CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS

THESIS SIGNATURE PAGE

THESIS SUBMITTED FOR PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

MASTER OF ARTS

IN

LITERATURE AND WRITING STUDIES

THESIS TITLE: Writing Bridges: Ecocomposition and the Liberation of

Student Voice

AUTHOR: George Hegarty

DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: April 21, 2006

THE THESIS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE THESIS COMMITTEE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LITERATURE AND WRITING STUDIES.

Dr. Lance Newman THESIS COMMITTEE CHAIR

Dr. DawnFormo THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER

Dr. Kenneth Mendoza THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER

Writing Bridges:

Ecocomposition and the Liberation of Student Voice

George Hegarty Jill- ILYATWATWABA 1

Make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be.

-Public Enemy "Fight The Power"

Overview

The relatively new field of ecocomposition offers both the theorist and the writing instructor the opportunity to explore the writing process from a perspective that is at once student-centered and conscious of the space in which writing takes

place. For this study, I've chosen to illuminate some of the key aspects of

ecocomposition, and then to apply them to the discrepancy that exists between

student performance in the high school language arts classroom and the composition

classroom at the university level. In short, students are not succeeding as writers in

the university classroom, whereas they did well in high school.

As ecocomposition stresses place above all else, I found it necessary to

analyze the central components of the high school and university writing

environments. In doing this, I explored not only composition theory and pedagogy,

but also California Department of Education documents that help to shape the type of

writing that is expected of students in high school. This part of the inquiry revealed

that the two environments differ in terms of the overt expectations for student writing.

While the university composition classroom stresses preparing all students to write

effectively for numerous types of courses, the type of writing that high school English

classes in California privilege limits student response to a premeditated analysis of

literature. 2

In the tradition of radical pedagogies, ecocomposition emphasizes the

construction of the classroom space as democratic, where the instructor is not the sole distributor of knowledge. By exploring this notion as it is practiced in the institution

and through an analysis of contemporary theory, the study illuminates some of the

core discrepancies between learning places. Coupling this with an analysis of the role

of the instructor as activist, I hope in the first part of the paper to create a clear

theoretical lens to examine the student work.

Without a doubt, the writing of students from both the high school and

university levels forms the core of this paper. By responding to nearly 400 student

papers written on two topics at two distinct points in a semester, I was able to see the

growth in the students as writers, readers, and thinkers. Rather than choose text bytes

from many essays, I decided to look closely at six complete compositions (three from

each student) from three students in order to test how ecocomposition applies to real

classroom scenarios. In this section of the study, I apply the ecocomposition lens to

the form and content of student work. As a result of this process, much of

ecocomposition becomes concretized in real student writing. This allowed me to

examine the central problem of student performance, and to extend ecocomposition in

the realm of pedagogical application. Additionally, my own pedagogies changed

during this process, and I have no doubt that I am a better instructor due to this study.

Ultimately, this study reveals that regardless of the level of the course, both

composition and language arts classrooms need to be about writing. While texts are

used to drive the argument and analysis in the classrooms, the instructor cannot hold 3 them sacred (beyond student inquiry). Likewise, when students are expected to limit their analysis to a single, teacher-centered reading of text, the student suffers as both a thinker and a writer.

Place

Context is the situated place where writing happens. Not just the physical

environment where a writer writes, but the environment of writing, the

ideological environment, the cultural environment, the social environment, the

economic environment, the historical environment. If writing takes place, it

takes place in context."

-Sidney Dobrin "Writing Takes Place"

In the spring of my final year as an undergrad at UCSD, I read Dharma Bums.

Though I'd read some ofKerouac's work with waxing interest before, this text spoke to where I was. The song it sung was one of freedom. The freedom to explore. The freedom to run from responsibility. The freedom to write. Taking place in the volcanic Matterhorn region of the Eastern Sierras, the text explored nature and ecology as I'd envisioned it. Part drunken Zen odyssey, partfuck the world, this text mattered to me as a 21 year-old young, and it still matters to me 12 years later. My friends and I linked our expedition narrative to that narrative, reenacting the journey to the Matterhorn weekend. Arising out of this text, perhaps the most meaningful in my life, is a haunting question-how do you write about something that matters so 4 much? Often, educational pursuits present us with the opposite puzzle of writing when it matters so little.

Standing atop a late July snow bank after having navigated a 1500 foot vertical trudge through granite skree, I did not need to read Kerouac again; his words had led me there, and now part of our journey was complete. Unfortunately, my years of formal education did little to help me take that journey; the language I'd been equipped to attack literature with did not allow for passion. This is the first time I've written of my experience with this text, and I do so to present both the problem of this

study and its hope. Somewhere within the opposed high school and university methods of giving students voice in writing, there is a way to engage in the critical

discourse of academia while still writing with passion.

For the past ten years, I've been shifting places, imagining myself a student,

an instructor, a writer; in all of these contexts, the constant is that I'm analyzing my

place within a global context. Whether the space be a seminar table, a room full of

desks facing diligently forward, a Spartan sparsely lit writing space, or the raucous

child-filled pizza parlor that I'm sitting in now, writing does take place. Beyond the

physical spaces in which we compose, ecocomposition acknowledges that those

physical places are formed by increasingly complex ideological and philosophical

environments. For this study I will explore all of environments that Sidney Dobrin

highlights in the essay that opens this section, but the physical landscape of writing

will remain paramount. 5

A good deal of this time, I felt that I had been masking my identity, hiding behind a well-constructed argument that revealed little about the text I had been working on and even less about the person whose name was at the top of the page.

While I had been taught to successfully navigate the jargon of the institution, at the

same time I had been conditioned to assess my own work only by the mark that judged how well my work conformed to existing criteria. Those criteria were random

at best, as highly graded work was the result of my ability to parrot the obvious philosophical bias of my instructor. Heading back to graduate school seven years

after my B.A. and six years after becoming a high school English teacher, I was

confident in my ability to read text closely and to use that text to construct an

argument that, making up for what it lacked in passion, was scientifically precise in

its presentation. In short, the environments that Dobrin notes have shaped the type of

writer I am.

While this may seem like a eulogy of sorts, I really feel that my studies this

past year have transcended my nearly twenty years of formal education. From my

experience as a teacher and a student, I have learned that passion is all that matters.

Skill can be taught, but passion cannot be learned, it can only be awakened. Greta

Gaard analyzes process-based writing instruction: "This approach rests on the

fundamental assumption that good writing skills develop not by memorizing the rules

of grammar, but by exploring the process of writing itself' (164); the way that writing

is introduced into a classroom helps determine how skill will come about. I've found 6 this to be true as I've explored both texts and forms of my choice as a graduate student, now realizing that text is merely a vehicle for writing; it is not paramount.

· The passionate battles I've fought and tried to manage between colleagues wrestling over which text must be a "core" part of the curriculum and which should be recycled or left to gather worms and moths in the darkened comers of high school bookrooms have not been in the interest of composition or even education, they have been highly political and, in hindsight, inconsequential. The passion behind the

arguments for and against particular texts is the type of energy that we seek to harness in the classroom, yet, and this is a point of debate in ecocomposition and ecocriticism, we must not set ourselves up to preach a certain reading of the text as correct. This

passion, though largely well intentioned will lead to the type of intellectual

regurgitation that has marked many of my academic experiences.

This study seeks to explore the issues that students, instructors, and writers

face daily, and to use ecocomposition as a lens and possibly a light to seek out ways

to negotiate the increasingly complicated places of composition. The terrain that I

will be traversing ranges from the high school English classroom to the university

composition workshop. In California, the space between these places is a chasm that

has yet to be bridged. In fact, to tease out the metaphor, at either side of the divide,

the construction taking place reflects a total disconnect between the architects. This

study will explore the dilemmas that instructors face at both the high school and

university levels that contribute to the gap. Through an analysis of current theory in

ecocomposition, I will explore a series of student texts written at the high school and 7 university levels, and then use this data not to simply lament the state of public

education, but to offer up a bridge that will allow students and instructors to travel

freely between continents.

Theoretical Context

In order to use ecocomposition as the critical lens for this study, it is

imperative to examine some of the key aspects of this relatively new and undefined

theory in composition. From this point, I hope to focus the existing theory so that

ecocomposition will both serve as an analytical tool and a part of the solution to the

gap that exists between the high school and university classrooms.

Rather than start within the work of the ecocompositionists themselves, Gary

Snyder will serve as the base for this ramble into the theoretical morass. When he

writes, "Art, beauty, and craft have always drawn on the self-organizing 'wild' side of

language and mind. Human ideas of place and space, our contemporary focus on

watersheds, become both model and metaphor. Our hope would be to see the

interacting realms, learn where we are, and thereby move toward a style of planetary

and ecological cosmopolitanism" (A Place in Space 1), Snyder illuminates key

notions for the future of not only composition studies, but also the relationship

between individuals and their world. In this statement, Snyder aligns art, aesthetics,

and the craft of writing, bringing into concert three distinct arms of artistic and

intellectual pursuit. For the purposes of this study, his consideration of craft is a

radical conceptualization of the type of work that we produce daily. The craft of 8 writing, the act of putting one's thoughts on paper, particularly when that process involves a critical analysis of text, is often perceived as anything but "wild."

Certainly, in a realm where critical analytical responses to text take prescribed forms, and where "correct" responses are determined by instructor bias, Snyder's notion of self-organization comes into question. But at the heart of this statement, and I would argue of not only ecocomposition, but also all critical thought is that our "hope would be [ ... ] to learn where we are." To borrow from the title of Snyder's collection, to phrase it in a question, what is our place in space?, is the central question this analysis of ecocomposition and the work of students within the public school system will explore.

In their introduction to Ecocomposition, Christian Weisser and Sidney Dobrin attempt to resist a definition of ecocomposition; however, they do offer a sweeping statement on what constitutes the student. Writing, "That is to say, ecocomposition is about relationships; it is about the coconstitutive existence of writing and environment; it is about physical environment and constructed environment; it is about the production of written discourse and the relationship of that discourse to the place it encounters" (2). They define ecocomposition as a study of place. Echoing

Snyder's words, this passage addresses the intricacies of all writing, of all text, and emphasizes the place of writing, both physical and ideological, as paramount. The place of writing for this study, the classroom, though it may be the same physical space for all students, varies from moment to moment, and these variations, 9 ecocomposition asserts, and whether we are equipped to question the nuances of place, greatly influence the type of writing that can take place.

Digging Foundation Pits

Although ecocomposition contextualizes its arguments within ecology, the theory that it promotes, the sharing of knowledge, is by no means new to composition studies. Within the social revolution of the 1960s, the destruction of the barrier between the intellectual elite and those who were merely receptacles for a single group's vision of knowledge and the world was the catalyst for news ways to think about how knowledge is constructed and how it should be shared. As early as 1967, theorists such as Edgar Friedenberg were asserting individualism was under attack in

American education in favor of conformity and order. In writing studies, this observation led to process writing. Lester Faigley writes of this period, "Several writing teachers saw the writing-as-process movement as an answer to students' rejection of traditional authority" (57), and the result was a decentralization of knowledge within the university in reaction to not only campus unrest, but also tension within American society.

This move to a more democratic sharing of knowledge, owing to the theory of

Herbert Schiller amongst others, reacted against the idea that wisdom, through various textual outlets, is used to manipulate consciousness. In The Mind Managers,

Schiller writes oflarge-scale control: "By using myths which explain, justify, and sometimes even glamorize the prevailing conditions of existence, manipulators secure 10 popular support for a social order that is not in the majority's long-term real interest"

(1). In short, the concern that information was used to perpetuate the reign of the

powerful, despite their minority status, can be seen to inspire radical composition

pedagogies, as the most direct way to fight this type of manipulation would be to train

people to critically examine the information that they process.

Writing that "the communications industry pumps out value-laden recreation

and entertainment, denying all the while any impact beyond momentary escapism and

a happy state of relaxation" (80), Schiller illuminates that the expressed goals of the

media contrast significantly with Eric Bamouw. Where Schiller dismisses media

entirely as "value-laden recreation" (80), Bamouw acknowledges that the subtext of

the media may hold value. He expresses this notion when he writes, "There is an

ideology implicit in every kind of fictional story. Fiction may be far more important

than non-fiction in forming people's opinions" (13). Rather than dismissing the form

altogether, Bamouw instead presents entertainment as a text to be read so that its

inherent ideology can be analyzed. In fact, this analysis empowers the consumer of

the media to control how she processes the information.

