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I realize now that I didn't respond to Rick's message except in my head, where I nodded in agreement and enthusiasm. There's a space for the newsletter that other forms/modes don't fill, and the idea of summing and reflecting outside the rather strict boundaries of the journal article seems like a very interesting place to work. Roger Graves Assistant Professor Department of English, DePaul University On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, Richard Coe wrote: > Hi Russ and other Inkshedders, > > I am on the CASLL listserv, and to a large extent that now does for me > much of what the newsletter used to, including the annual Inkshed call. > The reasons for publishing a newsletter that you cite in your 1st paragraph > do not seem to me sufficient grounds for the effort involved (and I am very > much aware of how much effort that is because I edit, and often write much > of, our faculty assn newsletter). I think we should either let the > newsletter pass into history or reimagine it. > > My reimagining would look a bit like but beyond your archives--and I agree > with Roger that the archives themselves are a very useful project (which I > can imagine, for instance, as the basis of seminar discussions). Our email > discussions are very off the cuff, not to mention other-than-lineal. What > I would really like to see in a newsletter--in addition to a bit of news > and announcements of opportunities--is what I think of as the next step > beyond edited versions of our email discussions. I'd like to see articles > that are more of a "summing"--what were the intriguing questions raised, > the various perpectives brought to bear, the implications for further > thought, etc.?--of those discussions of "the literary essay," > "professional writing" and whether there's such a thing as a "Canadian" > approach to teaching writing. Of course, I'm suggesting this because I > believe such "summing" (I use the term in the Burkean sense, of course) is > both possible and useful. And because I realize I do not actually have any > image or summary of these discussions in my mind anymore--can''t remember > even my own contributions. I'm also thinking of such "summing" as > something that could be an intermediary step between of-the-cuff discussion > and more thorough/finished discussions (of the sort that constitute journal > publication). [I didn't say that very well, but I trust the concept is > familiar to most Inkshedders.] > > Rick > > At 10:22 AM 1/12/99 +0000, you wrote: > >For reasons you don't want me to go into, I find myself having > >promised to put out an edition of the Inkshed Newsletter in > >November. You may remember that Jan and Amanda announced last summer > >that they weren't going to be able to carry on as editors past the > >fall issue; later on it turned out they weren't going to be able to > >put that out, either. After some discussion I said that I thought I > >could get something out, to (1) serve the people who don't have > >electronic access and (2) placate the libraries and institutions who > >expect journals they've subscribed to actually to appear. > > > >Like Amanda and Jan, and probably for reasons nobody would find > >unfamiliar, I found it impossible to the get the Newsletter out. > > > >My New Year's resolution, though, was to get a fall issue out before > >January is over, and I'm in the process of doing that. So: > > > >If you have anything you want to have in print in the "fall" issue of > >the Newsletter, let me know _immediately_. I expect to print and > >mail at the end of this week. My hunch is that there is nothing > >other than information about the Inkshed XVI conference in Mont > >Gabriel; Jan and Amanda didn't pass any announcements, essays, or > >documents on with the mailing list, and I've looked through the CASLL > >archive for matters that would be of interest to those who receive > > >the Newsletter but not the CASLL list. > > > >If there's no particular immediacy about your announcement or > >document or manifesto, Margaret Procter has committed herself and > >Mary Kooy to getting the next "mid-winter" issue out, and my > >expectation is that they'll be more reliable about that than I am. > > > >One thing that's going to be in the Newsletter is a request for > >feedback about whether, and to what extent, we all believe a print > >Newsletter is still necessary. It seems clear that the organization > >is active, at least in a limited way, on line, and I wonder how > >important the print connection is. > > > >I've just looked back through the CASLL archives, and although things > >have been pretty quiet recently, there were a number of extremely > >active and engaged discussions during the last year -- on "the > >literary essay," on "professional writing" and on whether there's > >such a thing as a "Canadian" approach to teaching writing, for > >instance. I'm editing those discussions to make them more readable > >than they are in the archive, and will print the one on the "literary > >essay" in this issue of the Newsletter. But I'm also putting them > >on the Inkshed Web site, as hypertext, in their edited form, and it > >seems to me they're more readable, and more accessible, there than in > >print. > > > >I'm sure we'd all appreciate reflection on this, on the CASLL list or > >in response to my request in the print Newsletter. And maybe we can > >make some decisions about the future of the Newsletter at and after > >Mont Gabriel. > > > >By the way, I'm also in the process of creating a new Inkshed Web > >site, with stolen graphics and layout from the now-defunct York > >site. It's at this address -- > > > > > > http://www.stthomasu.ca/inkshed > > > >-- and although it's still very incomplete (for instance, I'm missing > >quite a number of recent issues of the Newsletter), it's ready for > >feedback. What should be there that isn't? > > > > -- 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] > > \ / > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.StThomasU.ca/hunt/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > >