Kathryn's and Anthony's posts have pushed to me to think again about
how much I learned back when I first heard Lee Odell talking about
"non-academic" writing at the Cs in New York -- it was complete news
to me that the sort of thing that insurance executives and bankers
did was as principled, skilled, reflective and complex as what I'd
been educated to think of as "Writing" (that is, academic, scholarly
and literary writing). It took me years to learn that in fact
"non-academic" is a wierd phrase because it suggests that what's the
marked or singled out case is the writing that really has audience
and intrinsic purpose and function, unlike the student essay or
dissertation . . . It's "academic" writing that's the bizarre case.
It's a surprise to me, but not a big one, that people are still
learning that "Writing" is what you do and read in English class,
and all the other stuff is, well "recording" or just "work."
That's really the issue I wanted to address when I wondered under
what circumstances "professional writing" would include note taking,
reporting, recording, etc. -- because, as Anthony points out, it's
not only not seen as professional, it's not seen as writing either.
-- Russ
__|~_
Russell A. Hunt __|~_)_ __)_|~_ Aquinas Chair
St. Thomas University )_ __)_|_)__ __) PHONE: (506) 452-0424
Fredericton, New Brunswick | )____) | FAX: (506) 450-9615
E3B 5G3 CANADA ___|____|____|____/ [log in to unmask]
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~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.StThomasU.ca/hunt/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