The need to negotiate this rift between appearance and reality undoubtedly

places a lot of value on an individual's ability to analyze the information that she

receives, regardless of the medium. When Bamouw suggests that fiction is a

powerful sculptor of public opinion, he emphasizes the need to analyze the meta­

narratives that drive individual works in order to consider them as more than simply

something to kill time fuels radical theory. While Schiller examines TV Guide, 11

National Geographic, and Walt Disney Productions to further his argument, a contemporary example may help to contextualize his analyses. American Idol, having attracted nearly double the households in the same time slot, dominated the

2006 Grammy Awards, according to Nielsen.i The fact that people prefer to watch amateurs try to become professionals rather than the most successful and talented members of the music industry goes beyond simple mind-numbing entertainment.

Whether the myth of stardom, that anyone who has a modicum of talent and a bit of

luck can become a celebrity, or the Rocky myth (that people do not want to watch the

spoiled winners, but want to see the underdog struggle to succeed) drove the ratings is

insignificant. What is clear is that there is a cultural myth to be analyzed within

seemingly innocuous television. When this narrative is manipulated or blurred for

political purposes, as with the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, the

outcome is far more corrosive.

In short, the radical theory that led to pedagogies that construct the classroom

as a democratic space was concerned with the control that political and economic

systems have not only on knowledge dissemination, but also on individuals. Herbert

Marcuse's One-Dimensional Man, published in 1964 at the beginning of the Vietnam

conflict, reiterates these fears: "Liberation of energy from the performance required

to sustain destructive prosperity means decreasing the high standard of servitude in

order to enable the individuals to develop that rationality which may render possible a

pacified existence" (243). The "destructive prosperity" that he references is the

"standard of living in the most advanced industrial areas" (242), yet his theory for a 12 peaceful world, "a pacified existence," emphasizes the indentured servitude to the established social order. Taking up the challenge to "develop that rationality," the university writing classroom sought to free students from a cycle that was perpetuating violence on a global scale. By educating a diverse student population to examine its world critically, the university attempted to subvert the power systems that were responsible, in the eyes of radical theorists, for global oppression and destruction.

As to how this process of freeing knowledge from manipulation would look,

Leonard Greenbaum and Rudolf Schmerl in 1970 write, "Students will continually

interact with one another in ways that will lead them to make decisions," continuing,

"The teacher will be a resource person-an authority on questions, not answers, who

participates in class actively" (xix). The shift away from the instructor as the central

authority in the classroom is dramatic, as the instructor does not lead class, but

participates in it, offering mentorship rather than being an authoritarian presence.

Echoing these thoughts, Greta Gaard writes, "In the past twenty years since their

inception, composition and radical pedagogies have continued their parallel

development, while ecofeminism has developed more in the areas of social action and

environmental theory than it has in classroom pedagogy" (166), aligning composition

and ecocomposition with actual classroom applications. Here, she is clear to

distinguish between [eco ]composition and ecofeminism, as the former is

pedagogically based while the other is based in activism outside the classroom space 13

and theory. Both radical and composition pedagogies are activist theories that require the educator to consider or reconsider her place in the classroom.

One theory that emerged from this critique of the institution was collaborative

learning. While collaborative learning exists in many guises, David Smit, in "Some

Difficulties With Collaborative Learning" writes, "Traditional classroom methods have failed to teach students what they most require-a critical stance toward authority

and the ability to cooperate to solve problems of social concern-and therefore we

need to restructure both education and society to promote these values" (70). This

statement, which Smit characterizes as one of the three major arguments in favor of

collaborative writing, draws a direct line between the needs of education and society,

indicating that a call for educational reform is a call for social change. Smit's

argument is based on the assumption that authority and cooperation cannot coexist,

and the cooperation that he envisions presupposes that all students will be aligned

against authority. Hypothetically, this may function well if the "problems of social

concern" (70) are addressed by unanimous consensus. However, inherent in this

argument is a different type of conformity, the notion that students must come to

consensus; they must cooperate in order for collaborative learning to be successful.

It is not coincidental that ecocomposition is now taking up radical pedagogies

in order to empower individuals as thinkers rather than automatons. With a daily

media blitz pumping from television and Internet sources, the need for a theory that

does not dictate, but invites conversation will no doubt cause people to question the

very truths that are being constructed around their lives. This is at the core of the 14

"eco" of ecocomposition, as reflection reveals that looking at the wars being fought in

Iraq and Afghanistan, the rising tension with Iran, and the debate over ANWR are all about environmental resources that the United States deems invaluable to the perpetuation of its power. Ecocomposition takes these factors into account, as text and writing are about the spaces constructed by policy, budgets, ideologies, not just about concrete and glass or Thoreau's Walden Pond. In order to explore the landscape of ecocomposition as it relates to writing studies at the high school and university levels, I will illuminate and analyze some of the key tenets of a theory that resists definition.

Bridging the Chasm: Ecocomposition's Quest To Make Peace Between Warring

Factions

When Dobrin and Christian Weisser write, "Perhaps one of the most significant goals of ecocomposition is its desire to cross the boundaries between the academic cultures of the humanities and the sciences, and, in the process, make the connections between the various tongues of each" ( 4), they write to one of the significant themes within the field of ecocomposition. Within this statement, the

"desire to cross the boundaries between the academic cultures of the humanities and the sciences" is perhaps the most radical notion. While those familiar with the work of the ecocritics have noticed a narrowing of the gaps between the study of literature and the study of ecology, the distance, within many disciplines, between the humanities and the sciences is still vast. As a result, the goal of ecocomposition is a 15 far-reaching one as it seeks to interrelate and perhaps unite two often warring camps within academia. In response to a question about the types of writing he produces, which he refers to as technical and literary, E.O. Wilson explains, "Technical

scientific writing, the kind that one finds in research reports and peer-reviewed technical journals has to be the opposite of literary writing in that it is intended to present the bare bones of factual information" (Writing Environments-"Writing the

Scientific Life" 331 ). Having straddled both sides of the divide that ecocomposition

seeks to straddle, Wilson highlights the opposition that exists.

However, comparing Wilson's definition of technical scientific writing to the type of reading that Ann Woodlief expounds in a university composition syllabus, it is the language and not the theory that constructs the divide. She writes for her

American Nature Writing course, "To read in this way, we will be noticing,

interrogating, and comparing, which means careful reading, individually and as a

community of readers. This process, which at best is both intensely personal and

collaborative, results in "exploding" the possible meanings of each text" (141).

Woodliefs definition of the type of close reading she expects for her course includes

"noticing, interrogating, and comparing." Rather than looking to the gap between the

humanities and the sciences, ecocomposition must analyze the language of

composition, and use close reading to substantiate the goal of bridging gaps. The way

that one considers the data or the evidence of the problems in both the humanities and

the sciences represents a key point of comparison. In the humanities the observable

data presents itself in text form while in the sciences data may range from behavioral 16 to lab results. Despite the range of possible evidence, the point that researchers and writers use the same skills to process data regardless of the field is the link around which a relationship can be formed. In Woodliefs piece, she references,

'"exploding' the possible meaning of each text, and it is here that the humanities and the sciences diverge.

As Wilson states, technical writing "is intended to present the bare bones of factual information" (331 ), which appears to be an attempt to limit variables in order to support or defend a hypothesis or theory. The violent act of "exploding" the text in order to explore infinite meanings fails to ground itself in any concrete attempt to make meaning. Although creative interpretation or manipulation of "scientific" data, like the case of South Korean geneticist Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, is not unheard of in the scientific community, once that type of analysis is unearthed, the writer finds himself or herself forced to answer for inconsistencies. Ecocomposition, in Gaard's words,

will vary in practice-shaped by each teacher's own composition pedagogy,

educational philosophy, and environmental ethics-at its most inclusive,

ecocomposition has the potential to address social issues such as

feminism, environmental ethics, multiculturalism, politics, and economics, all

by examining matters of form and style, audience, and argumentation, and

reliable sources and supporting documentation (163).

Here, she allows for individual exploration, the "exploding" of text; it remains clear that the type of academic precision that ecocomposition demands aligns quite closely with scientific writing. The process by which one comes to a reading of a text is a 17

combination oflooking closely at the text's components, and then contextualizing one's argument within the current academic discussion. By all means, this theory, in that it allows for one to interrogate text from a specific philosophical perspective, it

also necessitates the grounding of any writing in an evidence-based analysis.

Ecocomposition, by trying to highlight the points of convergence the humanities and

sciences, helps to open dialogues that will illuminate the possibility for the unification

of now disparate types of knowledge.

Diverging Agendas: Public Education in California

Despite ecocomposition's goals of engaging disciplines in dialogue, it is clear

that even within the humanities, there is a disconnect that exists, particularly between

the high schools and the universities. Again, this apparent gap can be narrowed

extensively solely by looking at the philosophies, but not the terminology that the

institutions share. Using a metaphor that may or may not accurately illuminate the

situation, the public education system in California resembles a citrus tree. So,

orange, lemon, lime, tangerine? The branches of the tree, though nourished by the

same trunk have been grafted so that different parts of the tree produce entirely

different fruits and even some hybrids. The trunk, no doubt, is the California State

legislature, which partially funds and somewhat dictates the type of content that one

sees in classrooms across the State. Unfortunately, the roots that are seeking

nourishment have found differing soil at different times, so the tree has developed

unevenly. Often, the aspects of the tree that get the most attention, both in terms of 18 curriculum and dollars are the sickest. So, if students aren't performing in reading, writing, and math according to State and National Standards, fertilizer in the form of money to "improve" curriculum is dumped upon the high school branches and they briefly flourish.

Seeing a decline in Math and English scores, the State legislated high school

Algebra and one level of English would be limited to twenty two students per section in the late 1990s.ii Not only did the State not inform instructors or districts as to how instruction should be adapted to a new classroom environment, but also when the returns on the investment were not immediately measurable in terms of increased test scores, the funding, the fertilizer, dried up. As a result districts were faced with the dilemma of funding the programs themselves or with abandoning the program. While

funds that would reduce class size in two core areas of a student's educational

foundation is without a doubt a positive move on the part of state government, the manner in which the nourishment was administered almost necessitated its failure. In many cases, the only noticeable outcome of the class size reduction was a scramble

by instructors to hoard as many of the small sections as possible, not to emphasize

writing in the classroom, but to provide relief from other sections that topped forty

students. Envisioning this as a single branch on public education's tree, it's easy to

see how the fighting over limited resources has led to the current dilemma facing

college bound students in both writing and mathematics.

Due to the fact that so much energy has been focused trying to procure the

smallest amount of resources to maintain life for a single branch of the organism, 19 little or no attention can be paid to the other branches. Similarly, the branches of the public universities and the community colleges have wrestled with government to maintain programs that have either been vastly under funded or lopped off entirely.

Like Weisser's and Dobrin's statement on bridging the gap between the sciences and the humanities, "to cross the boundaries between the academic cultures"

(4), ecocomposition speaks to hybridity, to an analysis ofthe interrelationships between educational levels. While programs trying to differentiate themselves in order to obtain funding have complicated this goal, the discussion that writing courses navigate, as noted earlier, is rooted in the tenets of close reading, analysis, and argumentation.

The High School Landscape: Sailing Between Uncharted Islands

Contrary to ecocomposition's model of producing thinkers that can make

educated decisions about their places in the world, the California Framework presents

indoctrination as its goal. In its mission statement for English Language Arts (ELA),

the document iterates,

The ability to communicate well--to read, write, listen, and speak--runs to the

core of human experience. Language skills are essential tools not only

because they serve as the necessary basis for further learning and career

development but also because they enable the human spirit to be enriched,

foster responsible citizenship, and preserve the collective memory of a nation.

