for more money, proposing initiatives. Would a document compiling such reports be helpful? Is it worth seeking funds for some sort of cross-Canada research project, a network of writing centres, a survey of college and university literacy projects? Without being reduced to pre- and post-test, error counting comparisons, can we demonstrate the value of what we do in ways that will convince others? (Especially "others" consumed by the zeal of deficit reduction.) Can we show that our students are better off after they have been in our courses and programs? Can we provide evidence of the efficacy of writing-to-learn? There are studies out there now that offer some support (and some challenge), and we might think about compiling them into a bibliography, but do we/could we have our own studies? Like others, I feel the accountant's hungry eyes sweeping over our (under-paid) NON-tenured instructors, and more and more of my time is spent fighting political battles, begging for crumbs, fretting about money. I wonder if we can use CASLL (the organization and the list) to pool resources? And, perhaps most importantly, can we do something substantial, something significant and ongoing/longlasting, collaboratively? No one person can/should do this, so maybe we need institutional or provincial commitment/representation? CASLL as a clearinghouse? What do we think? Anthony Pare [log in to unmask]