(v) 20

This language, from the introduction to the Framework, reveals the romantic foundation of the document. To "enable the human spirit to be enriched" is an example of essentially political language that equates "the ability to communicate" with metaphysical growth. While this is a noble goal on the part of the framers, the fact that it is so broad in its scope reflects the dilemma that the document faces.

When the writers get specific, however, the results are alarming. Writing that language skills "foster responsible citizenship, and preserve the collective memory of a nation," the authors are using exclusively political language that makes conformity the goal of teaching writing. Although a responsible citizen can certainly envision his role as a critic of society, the tone of this text suggests that responsible citizens follow the rules. Individualism is not valued, as citizenship's and writing's exclusive goals

are to "preserve the collective memory of a nation." Assuming that the nation is the

United States, whose voices constitute its collective memory? Although Howard

Zinn's A People's History sits on many progressive bookshelves across the country,

the text has yet to find its way into many high school classrooms. It is clear that the

rhetoric of the education in California does not seek to liberate but to limit, as only

certain types of thinking are privileged. This document certainly is not core reading

for many high school students, but educators are versed in this rhetoric, and it no

doubt contributes to the constitution ofhigh school learning environments. 21

The University Writing Classroom: A Beginning Place

In an interview entitled "Ecocriticism, Writing, and Academia," Cheryl

Glotfelty responds to a question about the large number of freshman composition courses that use nature writers as essayists: "I think composition teachers are often trying to help students get beyond the predicted essay. [ ... ] So, probably by exposing students to writing about nature will help them to find material beyond just themselves and start thinking about things that extend beyond their own limited experience" (263). The predicted essays that Glotfelty details are "the my-first-kiss or what-I-did-last-summer kind of thing" (263). She goes on to say later in the interview, "I think another reason nature writing is included in composition readers is it's so often nonfiction, and a lot of the beginning composition classes are trying to teach students to write nonfiction" (264). The interview suggests that these are types of essays that students are writing at the high school level as opposed to the type of writing that the university demands. More compelling to consider than the implication that high school instructors are limiting student perspective is the direction that she sees nature writing leading. Assuming the self-interest of most of the students, nature writing is about the contextualization of an individual's place in the world; reading about nature allows students to "start thinking about things that

extend beyond their own limited experience." Certainly, all our experience is

necessarily limited, but the notion of using text to step beyond the self, to consider

place from another perspective is a liberating goal of the university writing

classroom. So, yes, in many ways, the composition class is a place to start the 22 process of thinking about oneself within the context of a various and challenging world. The shift away from individualism towards a more global conception of self requires interdisciplinary abstract thought that the California Standards for ELA do not prioritize in the primary writing environment at the high school level.

Clearly, one assumption, as evidenced in Glotfelty's comments, is that the type of reading and writing that students are doing in preparation for the university is not appropriate preparation for the type of work that they will be expected to produce.

By suggesting that students primarily write autobiographical incident papers in high

school, Glotfelty belittles high school instructors, generating a rift that prevents a

dialogue between the university and the preparatory environment. While a lot of the reading and writing that students do is not directly applicable to college demands, more often than not this is due to the fact that students are in fact working almost

entirely in literary analysis with a few hiatuses to pursue other types of writing.

Rather than serve as a break between the two places of learning, the high school

emphasis on literary analysis should bolster the fact that students are learning

necessary analytical skills; however, they are limited in their vision as to how to

apply these skills. When responding to a text, students who are guided into a single

reading of the text by an instructor, while they are using analytical skills, search for a

single proper reading of the primary text, inhibiting individual critical inquiry.

Regardless of the text that a course requires students to interrogate, the

process is always the same. All texts argue something or contain bias, and that slant

must be analyzed; whether the core of a work is called argument, theme, or main idea 23 is inconsequential. So, the gap exists; however, a simple dismissal of the preparatory environment, as in Glotfelty, not only alienates students, as it makes them feel inadequate, but also it creates enemies in the high school instructors who should be

allies.

Writing programs at universities are designed to prepare students to excel in

any number of subjects, not to produce English or literature majors. Thus, the fact that most of the reading that incoming freshman have done beyond a traditional textbook is literature presents a challenge to the university writing instructor. The

fact that high school teachers, many of them English or literature majors, privilege the

text over the thinking and writing process offers a lot of insight as to why students do

not succeed on university competency exams. iii It is clear from the fact that 50% of

students entering the University of California fail the writing competency exam that

the two writing environments that students are forced to navigate are populated by

people and forces that prevent them from realizing the similarities in the educational

landscape.

The Intellectual Dictator: Activism in the Writing Classroom

I~ their chapter entitled "Ecocomposition Pedagogy," Dobrin and Weisser

critique a strain in ecocriticism and ecocomposition that depicts the male hermit

learning deeper truth from nature, arguing "the problem with such notions is that they

all too often portray the author or protagonist as the authority, the objective scientist,

or the sage and do not acknowledge his dependence on and imbrication in a series of 24 systems" (127). This dilemma extends beyond nature writing to the very space of the classroom, where too often, like Wordsworth dismantling hierarchies only to construct new ones with him at the pinnacle, instructors are tempted to privilege eco­ friendly readings of texts. Rick Bass, in response to a question regarding whether or not focusing too intently on environmental matters in the classroom would cause students to resist, says, "If there's such intellectually unchallenged individuals who are going to oppose something simply because they're bored, then you don't want them on your side anyway" (64). No doubt, these stances represent one of the ongoing debates in both ecocomposition and ecocriticism. How much should an instructor's theoretical bias make its way into the classroom space? This question is paramount, as it will frame how students interact not only with texts, but also with

each other in the classroom environment.

In the final entry in Lyrical Ballads, "Tintem Abbey," Wordsworth constructs his religious experience in the wild, expressing how that experience produced meditative moments and an almost Zen-like contemplation of the universe. At the

end of the poem, he contrasts himself, the experienced "worshipper of nature" with

his sister Dorothy, who receives her natural baptism on Wordsworth's "revisiting" of

the Wye River Valley. Of this opposition, Wordsworth writes, "If I should be where I

no more can hear (/) Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams (I) Of past

existence-wilt thou then forget (/) That on the banks of this delightful stream (I) We

stood together" (147-151). This poem is a powerful voice of English Romanticism,

but it also establishes an imbalance of power between the knowledgeable, 25 experienced sage and the green student. Here, the dilemma of authority can be translated directly to classroom dynamics. Even with the best intentions, instructors who openly promote a certain critical agenda will no doubt influence the readings of their students.

The student essays emerging from this type of education, while they may parallel the thinking process of the instructor, will not ultimately serve the purpose of the composition classroom. Above the doors ofUCSD's main entrance to the Geisel

Library are the words: Read, Write, Think, Dream. Each person entering the library is exposed to these commands, and it is telling that "Learn" is omitted from the list.

Learning is the culmination of a long string of actions, and when that string is interrupted by someone "giving you the right answer," education's goals are thwarted.

Toward Tangelos: An Ecocomposition Cable to Bridge the Divide

The consideration of place, and within that notion purpose, is where the

dialogue needs to occur in order for students to realize their academic and intellectual

potential, and right now the disconnect is obvious. Students are not succeeding as

incoming university writers, as over 50% of students entering both UC and CSU

universities fail competency exams, whereas they did well enough in high school to

gain admission. Despite the fact that there is a disparity in the objectives of the two

programs, the issue may be rooted in the notion that many high school teachers

believe they are preparing their students to be English or literature majors. This 26 generalization, based on the reading lists ofhigh school students, speaks to an

emphasis on Great Books and literature appreciation, as opposed to great student arguments. In contrast, the composition classroom is designed to create competent

writers who will emphasize many different areas of study.

Despite the fact that upwards of ninety percent of reading done across the

curriculum at the university is nonfiction, high school English curriculums consist

primarily of fiction texts in various genres. These statistics, combined with the fact

that most high school textbooks do not resemble the type of reading done at the

university, contributes to the confusion that students feel when they buy the texts to

constitute their coursework. If it seems that I am suggesting that an undue burden is

placed on the high school English teacher, I am. While other courses may require

some reading, a bulk of that reading is done looking for keywords and headers that

will lead directly to the answers at the end of a chapter or unit. In fact, textbooks

structured with a lot of sub-headings, boldfaced keywords, and study questions

encourage students to reverse-read. Reading starts with the assigned questions and

proceeds backwards in a treasure hunt for keywords. Thus, it is little surprise that

students are unprepared to tackle 300 page course readers where the only text in

boldface is the course title on the cover.

While this may seem a bit of a jest on my part, the fact that students read

primarily fiction in their English courses and reverse-read texts for their other classes

does not prepare them to comprehend and analyze arguments in complicated texts.

Ironically, these complicated texts are the type of reading that most university 27 composition courses are asking students to navigate in reading and writing. The methods that I propose at the end of this study, though radical, does not call for an overhaul of either system, as both of these environments are subject to many controls that cannot be examined in a work of this scope. It does, however, use student successes at both levels to push forward a model that will enable students to visualize the writing process as a creative endeavor.

To a certain degree, I agree with the idea that everything is simply a text that can be read and analyzed with the same set of tools, but the manner in which material is presented in the classroom no doubt fuels much of the confusion that students obviously face. In The Environmental Imagination, Lawrence Buell writes, "If we idealize the sense of place as a panacea for the disaffections of modem uprootedness, we run almost as great a risk of cultural narcissism as when we accept the myth of place-free, objective inquiry" (253), in his analysis of environmental literature, it is easy to extend his insight to this discussion. Within a classroom, the ''uprootedness" that students and instructors feel, while it may be at the heart of critical inquiry, has been a cause for alarm. When the text does not quickly and easily divulge its

"meaning," a pause can appear dangerous for both parties. The intellectual wrestling

match is avoided in favor of a concrete place, a "right" reading of a text. Most often,

the instructor offers this reading, and while it may not be proposed as "objective

inquiry," the students perceive it as thus.

This type oflimited, limiting analysis is not simply the domain of the high

school classroom, but the need for "order" forces students and instructors away from 28 controlled chaos and toward a "right" reading of text. Especially when anthologies have study questions and Teacher's Additions have answers, the collective struggle for meaning is tempered. In contrast, the structure of a university composition course, though not managed with bells, can still affect student reading. When an instructor taught a text that she found morally reprehensible, and then offered up a copy where all of the "offensive" material had been blacked out before opening the book for discussion, she, due to her status in the classroom, skewed her students' analyses. This situation is no different, though perhaps more detrimental, than high school students struggling to come to the right answer on a study question or producing the right essay from a prescribed thesis statement; the students' freedom to make meaning has been impeded, and the place of learning is no longer a democratic space. In both cases, the instructors have taken advantage of their positions within the institution despite their motivation.

Ideally, the writing classroom is an environment where students and instructors use text in order to explore ideas while honing skills of self-expression.

However, as this analysis of ecocomposition theory has shown, the place of writing is complicated by variables that range from the physical to the philosophical.

"Space Ship Earth": Writing on Steinem's "A Balance Between Nature and

Nurture"

At the heart of this study, as should be the case for any exploration in the field of composition, are student responses to text. In considering ecocomposition or any 29 composition theory that is devoid of evidence of this type, it is difficult to see how theory can actually become praxis in an institutional setting. Knowing that I was studying student achievement in the writing classroom through an ecocomposition lens, I structured my pedagogy to offer the same writing prompt to three distinct sets of students throughout the course of a single semester. In all three courses, the first writing assignment also represented the first text that the students encountered during the semester. As a result, as this was administered in the first and second weeks of the semester, students had little time to attempt to guess the types of responses that would be privileged in the course.

The students whose responses supply the data for this study are sophomores and seniors in high school as well as first year university composition students. The high school students were enrolled in courses at Carlsbad, California's La Costa

Canyon High School. Located in a suburban area of northern San Diego County, the school has just over 2600 students. According to National Center for Education

Statistics Common Core of Data figures, 79% of the students are Anglo, 15% are

Hispanic, and 4% are Asian. Of the total school population 6% of students are economically disadvantages. Cal State San Marcos, which the university students attended, is also located in northern San Diego County, in San Marcos, California.

With a student population of slightly over 7500, the CSUSM student body is significantly more ethnically diverse than that of La Costa Canyon. According to university statistics, Whites comprise 51%, Latinos/as comprise 19.9%, Asian/Pacific 30

Islanders comprise 9%, African Americans comprise 3.1 %, and Native Americans comprise 0.9%.

For this study, I selected three students, two from La Costa Canyon and one from CSUSM. By choosing to analyze the work of only three students, I was able to examine the student writing with depth. Additionally, since I did not pre-screen the essays, the data represents an accurate cross-section of the student population. The high school sophomores were self-selected Honors students, the seniors self-selected

Advanced Placement students, and the university freshmen were enrolled in a course called General Education Writing 101. The high school classes averaged 40 students per section, and the university course was capped at 20.

For the first response in the class, the students explored Gloria Steinem's brief essay from NPR's "This I Believe" series [see Appendix A]. In choosing this piece, I had to take into consideration not only the differing levels that I was administering to, but also how I was going to shape the prompt. In crafting the first writing assignment, I was conscious not to privilege a single perception ofSteinem's essay.

Here is the prompt:

In her essay, "A Balance Between Nature And Nurture," Gloria

Steinem explores the title debate regarding what shapes us as individuals.

Respond to Steinem's argument in a 2-3 page thesis based essay. At

the core of your analysis should be your reaction to the major claim that

Steinem makes about nature and nurture. Please support your thesis with a 31

close reading of the evidence (claims, definitions, support, values, etc.) that

the author uses to defend her thesis.

While not rewarding a single reading of the text, this prompt does contain some written cues that guided the students to the type of response that was required for the assignment. For instance, the first sentence of the prompt iterates the subject of

Steinem's inquiry, but the verb "explore" does not assign a particular value to her slant. The directions for student writing require that the piece have an argument, that it be "thesis based," and that the argument be supported with concrete evidence emerging from a close reading of Steinem's essay. Additionally, and I mention it as it is always a focus of student inquiry, there was a page count and the work was required to be typed and double-spaced.

Of all the directions, the issue of close reading, while it is paramount to all

critical inquiry of text, caused the most bewilderment for all groups of students. This

term, close reading, graces many syllabi, both high school and university, yet it

remains cryptic even to many of its proponent, instructors themselves. Close reading,

the rigorous analysis of text to arrive at meaning, is easily defined, but difficult to

teach. While relatively benign in definition, the hijacking of close reading for the

purpose of privileging a particular response to text is a core component of the

dilemma that composition faces. Given this way of looking at textual evidence,

students must wrestle with notions of what rigorous critical analysis looks like.

Too often, the modeling that students have encountered in the area of close

reading reflects a misinterpretation of the California Standards for the Teaching 32

Profession. Within this document, one of the major points of emphasis that teachers seek to practice is "understanding and organizing subject matter for student learning"

(CA Department of Education 25). Part of this standard, "Teachers exhibit strong working knowledge of subject matter and student development. Teachers organize curriculum for facilitate students' understanding of central themes, concepts, and skills in the subject area" (25), and the fact that instructors are assessed based on this document, forces teachers to make meaning for their students. While the text establishes the teacher as a facilitator it also suggests that teachers are subject area experts. In the world of the high school English classroom, that expertise is most easily exhibited in a teacher's ability to offer the "correct" close reading of the text.

As a result of this system, students view instructors as the font of textual knowledge and they will continually attempt to regurgitate those "correct" readings in their papers. Though this deviates from a postmodem interpretation of existence like

Jacqueline Jones Royster's, "It seems more possible than ever before to acknowledge multiple ways of envisioning the world and representing reality" (x), the fact that instructors and students feel the burden of institutional expectations lead them to a

finite reading that may ultimately be uninspired.

So, entering the first unit of the year with a few of these myths to break, I

decided to present Steinem's text in the same manner to all of my students. The

process, which began with a simple handing out of"A Balance Between Nature and

Nurture," coupled with the prompt continued with a recording of Steinem reading her

own essay while the students followed along. At the conclusion of the essay, I posed 33 four questions for the students to respond to in a quick write format of approximately twenty minutes.

• Define Steinem's argument.

• How does she support her argument?

• Do you agree with Steinem's assertions?

• Does she have an agenda?

While a majority of students wrote between Y2 and 1 page in this time period, and were done well within the allotted time, I wanted to give students the opportunity to process their reading and listening. At the conclusion of the response time, students formed groups of three to share their responses with one another.

It is at this point that instructors feel the most pressure, as they must surrender the control of their classroom. In Gaard's insightful "Ecofeminism and

Ecocomposition," she asserts, "Democratizing knowledge and education means decentering authority, sharing it equally among students and teacher(s)" (165). She emphasizes how much instructors need to abandon a direct instruction model. While there is a massive amount of documentation in the literature of the California

Department of Education as well as teacher credentialing programs statewide that

suggest the benefits of a collaborative model, the difficulty of decentering authority poses a major obstacle for quality composition. This hurdle exists primarily due to the prominence of classroom management in both the hiring and evaluation processes

in high schools. Of the six California Standards for the Teaching Profession,

Standard Two emphasizes "creating and maintaining effective environments for 34 student learning;" while this seems a logical foundation for learning, this standard ranks above all other standards except that of "engaging and supporting all students in learning." Within Standard Two lies the root of a new teacher's fear ofthe democratization of knowledge:

2.4 Establishing and maintaining standards for student behavior

2.5 Using instructional time effectively

The subtext of these two clauses asks a simple question: does the teacher have control of her or his class?

Too often, the type of learning that promotes the establishment of student voice does not fall within an institutional definition of control. Collaborative work, particularly when 30-45 students are packed into a single classroom, is anything but controlled. In order for students to share their ideas about a text, they must first find comfort in their classroom environment, and this is a process that is rooted in trust.

On the teaching of writing, James Crosswhite writes, "It is an attempt not to transmit received knowledge, but to engage and guide students in discovering and clarifying

ideas in the context of written communication" (279). Although this couples nicely

with the notion of collaborative learning, it directly opposes the model constructed

within Standard Two. "Transmit[ting] received knowledge," a simple regurgitation

of instructor interpretation of fact is easy to deliver in a lecture or call/respond format,

and, subject to evaluation, will no doubt leave the evaluator with a sense of order;

however, real learning, as Crosswhite continues, "is an attempt to develop and 35 strengthen the abilities of individual people to imagine, to reason, and to judge in the medium ofwriting" (4).

Crosswhite's idealism should be the goal of every classroom setting, for power comes from one's ability to express oneself in writing effectively. In order to make "strengthen[ing] the abilities of individual people" possible, each person needs to have voice in the classroom space. This model sharply contrasts the type of order that teachers are expected to maintain in order to receive strong evaluations and to maintain employment. Individual voices are loud, and in order for each person to have her voice recognized, the actual classroom must be divided up into sub­ communities. Typically, learning sub-communities, small groups, need time to establish a sense of belonging; thus, the groups, to an outside evaluator, may not

appear to be "on task." In this case, the place of writing, and how instruction is

structured, is also influenced by socio-economic necessity. Given the choice between

creating an ideal learning environment and economic necessity, who could blame a

teacher for conforming to the accepted norm rather than attempting to reconfigure a

notion of order? As a result, it is only after teachers have earned tenure that they are

financially able to release control of their classrooms, and too often they are either

overworked or habituated to a direct instruction model.

In all three classroom settings, the students wanted direct instruction; they

wanted lectures; they wanted to know what to think; they wanted to be told what to

write about. Due to the fact that all students in this study had successfully navigated

the educational seas, as the high school classes are all honors and the university 36 students had adequate success in high school to achieve university acceptance, they wanted to continue the pattern for the course in which they were enrolled. Rather than take cues from the manner in which Steinem read her own essay on the recording, omitting a paragraph from her reading, or from their personal reactions to the text, students instead wanted to know what I, the subject area expert, thought about the text. Ironically, this essay, taken from NPR's recurring "This I Believe" program would be a breaking point for these students from the "This You Should

Believe (as you'll be expected to reproduce it)" format of their education.

In "The Road to Maturity," a Gillian delves into Steinem's essay, arguing that

balance is necessary for young adults to develop.

Having had just over a week to complete the assignment with a single class

workshop to work in pairs on a draft, this essay, chosen randomly, reflects a lot of the

texts that the students submitted. In terms of the prompt itself, where the students are

asked to analyze Steinem's argumentation, this paper falls short of a full analysis. In

fact, the primary text often functions as a backdrop for the writing. From a

composition perspective, Gillian has a command of written English, and has a

coherent organizational strategy.

Most striking about this essay is how well this student has internalized lessons

learned thus far in her education. The first paragraph introduces the topic, and then

makes an assertion as to the purpose of Steinem's essay. While the assertion does not

form a complete argument, Gillian makes it evident what she believes Steinem is 37 say:tng. What is telling about the lack of an argument or thesis in this piece is how clear it is from the outset that the conclusions this paper makes come mostly from an interpretation of the essay's title rather than a close reading of the text. As an honors student, Gillian has been successful in her English classes thus far, and her ability to use many catch-phrases (cliches) indicates that she has used these tools to persuade her previous instructors. These hooks, like "for instance," "the long journey of self exploration," and the rhetorical questions at the end of the text belie the lack of depth in the paper. The quotations presented in the text function primarily as adjectives, rather than, as the prompt suggests, the basis for exploration in the paper.

Noting this, I do not think that Gillian misread the essay; I merely think that she has not been expected to closely interact with text and, perhaps for the first time, an instructor has not told her what to think about the essay that she had read. When

she writes of Steinem's experience as a youth among adults, Gillian paraphrases

Steinem's own interpretation ofher experiences; thus, in the author, she has found the

instructor that she can parrot. This ability speaks both to the ability of the student to

ingest and digest messages, and to the fact that she chooses not to think critically

about the argument that the writer presents, an argument that she can choose to accept

or reject based on the composition of the essay as well as personal experience.

The points in this essay that bear the most exploration are when Gillian

reveals herself in her writing. When she writes, "Learning to cope with hardly any if

not any at all friends" as the first point in her first body paragraph, the writer reveals

her concerns with Steinem's experience. As an adolescent, friends are paramount to 38

Gillian, and it is clear to the point of melodrama ("[it] might have tugged on her heart") the effect that Steinem's upbringing had on this reader. Despite the fact that this does not contribute to her argument, Gillian privileges this analysis of Steinem's words. Certainly, the space that Steinem defines as positively formative in her life is a place that this young woman would not want to inhabit. Here, the essay could have plunged to the core of what Steinem argues about nature and nurture, but, instead it glosses over "A Balance Between Nature and Nurture," addressing it point-by-point, paragraph-by-paragraph.

Only towards the end of the essay does the writer's voice emerge again in the analogy of the "bad parents." She uses the example of a "waitress" mother to argue for the strength of nature, yet her assumptions reveal class bias. Constructing the mother who works in the service industry as a parent unable to nurture a child, Gillian

fails to see the dehumanizing properties ofthis example. Clearly, this moment in her paper is the bridge to get from one point to the next; however, as this piece was peer

edited, it is clear that this example either went unnoticed or ignored. Either way, a

dominant set of assumptions in a classroom environment of this nature would serve to

silence voice. In a true workshop scenario, where the students and instructor circle

the desks to listen to each paper, if this assumption were not questioned, then any

voice other than upper middle-class would become "the other." This emphasizes the

need to critically analyze all arguments, both the texts that serve as the course

content, and the texts that the students generate. Ideally, these texts would hold equal

value in a writing classroom. 39

In the end, Gillian takes up not Steinem's argument or even a strain of the text, but the theme of maturing, indicating not only a limited reading of the essay, but also the ideological and physiological space that the writer occupies.

In his analysis of "A Balance Between Nature And Nurture," Chris, a high school senior, negotiates writing environments to construct his essay.

This essay, by an experienced high school writer, in many ways represents a piece of text that straddles the divide between writing for the classroom and

addressing issues of the world. Keeping a goal of ecocomposition in mind, that of

encouraging "students and teachers alike to participate in conversations about

environment, place, and location, within and beyond the mapped places of the

classroom" (Dobrin ND 115), this work reveals a writer struggling to juxtapose his

views of the Steinem essay and his views on the world with the conventions of

writing he has been taught.

Formally, this work falls into the much-maligned five-paragraph essay.

Despite the fact that the high school has nominally drifted away from this model, a

great deal of student writing still takes this form. While it could be argued that five

paragraphs represent a natural or organic form for the essay to take, it is much more

likely that, despite public dialogue, the five-paragraph essay is still being taught, even

in advanced classes, as a model form for essay writing. Subverting the argument

about organic form in this essay is the fact that Chris' thesis, "In her essay 'A Balance

Between Nature and Nurture' Gloria Steinem identifies this fault and inspires others 40 to rise above the shackles of society through her use of personal experience, rhetorical devices, and form" (1), neatly lays out the trajectory of the essay into three compartmentalized areas for exploration. Predictably, the paragraphing for the essay emphasizes personal experience, rhetorical devices, and form. While Chris makes insightful analysis in all of these paragraphs, it is clear that the breadth of his paper prevents him from doing an in depth reading ofSteinem's piece.

Within the form of the paper, however, Chris' rhetoric reveals a sophisticated reading of the essay. While this essay does not analyze the world's community, the title, "Sardine Soup: An Analysis of the World's Community" certainly suggests a certain level of attention to detail that contrasts many of the titles for this writing assignment, which offer a variation on "Steinem Essay." Chris characterizes the world as a harsh parent that, after a nine month stint in the womb, leaves us "starved

of potential and support" (1 ), and that "many break at the knees" attempting to adapt to the "world's expectations" (1). None ofthis language comes from Steinem's

essay, nor is it necessarily an accurate reflection of her essay. Thus, I conclude that

this is the way that Chris constructs his analytical voice in this piece, and his

skepticism is coupled with a romantic vision of a community that will "empower and

inspire every unique mind to pursue the most fulfilling future" (1). Contrasting this

idea of community is the image of society as a warden; it is against this that the essay

pits Steinem's voice as inspirational.

The introduction alone reveals the writer's negotiation between the writing

conventions he has been taught and the effect that Steinem's work has had on him as 41 an individual. Clearly, Chris has thought a lot about Steinem's topic, and has used this thinking to construct his argument. However, in the body paragraphs, the power of his voice gets largely extinguished, as the "business" of analysis takes precedence over the impact that the text has had on the writer. In short, the body of this essay reveals that the writer does not know how to use the evidence he presents to explore his argument. At the core ofhis analysis ofSteinem's use ofpersonal experiences,

Chris writes, "By demonstrating her loss of the spark that drove her and gave her hope, Steinem breathes warning, but hope into those that still have not been corrupted and twisted into one of society's machines" (1-2). The vision for society that Chris creates in the introduction is reiterated, and the dual nature ofSteinem's message is paramount. This sentence begs to be explored and analyzed, yet it is the end of the paragraph, and the next sentence is used to transition to a presentation of rhetorical devices. Due to the fact that the writer feels rushed by the constraints of the paper, the strength ofhis argument is lost, as the rest of the paragraph building to this

sentence does little but paraphrase Steinem's essay.

Simply by examining the essay's argument, it is obvious that this paper is

attempting to accomplish too much, and, as a result, it fails to truly offer any insight

into Steinem's worldview. This is most evident in the body paragraph that tackles

rhetorical devices. Trying to examine metaphor and diction in a single paragraph lead

to disjointedness, and the momentum that the paper regains at the end of the first

body paragraph is lost. Transitioning to an analysis of form in the final body

paragraph, the paper makes the insightful statement, "Initially drawing upon personal 42 experiences represents the unique aspects of an individual, while the generalizations on the second page reflect the style of communication in society and a community"

(2-3). Yet, there is no evidence from the text other than generalizations to illuminate this very cogent point about the work.

In the conclusion, however, Chris again reveals the vision of the world that he expresses in the introduction. Using figurative language, "a message unfurls like the sails of a catamaran," "living in the shadow of those that stunt our sunshine,"

"condensed into a synchronized aquarium," "chase each other like sardines, creating a vicious cyclone pulling ourselves into the depths of nothingness," he abandons his analysis ofSteinem's essay and focuses on the world that she attempts to define in her essay. This explosion of language subordinates the negotiation of form that has been taking place throughout the body of the paper, effectively taking the essay well beyond the bounds of the classroom. While the first simile does not quite function

contextually in the piece, the consistent construction of society as an institution that

"shackles" (1) individuals certainly adds to his argument.

This is a writer who thinks critically about his place in the world, and about

the type of world that he would like to participate in; however, when he views the

task of analyzing Steinem's argument, he feels he has to relegate his passion to the

fringes ofhis writing. Clearly, this is a negotiation between the expectations of the

classroom space as he has navigated it, and his clear and powerful connection with

the text. 43

"Humans Put to a Test" reveals a university freshman writer struggling with form as she seeks to explore her ideas about Steinem's essay.

Like Chris' essay, this work wrestles with place, as it is both extremely detached and intensely personal. While the introduction conforms to a funnel-shaped or inverted triangle model, with a broad rhetorical hook that narrows to a thesis, the conclusion of the essay reveals the student thinking critically about Steinem's argument. More than anything, this essay reveals writing that is still in process.

When she writes, "My siblings and I were all raised in the same household and we have the same beliefs and morals. My parents raised us all the same. It was like our little community which we lived in for everyday" (3), not only does Kelly explore the relationship between nurture and her life, but also she begins, through the notion of community she establishes, to plumb into Steinem's utopian view, the "Space Ship

Earth," ofhuman interrelationships.

Here, at the conclusion of the essay, Kelly has made meaning in that "The

Balance Between Nature and Nurture" has clearly caused her to think about her family's place within the debate, and how she fits into Steinem's argument. Without

a doubt, these are the types of connections instructors in any academic discipline would like to see in student work, as this passionate or emotional reading provides a

foundation for fruitful critical inquiry. The fact that these illuminating details arise in

the conclusion of this paper, however, reveals that the connections that the student

makes with the text are not explored in the remainder of the paper. The title of the

paper, "Humans Put to a Test," leaves space for many questions, like what is the test, 44 and who is doing the testing? Judging from her argument, which is constructed in two parts: that Steinem purports that everyone has a "self-embodied personality" that is affected by environment and that she "backs up her argument by sharing her own personal experiences and giving examples" (1), the paper does not seek to answer any of the issues posed by the title.

In fact, this paper analyzes the structure ofSteinem's argument, yet it does not delve into the argument's significance. Unlike Chris' work, this essay is not so rigidly structured within a five paragraph model, but it does in two body paragraphs directly address the notions of individuality and balance. While writing about individuality Kelly establishes a contrast between Steinem's atypical upbringing and

"children who started school from a young age" (1). She constructs these two places of education, "on the road with her parents" (1) and in an institutional setting as totally distinct, with the former representing the ability to grow up with the "inner core intact" and the latter aligned with society's need to conform. This point, which is central to her reading of the essay is not explicitly analyzed. Instead, Kelly concludes her first body paragraph, "While Steinem was out on the road there was no pressure or obstacles that she had to face, so Steinem still had her own individuality intact" (1). Rather than examine Steinem's presentation as perhaps biased or limited,

Kelly does not question the writer's argument, a scenario that emulates a classroom space where an instructor's opinion is fact. Despite Steinem being constantly influenced by the environment created for her by her parents and other adults, a point 45 that she mildly acknowledges, this essay views the "on the road" myth as totally liberated whereas any institutionalized setting necessitates conformity.

This pattern continues in the second body paragraph when the essay looks at a number of the assumptions that Steinem makes in the essay about the nature of

American society. In response to Steinem's critique of the educational system, Kelly writes, "Starting at a very young age children get a biased lesson plan. They do not get to think for themselves, the teachers do it for them" (2). This powerful generalization illuminates how the writer feels about her own education, and the tone is bitter, yet the analysis is broad and detached. Here, the argument lacks precision, as Steinem makes broad assumptions about education and the student paper paints with an equally broad brush. Kelly, as she proves at the end of the paragraph, "She made a statement and gave examples, which convinced me that she was right" (2), agrees with Steinem's argument, but the significance of this approval remains vague.

In the conclusion, she writes how she struggled to agree with Steinem's argument, which reveals the fact that not all of"A Balance Between Nature And Nurture" was

entirely convincing, but that struggle in critical thinking does not make its way into

this essay.

The key to the format of this paper appears within one of it generalizations,

"Children in school are taught how the government and the school board want them

to be" (2), in that Kelly presents her argument without the ideological struggle that

she experienced in constructing her essay. She feels the need to appear totally

confident, as any weakness or doubt would run counter to how students are supposed 46 to be. Seeking the right format for her response, Kelly's paper fails to emulate the critical relationship she had with the text.

Looking Forward: Examining Student Responses To Steinem's Essay

In all three cases, the student work is extremely promising in that it reveals that the students' had established a relationship with Steinem's text. Also, the breadth of response illuminated by just three examples of student writing reveals the types of possible interpretations of a very brief text. Agreeing with Natural

Discourse, "Our classrooms cannot be just about the politics of environmental crisis, they must be about writing" (138), it would have been quite easy to allow for my politics to dominate the landscape of possible interpretation. By simply emphasizing the "Space Ship Earth," the interconnectedness of all life forms, and human obligation to hold all these forms as equally important, the responses would have been drastically limited, as no doubt, a lot of student analysis would have been devoted to Steinem's use of metaphor to make her audience cognizant of the complexity of life interaction on Earth. Yes, this essay is about places and environments physically and ideologically created, but it is also about the nuances that the students felt compelled to write about. Interestingly, of the plethora of responses, no students questioned Steinem's assumptions about growing up on the road.

This myth, that of the road, central to American ideology, seems embedded in these student writers. Born out of the colonial experience and the Westward 47

Expansion of the 19th century, this is a place that has always been on the road to someplace better. While the detrimental effects of the myth, the displacement and destruction of indigenous populations and, in Bush's words, our "addiction" to oil that fuels the cars that put us on the road are obvious, the allure of the freedom that heroes from Huck Finn to Jack Kerouac to Thelma and Louise enjoy is embedded in the core values of this nation. This analysis, this preaching would no doubt implore students to reconsider their positions on "A Balance Between Nature And Nurture," and it is a discussion well worth having after the writing process, but rather than emphasize the polemic, we can use it to teach argument and analysis, that no one's opinion stands above critical inquiry.

So You WannaBe A Rock'N'Roll Star: Student Responses To Music As Text

This assignment, using fiction as the primary text for analytical inquiry, was

designed to free students from textual selections that had been mandated by an

instructor or by course requirements. Additionally, the fact that I supplied my own

version of the assignment [see appendix] was intended as a chance for students to

critique their instructor's work and outdated taste in music. Without reading my song

analysis aloud, I was still conscious of the effect that my work could be perceived as

a how-to manual for the assignment, or as a guide to text selection. It was my hope,

after ten weeks of working with these students, that they would not feel at all

compelled to follow my well-worn path. 48

The writing task for this assignment is essentially the same as the week one writing on Gloria Steinern, but the choice that the students had was designed to liberate their voices to reveal the passion that they have for a particular piece of art.

That said, the prompt asks students to analyze the techniques that the authors use to explore central themes.

Between the two tasks analyzed for this study, the students, though exposed to different texts, experienced essentially the same type of activities. During this period, the students, either in class or at horne, had the opportunity to respond to all the coursework in writing before we began talking about the reading as a class. More often than not, these writings were not collected, and simply served as a way for the

students to manage their ideas about a particular text before entering into a mediated

class discussion or small group activity. Despite the casual nature of the writing, I

consistently emphasized that all readings should be grounded in strong textual

analysis, and that each argument we were studying could be approached from infinite

angles.

All three sets of students wrote at least one major paper between the two

writing samples that I am examining in this study. For the more extensive writing,

the students were responsible for producing multiple drafts that were edited

individually, in small groups, and in the case of the CSUSM students in individual

writing conferences with their instructor. Despite the fact that all of the students were

in different stages of their educations, they all wrote on essentially the same prompt

for the major papers. They were to form their arguments around an issue within the 49 text that drew their attention. The students generated their topics from discussions, quick writes, and their notes on the texts. Because the student arguments were generated from their own perception of the texts, using analytical tools supplied by the course and those they had taken in prior years, it made no difference that the texts varied immensely in both theme and form. In fact, the primary texts for the major essays between the two assignments (Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, Oscar Wilde's

The Picture ofDorian Gray, and Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed) share little in terms of theme or style. However, student inquiry into the arguments of the primary texts is quite similar. In all three cases, the students investigate their readings of how and why the authors create their arguments.

In order to track the change in student writing over the ten week period, I have decided to use the same three students for the study of the second paper as I used for the first analysis. The analysis of the papers, then, will take into account not only individual essay, but also how the student writing transformed over the semester.iv

In this reading of Imogen Heap's lyrics, the writer's voice illuminates the text.

The first thing that one notices when considering this analysis of Imogen

Heap's "Hide and Seek" is that Gillian incorporates a lot of the poetry into her paper.

Throughout the work, the lyrics drive the essay, which stands in marked contrast to her analysis ofSteinem's essay in week one of the course. This, combined with her 50 obvious passion for the text she's analyzing makes Gillian's analysis much more powerful.

Comparing the arguments in her two papers, "Gloria Steinem's position in her piece[ ... ] is that children require an equal, or 50150, balance of nature and nurture to mature into young adults," and "Her poetic verses explain the human race's incapability to appreciate the value and meaning of life and how our everyday lives have developed into a solid pattern," the level of sophistication in this essay far exceeds that of the first. In the first essay, she is content to use the title of Stein em's piece to guide her thesis; here, however, she targets Heap's construction, "poetic verses," theme in "the human race's incapability to appreciate the value and meaning oflife," and then personalizes that statement by using the first person plural pronoun to suggest that she is a part of the poetry's worldview. The second thesis gives

Gillian the opportunity to explore not only form and content, but it also allows her to explore the reasons why she chose this particular text.

In the first body paragraph, she levels a critique against "stereotypical artists" and the "sea of pop-princess Barbie-dolls" (1). This part of the paper, while it does not examine Heap's text, serves to differentiate "Hide and Seek" from other songs within the writer's consciousness. The analysis of Heap's message begins to emerge in the third paragraph, when Gillian analyzes the opening lines of the text, writing

"she reveals that humanity has become lost in a patterned whirlwind of time scheduled into a twelve hour clock" (1-2). Although it is difficult to see how this 51 emerges out of the lines that the essay cites, the writer has attached to the disorientation that the text projects.

The bulk of the essay deals with the feeling ofbeing lost or trapped patterns within which "humans survive each day through immovable rituals" (2). Gillian contrasts these rituals, which cast humanity as helpless against the "immovable" with

Heap's use of"blood and tears" as the real, the "internal stains of memories" (2). The diction in this essay far surpasses that of her first writing effort, as it is clear that

Gillian is attempting to convey both her passion for the text and the tone both of the poetry and her life. This analysis is certainly linked to Imogen Heap's "Hide and

Seek," and it is also interfused with the writer's perception of the world around. As a result, this work is much more personal, and the ideas the work wrestles with have meaning.

By no means, however, is this a perfect composition, but it represents a step

forward. Although the analysis in the text is not always effectively supported by the

text, this essay as a whole looks closely at the text and contextualizes it into the world

of the writer. Certainly, this is a poem about the isolation and depression that the

speaker feels is the result of a world gone bad due to a breakup, but the relationship

aspect of these lyrics do not figure into the analysis. Instead, this paper looks beyond

the speaker's specific predicament, and towards a more general statement about the

world, and the individual's place within it. Despite the fact that Steinem's text grants

the same opportunity to the reader, this assignment allows Gillian to explore her

world in a very real way. 52

"Creative Americans" explores the multiple voices that contribute to

"Dust in the Wind."

Distinguishing this essay from the other pieces in the study is its reliance upon an outside source to establish and defend its argument. Beyond referencing the point of inspiration for Kansas' "Dust in the Wind" as a Native American text combined with a reading of Ecclesiastes, Chris also summons the early renaissance notion of memento mori to contextualize the thesis that he seeks to defend: "However, by acknowledging an unpleasant ending, Livgren inspires others to take advantage of the present and make every moment count while we still have the chance to in influence our surroundings" (1 ). By incorporating this research into his writing, Chris goes beyond the poetry and his experience to solidify his reading of the text.

Without a doubt, this essay combines a close reading of the text with personal

expectation, as its argument challenges to "us" to seize opportunities to make life

count. The second paragraph delineates the connection between the poetry of the

song to the Native American text that inspired it. Despite the fact that Chris does not

cite the original poem, his reading of it is clear when he writes, "In the line, 'nothing

lasts forever but the earth and sky,' a correlation is made with Native American

values, being the elements of nature" (1 ). His analysis connects human existence

with impermanence, and the Indians' valuing of the natural world. While this

connection is somewhat tenuous, especially as the primary text is not assigned to a

particular time period, artist, or tribe, Chris is clearly wrestling with the texts to make 53 meaning, both for himself and for the reader. This analytical step marks sophistication in Chris' thinking process. Beyond restating his argument, he delves into the diction of"Dust in the Wind," working with the language specifically to come to his reading.

Additionally, in the first part of the paper, he alludes to a notion of justice that permeates the reading of the text, particularly in the "slaughter ofNative Americans."

The essay never directly references how this aspect of Native American life is paramount for a reading of"Dust in the Wind," so it can be assumed that this is

Chris' personal interpretation of the Native American experience, which is characterized by both the loss of life and the loss of tradition. Here, the essay deals with complicated narrative positioning, as the analytical voice juggles art, nature, philosophy, and history to come to a reading of the text. Beyond this complicated analytical approach, the essay also references the performance aspect of the text, "by adding Native American drums to the final thirty seconds of the track" (1-2), further problematizing a simple reading of the text. In essence, Chris' essay wrestles with multiple readings of the text, engaging many voices to solidify his own thesis. This type of work closely parallels the amalgamation of multiple sources to substantiate an analysis, a new interpretation of a single issue.

After having engaged a Native American poetry inspired reading of the text, the essay engages a central text in the western canon, the Old Testament, to reiterate the argument from the first part of the paper. There is a sharp distinction between the two paragraphs, as the irony of the reading, that much of the atrocity towards Native 54

Americans had roots in a need to spread Christianity, does not find a voice in this

piece. Rather than emphasize a Christian reading of the poetry, that this existence is a

place of preparation for eternity, the essay stresses the importance oflife, especially

when Chris writes, "making our time on Earth worthwhile no matter what the

achievement" (2). In his analysis, he uses Ecclesiastes to stress the need for action to justify existence. So, this part ofhis argument stems off the first, which emphasizes

the tenuous nature of life, suggesting that life must be led deliberately.

More than anything, this paper represents the variety of voices that contribute

to a single reading of a text. Had this been an assigned poem that had been properly

decoded in the classroom, it is doubtful that this essay would have attempted to

approach "Dust in the Wind" from this refreshing standpoint. As a study of the

thinking process through writing, this essay is characterized by a healthy struggle.

There are many ideas resonating from the text, all giving credence to Chris' reading

of the text. Although the scope of the essay prevents this work from teasing out the

arguments it presents, this text contributes to a new reading of Kerry Livgren's poem.

The end of the essay reignites the challenge of the argument, and while the notion

may seem a bit cliche, the writing speaks of real commitment to change. Writing,

"With enough dust, you do have something. But what can you do with it?" (3), Chris'

narrator steps beyond the role of objective critic, and invites the reader to engage with

the text. Rhetorically, this forces a reader to react, and despite the type of reaction it

inspires, this type of writing is effective. 55

With deep passion for the text, "Live in the Moment" attempts to navigate the poetry of Switchfoot.

From the first line of the essay, "When I listen to music, I try to listen to the words to see if the songwriter is actually trying to send something out into the world"

(1), Kelly establishes that this is going to be a personal response to the topic. In setting up her essay in this manner, she is no doubt going to write about a text that has had a strong influence on her, and this influence supercedes all other analytical stances that she may take. When she establishes her argument, "The song is telling people of America to move on, don't live in the past, and make sure you're living your life the way you want to, be who you really are" (1 ), it is entirely theme-based, and the effectiveness of the text is most likely not going to be addressed.

Truly, in Kelly's mind there is no need to analyze Foreman's argument's effectiveness, as the text, according to her, "is trying to send something out into the world" (1). The result is that a good deal of this essay reiterates the lyrics' mantra of

"are you who you want to be?" (line 8). While I've written a lot about the need to break down the notion that analysis should be dispassionate and sterile, this writer is so immersed in her subject matter that she is unable to sustain an argument about the text. Instead of convincing the read of the text's power and complexity, this paper just recounts the recurring themes in the poetry. For instance, when she writes, "The second stanza starts out, 'This is your life, are you who you want to be? /This is your life, are you who you want to be?' Are you really living life as you want to? Or are you a follower and staying behind?" (1-2), it is unclear where the text ends and the 56 analysis begins. The notion that the paper puts forward regarding being a leader or a follower is not contained within the poetry, so, one can assume that it represents part of the personal connection that Kelly has with the text.

This point would prove an excellent place to pin down an argument about

"This Is Your Life;" however the essay continues to look at the second stanza in a line-by-line pattern. The second part of the paragraph rephrases the notions put fourth in the third and fourth lines of the stanza, and the results are somewhat muddy.

Although I have difficulty trying to piece together the argument in this paragraph, I do not think that Kelly had any problem with interpretation. On the contrary, this essay is more in the pattern of private writing or pre-writing than in argument and analysis. In short, this essay responds to why she chose this text, yet it does not explore the text's argument with analytical precision. This writing, however, is not worthless, as it represents a place to start talking about how a writer places herself or himself within a text, and how to express a passionate relationship to a particular text in a way that can help others make meaning.

Trying to ~lluminate the poetry for her readers, Kelly captures the image of a

"kid in the comer" (13) and begins to break it down. While the metaphor is a complicated one, especially as the next line indicates, "Yesterday is dead and over"

(14), the essay does not look at the link between the isolated child and the "get over it" theme of the text. Instead, it brings the images back to the central theme of the text. In this, the essay suggests the impact of the poem's theme on the writer; the effect is so huge that the writer cannot get past this reading of the text. 57

Putting the pieces together: Tracking Student Growth

These two assignments, though they require the students to accomplish the same task, defining and analyzing the argument a text presents, could not have yielded more different responses from the students. While the Steinem assignment was met primarily with groans of dismay from all the students, the second assignment

presented a challenge that they wanted to meet. While I would like to think that the way that I had structured the classroom environment was the catalyst for the change,

it is clear that the fact that the students had the choice of which text to pursue greatly

influenced their reaction to the writing that they pursued.

That said, a quick glance at the texts that the students chose to analyze reveals

a pattern in their thinking. This pattern, in that all the texts emphasize ways in which

individuals conceptualize their place in a world that is infinitely complicated,

suggests that place is paramount in how humans choose to pursue life. While only

the analysis of the Kansas text remotely deals with place in the Neo-Romantic sense,

the impermanent nature of human life compared to the seeming omnipresence of

natural elements, all the texts are about making meaning of place. In these

negotiations of place, the writer's voice is present, and this presence results in

compositions that, with varying degrees of success, engage in the process of making

meaning for not only the writer, but also for the reader.

Rather than suggest that all assignments should be structured around student

textual choice, which would serve no purpose, the growth that the students manifest 58 between the two writing samples should be examined from the perspective that writers develop their voices through both practice and modeling. None of these papers were written in a vacuum; they are the result of negotiations between the writer and her or his environment. In Linda Brodkey's insightful Afterword to

Composition Theory for the Postmodern Classroom, she writes, "So much of composition is about what students do that we sometimes forget that what they write on Monday morning depends on what we think about on Friday afternoon, when teachers find some time to reflect on curriculum and pedagogy" (345), emphasizing that the writing environment is one that teachers construct. However, to think that students are entirely dependent upon the pedagogical approaches of overworked instructors would oversimplify the negotiation of place that students execute on a daily basis. In all these papers, it is clear that student voice is the result of past experience in the classroom, but it is also about where the students are in their lives, as is evident in Gillian's response to Steinem'sfriendless childhood. The instructors job on Friday afternoons can be viewed not as a way to generate specific types of student writing, but to help students organize these nearly infinite negotiations of self into a convincing narrative and analytical voice.

Poetry of Place: Moving Ecocomposition into the Classroom Space

Just as the sun sets over the Pacific four miles behind my back, and I'm staring blankly at a yet unfilled field of white bordered by the institutional gray plastic of my monitor, I hear not the whirs and buzzes emanating from the box in 59 front of me, but a rustling. While whirs and buzzes fail to summon up poetic visions of anything but a swarm of insects, rustling is a word that suggests mystery. Are my thoughts awakened by the rushing twilight, ready to flow onto the yet unpainted digital canvas? Is it time to tum off the computer and go home for the night? Do shuffling feet and shifting thighs reflect that it's time to go home? Is there something alive in this portable classroom other than a very tired instructor? To a certain extent, the answer to all of these questions is yes, but in this case, I do hear behind the laminated sheet metal veneer of the joint that binds one half of my mobile classroom to the other, the rustling of limbs as they awaken to inhabit the place that has been theirs for a multitude of generations, and has been, only for the last ten years, colonized.

Walking the La Costa Canyon High School campus in the early morning or early evening, it is clear how many "wild things" still thrive in the La Costa Canyon of northern San Diego County. The rats that nest in my classroom emerge to scamper down the Washington Palm outside the door, innumerable white tailed rabbits hustle out of every bush on campus, and black widows lazily drop from the acoustic tiles in the ceilings of portable places of learning to explore their homes. Despite the fact that for ten years, these images have been contrasted by the daily crowd of nearly

3000 that comes and departs, leaving in its wake the refuse from lunches, the fumes and deposits from automobiles, and the scrap heap of paper that is the byproduct of the learning process, this canyon has yet to be tamed. 60

Using the metaphor of nature as a wild thing that needs to be tamed, a philosophy that has its Western roots in Genesis and its American in the writings of

Gifford Pinchot, to look at not only the physical learning environment, but also the agenda promoted in education emphasizes the notion of control. The theories and pedagogies leading up to ecocomposition have struggled to undermine institutional control of knowledge; however, the place oflearning and of writing remains a point of tension between order and the struggle for individual voice. While the classroom has been the focus of this study, like the rats nesting behind the thin veneer of my portable, the struggle for identity and voice transcends education.

When Dobrin writes, "But ecocomposition must move beyond its stereotyped role of just addressing 'environmentalist' concerns[ ... ] to examining concepts of environment, location, space, and place as encompassing all of the spaces we inhabit"

(Ecocomposition 24), the core of ecocomposition is revealed. The same negotiation that takes place in the classroom is taking place in many spaces of the world, where institutions seek to define terms like freedom and democracy beneath the guise of choice and empowerment. Ecocomposition, by making stakeholders aware of the fact that environment is not static, seeks to empower students not with abstract notions, but with the ability to analyze the spaces, both textually and spatially, that they inhabit. So, while I may be unnerved by the fact that rats inhabit my space, I am aware that they define that same physical space from a very different perspective.

This is the same type of negotiation that takes place in the classroom, where teachers and students constantly attempt to establish themselves while existing within 61 the defined spaces of what is acceptable in an educational institution. So, after having attempted to position ecocomposition within the body of radical theory by examining many of the major voices within the discourse, and having examined how students negotiate text through a lens born out of this study, a question still remains. How can writing instructors deal with the discord between high school and university

expectations that have resulted in upwards of 50 percent of incoming freshman into

the University of California and the Cal State University systems failing their writing

competency exams?

This study began with the notion of bridging the chasm that exists between the

two institutions; however, through the analysis of student writing, the gap is far less

extreme than it appears. In their Neo-Romantic definition of nature as text, Dobrin

and Weisser write, "Relationships between text and nature are impossible to avoid.

In fact, postmodernity has come to identify nature as text, despite the fact that humans

often ascribe anthropomorphic languages to that text rather than listening to or

reading nature's own text" (2), emphasizing the inability for one to avoid text within

a postmodem context. Likewise, each class, regardless oflevel or subject matter, is a

negotiation of text, a negotiation of argument. In examining the discrepancy between

the high school and university learning environments, it is what students are expected

to do with text that ultimately defines the problem.

In high school, students are generally expected across disciplines to arrive at a

prescribed set of answers based on a limited reading of a text. In short, the student

voice is silenced, as the text has been decoded either by an editor or by the teacher. 62

Thus, when a student faces the challenge of having to negotiate an argument for herself or himself, the result is the failure rate that this study has documented.

Similarly, the transition to the university classroom becomes complicated by approaches to text, where readings rarely resemble high school textbooks. In this study, I have outlined some of the stereotypes that university instructors hold regarding freshman writers as well as some of the visions that high school English

Language Arts teachers have about the privileging of particular texts. The link is simply that of text. Regardless of the type of texts that students are asked to interrogate, it seems rational that if they are alerted to the fact that every text attempts argument, then the transition from high school to university manipulation of text for argument would be far less daunting. For the student sitting in a high school English classroom where a teacher whips interpretations of text from the air like a magician pulling the proverbial rabbit from her hat, reading texts has very little to do with student interpretation. In fact, the student, like the medieval serf listening to a

Catholic mass in a Latin totally unknown to him, waits for the translation of the text into a language he can digest like that same serf listening to the homily's description of scripture in his native tongue. In this sense, text can be used to control; it is this that ecocomposition fights to do away with.

More than anything, this study reveals that placing students at the center of their learning process yields excellent thinking and promising writing. While the theoretical tradition for this type of pedagogy is extensive, Arlene Plevin's assessment of ecocomposition's role in this line is pivotal: "Integrating place into the 63 classroom[ ... ] is arguably a more radical move [than "smuggling in an essay about trees"], one capable of continuing a postmodem teacher's desire to diffuse his or her authority, in decentering the classroom" (148). The negotiable part of this statement is that Plevin assumes that postmodem instructors "desire" this type of classroom.

While the analysis of the theory in this paper suggests that this surrender of authority is pivotal, the analysis of the institutional place ofleaming addresses the difficulty for instructors to change.

In the same essay, Plevin illuminates one of the limitations of ecocomposition.

When she writes, "Place becomes an integral part of what I will call an

'ecocomposition course,' one that evolves naturally from their own writing, their own concerns. It is also a category that is intrinsically part of their awareness of the world beyond the human" (147), the fact that she alludes to each person having an innate

"awareness" to the nonhuman world positions her pedagogy as privileging an ecocritical reading of nature. As Dobrin and Weisser outline, ecocomposition has to get beyond this type of conceptualization in order to liberate the writer's voice from the restrictions placed on it by various learning environments. So, while Plevin's emphasis on student negotiation of place being central to the writing classroom is accurate, the fact that she chooses to define place limits the manner in which students can interact with text.

In order for students to be successful navigators of the innumerable texts that they will encounter in their lives, they need a classroom that allows them to probe their reading, thinking, and writing processes, and a mentor to help them form and 64 assess arguments, share ideas, and to encourage creativity. While this mentor role whispers of the neo-Romantic sage that I have tried to do away with in this study, the fact that he or she is there to share with the students presents a model that seeks balance. So while the sage may still be present, the lectern that she preached from has been dismantled.

Without a doubt this study has explored the classroom space as a place that consists of many environmental factors communing and clashing with each other, with the final outcome representing the commingling of these places in a composition. Writing is something that we do for ourselves, but more often than not the process goes beyond private composition to a communal effort. It is this communal effort, particularly when it involves the interpretation of text in a classroom setting that this study reveals is so complicated. While the "eco-" and

"enviro-" aspects of ecocomposition can be easily manipulated by an instructor who wants to promote "nature writing," the composition classroom is necessarily much more than a temple for the sage (teacher) to preach his or her belief system to a captive audience. The institutional mechanisms in place (disciplinary procedures and assessment to name a couple) create a power dynamic even in the most democratic educational spaces, so a true debate or exchange of ideas can never occur because everyone knows that the instructor is ultimately in charge.

This power dynamic problematizes classroom mentorship that can easily become dictatorship. In terms of ecocritical or ecocomposition models, the fact that environmental consciousness and activism is privileged should not dominate 65 discourse. Particularly, in any composition class, the emphasis should ultimately be on writing. Even with this being the case, the manner in which an instructor presents material will no doubt color the type of responses that students give. While this study has shown that some of the composition models that are promoted at the high school level severally limit the depth of responses that students might give, an intellectual dictatorship can just as easily taint student readings of a text. In order to truly investigate text, students need the tools of inquiry, a limited context, and the opportunity to respond before an instructor lectures.

It is in this immediate response to text that students and instructors will find liberation, the students to interrogate texts with their own theoretical lenses and the instructor can then offer her or his own reading of a text, balancing that reading with student voices. Ideally, the student responses will fuel larger pieces of writing, and the pattern in writing and thinking that this type of education rewards is truly democratic. The debate, then, transforms from ideological conflict or indoctrination to a discussion of argument and analysis. Thus, the discussion is one based on composition, not whose reading of the text is the proper one. Regardless ofhow often an instructor offers, either orally or textually, a line of discourse that deviates from his or her own, students will respond to lecture as the privileged or right reading of a text. 66

Ending Places

Ironically, I end this project in very much the same place that I began the process of thinking about how to write about meaningful texts in 1995, in the basement of the Geisel Library in La Jolla, California. In front of me is a terrarium dotted with partly dismantled thatched huts that may or may not be an allusion to the devastation caused by the tsunami of 2004 on Southeast Asia. Surrounding these miniatures grasping tenuously to lava rocks, tropical plants climb skyward against the stark concrete walls that still bear the woodgrain of the forms that cemented the structure. Fittingly, a small climbing vine tentatively reaches a finger and a leaf across the barrier that separates the plant space from my desk. Through this study,

I've learned that education, both as a student and a teacher, are about these forays into the unknown spaces of place and intellect.

Ecocomposition, especially when it is defined for everyone involved in the writing process allows classroom communities to refine pedagogies so that these risks can be taken confidently. The individual's perception of her or his place in the world through the analysis of text in writing will be privileged. Through this process students will be able to critically examine their places in the world and, ultimately, will choose paths based not on the road well paved by an instructor, a president, or a dictator, but on the rocky trails of the negotiation of their own environment. 67

i The amateur pop contest was easily the top-rated show of the night, NIELSEN claimed, with a 17.4 rating/26 share to GRAMMY's 12.3 rating/19 share. ii According to the California Department of Education, "The Morgan-Hart Class Size Reduction Act provides funds to school districts for participating schools that reduce class size in Grade 9 English and one other Grade 9 course required for graduation, either Mathematics, Science, or Social Studies. The majority of pupils in participating classes must be identified as Grade 9 students. (Districts which implemented the program prior to June 30, 1998 may also be serving Grades 10, 11, or 12.) Average class size for the school year at each participating school can be no more than 20: 1 per certificated teacher and no more than 22 pupils enrolled in any participating class." iii The 2004 Analytical Writing Placement Test for students admitted to the University of California system revealed that of 14,633 students who took the test, 7,346 passed, which equates to just over 50%. iv In the future this study could be used as a baseline, with students writing on the Gloria Steinem essay in the tenth week of the semester rather than the first. A researcher would then look for trends in the essays, and mark areas of growth born out of ecocomposition pedagogy. 68

Appendix A: Student Essays

Essay 1

Student 1 (Gillian)

High School Honors Sophomore

The Road to Maturity

Though nature and nurture both have significant impact on the development of an individual, it is not mandatory that nature and nurture be perfectly equivalent.

Gloria Steinem's position in her piece, "A Balance Between Nature and Nurture", is that children require an equal, or 50/50, balance of nature and nurture to mature into young adults.

For instance, Steinem states in her article, "I didn't go to school until I was 12 or so" (1 ). Learning to cope with hardly any if not any at all friends might have tugged on her heart a bit as a kid, but never did it damage her capability to mature.

Steinem also reports that, "[growing up around only adults] was the way kids were raised for most ofhuman history" (1). Living around only adults could force the child to mature more rapidly than a child who was surrounded by an abundance of children. When living around young children, a child has a tendency to be more socially and behaviorally undeveloped than say a child who was raised with multiple adult figures in their life, therefore maturing them for the long journey of self exploration, realization, and success ahead. 69

Personality and behavior are frequently confused to have the same definition.

One's personality is inborn and cannot be altered, whereas behavior is generally learned from one's environment and can be learned or changed to compensate for weaknesses in the personality.

Absent of governmental or legal pressures on an individual, preventing them from growing, an individual will strive to grow, just as Gloria Steinem talked about with her experience in India and the national and international movement feminist movement. In the situation where an individual has a greater level of nature in their environment than nurture, this person can still develop into a productive, mature adult. For example, take an individual who's father was a murderer and mother who was a waitress, although this person will be significantly affected by the lack of nurture they are receiving from their parents, I believe that their personality is the ultimate driver of their maturity.

What is mature? Has any person ever thought up an exact definition for mature? Are we destined to strive for maturity for all of eternity or will we read a point of saturation? I believe we are all continuously maturing and growing with time. Therefore, until our time her on earth is up, we will never stop maturing, even if there is a lack of nature or nurture.

Essay 2

Student 2 (Chris)

High School Advanced Placement Senior 70

Sardine Soup: An Analysis of the World's Community

As we emerge into the world's community from a secluded womb, we are no longer nurtured, but rather starved of potential and support. Many break at the knees from the pressure to perform up to the world's expectations. Ironically, we are a community, and when one falters, the rest suffer. We deprive ourselves of true potential by raising our youth with biases and installing repressive hierarchies to govern us. In order to grow as a society, we must empower and inspire every unique mind to pursue the most fulfilling future. In her essay "A Balance Between Nature and Nurture," Gloria Steinem identifies this fault and inspires others to rise above the shackles of society through her use of personal experience, rhetorical devices, and form.

Steinem's childhood, fulfilled in the illuminating chambers of a house trailer, taught her that institutionalized education ''was as enlightening as sitting in the classroom" (1 ). Her experiences while traveling taught her to be an individual and to think for herself. Her stay in India with a group of Ghandhians fed her lust to be a suffragist after returning home to gender inequities. Experience outside of the classroom is essential to exploring one's unique qualities and expressing one's ambitions. Once enrolled in a classroom, Steinem "wasn't prepared" and "became an adolescent hoping for approval and trying to conform" (1 ). The institutionalized aspect of school smothers the individuality in Steinem and she becomes just another student making her way through another system established by hierarchies. By demonstrating her loss of the spark that drove her hope, Steinem breathes warning, 71 but hope into those that still have not been corrupted and twisted into one of society's machines.

To embellish and prolong her thoughts, Steinem blends metaphors, rhetorical questions, and repetition into her subjective syntax. Upon concluding her essay with

"Space Ship Earth" (2), Steinem embraces the reader, forcing him/her to commit more time to her essay to comprehend the metaphor than they would otherwise. In this choice of diction, Steinem relates to a vessel in which the world's population is the crew. As a community, the crew members can not avoid each other. However,

Steinem hints at a world where possibility is never explored to its fullest potential because of the smothering of and lack of support for each individual mind and what it has to offer the world. As a precursor to the metaphorical catharsis, Steinem poses rhetorical questions to create imagery of a more perfect world, according to her biases. She hypothesizes a world in which "we listened to children" and rose one generation "with respect and without violence" (2). These hopes both recapitulate the conundrums in society and provide the reader with stimulation to correct the faults in the civilized world. However, these visions are only resolved with a disappointing conclusion that what could be is not within our ability to imagine. Lastly, Steinem asserts her point of view by tactfully repeating "I believe" (1, 2) and "On the contrary, I believe" (2). By using diction such as "I", Steinem creates a personal connection with the issue she is addressing. Each time she reiterates the phrases, she increasingly identifies herself with a subjective approach to the suffocation of distinctive mentality. Additionally, Steinem clearly distinguishes her point of view as 72 distinct and incoherent with those of conservatives and liberals by using "on the contrary" (2).

Apart from specific diction, a general view of Steinem's essay reveals that her form imitates her function. Initially drawing upon personal experiences represents the unique aspects of the individual, while the generalizations on the second page reflect the style of communication in society and a community. Steinem suggests mediation between natural individuality and social commonality, and analogously balances her message with self and community. This form evokes her solution to a global concern on a majestic scale. It is an endless debate between the extremes, the majority constantly switching hands. Steinem's solution is a blend of yin and yang, alluding to a more complex reality that most try to overlook.

As Steinem's life adventures, rhetorical strategies, and literary form reveal themselves, a message unfurls like the sails of a catamaran, directed to motivate people to seek balance. If we go on living in the shadows of those that stunt our sunshine, how do we exploit ourselves to our most extreme potential? Being condensed into one synchronized aquarium, we must cooperate with and feed off each others' ideas. It is a collaboration in which we all provide a crucial element to maintain a sufficient environment with increasingly high standards of living. Gloria

Steinem depicts a world in which we don't struggle to exploit aptitude, but rather chase each other like sardines, creating a vicious cyclone pulling ourselves deep into the depths of nothingness. 73

Essay 3

Student 3 (Kelly)

CSUSM Freshman

Humans Put to a Test

Are humans born with a sense of individuality or does the real world make the individuality of a person? There is no right or wrong answer. Gloria Steinem tries to answer this question in her essay "A Balance Between Nature and Nurture."

Steinem's argument highlights that every human being is born with a self-embodied personality and that the environment around a human affects that outcome of that human. Steinem backs up her argument by sharing her own personal experiences and giving examples.

Steinem lets the reader know that everyone is born as an individual and his or hers personality is calculated even before their first breath of fresh air by stating "I believe that a unique core self is born into every human being." When Steinem entered school which she hadn't attended for twelve years and instead was on the road with her parents. So, "Needless to say school hit [her] like a ton of bricks."

Since Steinem was on the road she still had her inner core intact and, "gender obsessions, race and class complexities, or the new-to-me-idea that war and male leadership were part of human nature" were being obsessed over by children who started school at the average age. Children who started school from a young age had to face these obstacles everyday. While facing these day to day struggles, the society made children conform to idealistic characteristics. While Steinem was out on the 74 road there was no pressure or obstacles that she had to face, so Steinem still had her own individuality intact.

Steinem made the balance between nature and nurture by adding, "I escaped being taught some of the typical lessons of my generation: for instance, that this country was "discovered" when the first white man set foot in it, that boys and girls were practically different species, that Europe deserved more textbook space that

Africa and Asia combined." Children in school are taught how the government and the school board want them to be. Starting at a very young age children get a biased lesson plan. They do not get to think for themselves, the teachers do it for them.

Steinem also explains that, "hierarchy and painful controls create destructive people."

Everyday humans get pushed and pushed into a direction which they do not want to go in. There are authorities whom take control over humans, that control may destruct that human and his or hers individuality. If someone is forced to do something he or she does not want tot do they may react in a dismay or go completely mad and go into a wrong state of mind. Steinem's strategy of making the reader confined to her idea was very effective of making a reader believe that everyone is affected by the outer world. She made a statement and gave examples, which convinced me that she was right. Overall painful control will destroy a person and destroy that person's inner core.

Steinem's argument is written and supported well enough to make a reader understand her and may persuade the reader in her direction. Her examples of her personal experiences may have been a little over board of me, me, me, but it still got 75 the point across. Reading her essay made me think really hard and finally I came to a conclusion that I agree with Steinem's argument. For example, twins. Twins are born at the same time and while they grow up they have different personalities and styles. This made me believe we were all born with a unique inner core and have very different outtakes on life. Another example is my own family. My siblings and

I were all raised in the same household and we have the same beliefs and morals. My

parents raised us all the same. It was like our little community which we lived in for

everyday. This made me believe that the environment around a person does affect

their beliefs and what kind of person he or she will become. Steinem makes a

balance between nature and nurture to make the world a better place. As Steinem

says, "I believe we have no idea what might be possible on this 'Space Ship Earth."'

The whole world is on this journey together. We are the crew of this ship and we can

make a difference.

Essay 4

Student 1 (Gillian)

High School Honors Sophomore

Pop Culture Phenomenon

In a world where ridiculous pop culture rules the music industry, only once in

a long while does a truly phenomenal song arise. Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" is

a hypnotic, beautiful song with incredible vocals. Her poetic verses explain the 76 human race's incapability to appreciate the value and meaning oflife and how our everyday lives have developed into a solid pattern.

Imogen Heap paves a new path contradicting the stereotypical artists who seem to be praises for their sheer inaccessibility. "Hide and Seek's" musical and technically competent effort is considerably superior to the sea of pop-princess

Barbie-dolls. The song is an experimentation that moves into the untouched area that pop artists dare to enter, the area of significance and importance.

When Imogen writes, "Where are we?!What the hell is going on? /The dust has only just began to form/crop circles in the carpet," she reveals that humanity has become lost in a patterned whirlwind of time scheduled into a twelve-hour clock.

Confusion of the lost time and human insanity fill her mind as she sings, "Spin me around again/ And rub my eyes/This can't be happening/When busy streets/A mess with people/Would stop to hold/Their heads heavy." Imogen awakens to find the public obsessing over "dust;" surface materials that hold no meaning whatsoever inside of them. Imogen's lyrics, "Oily marks appear on walls/Where pleasure moments hung before/The takeover/The sweeping insensitivity of this still life," reveal life challenging a new perspective of the selfish humanity morphing into a harsh and insensitive world.

The theme of patterns occurs numerous times within "Hide and Seek."

"Trains and sewing machines," implies that the patterns of train tracks as well as the patterns that sewing machines create provide evidence of how humans survive each day through unmovable rituals. The "Blood and tears," represent Imogen's internal 77 stains of memories of which she remembers living and viewing the world when life had meaning.

"Ransom notes keep falling out of your mouth/Mid-sweet talk, newspaper word cut-outs/speak no feeling, no I don't believe you," shows that Imogen hears voices which come about to be only "newspaper word cut-outs" tangled up into a bundle of empty nothingness.

This astonishing track can never be duplicated; it's liquid movements and

Imogen's near-flawless vocals leading the way. Her dramatic lyrics flow and meld together the true meaning of living life during the moment.

Essay 5

Student 2 (Chris)

High School Advanced Placement Senior

Creative Americans

It is often commented that "Dust in the Wind" is "the most depressing song!"

In his lyrics, Kansas guitarist Kerry Livgren explores multiple concepts, all of which pertain to the Baroque theme of"memento mori," reminding all of mankind that death will come. However, by acknowledging an unpleasant ending, Livgren inspires others to take advantage of the present and make every moment count while we still have the chance to influence our surroundings.

Upon completing a book of Native American poetry, Livgren was inspired by a line, reading "For All We Are Is Dust In The Wind." His motives in writing 78 reflected the slaughter of Native Americans for settlement throughout U.S. history and the Indians' fright that they and their ancestors will be forgotten. These lyrics are a continuation of their existence through pity from within the words of their poems.

In the line "nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky," a correlation is made with

Native American values, being the elements of nature. Directly following this line is

"all your money won't buy another minute buy," paralleling what is valuable to today's society. This link from past to present strengthens the assertion that no matter what era someone is from, he will always encounter death. The strength of the assertion comes from making the lost possession personal to the corresponding generation. Livgren constructs a conclusive correlation with Indians, to remind the listener ofthe underlying symbolism within his lyrics, by adding Native American drums to the final thirty seconds of the track. In light of the Native Americans' unfortunate history, Livgren is warning those that still can manipulate their destiny by acting as a roadblock to a path of tragedy.

"All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all tum to dust again"

(Ecclesiastes 3: 19-20). Alluding to this passage of the Bible, "Dust in the Wind" addresses the luxuries of life in addition to historical tragedy. "So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot" (Ecclesiastes

3:21-22). One's accomplishments is all that one has in the end because all superfluous treasures will vanish and their value with them. "[H]umans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 3: 19). By stating that man and animal both succumb to the same judgment, there is no reason to ponder what is 79 to come, but rather enjoy what is currently at hand. In stating "all my dreams pass before my eyes," a call for action is being issued because unfulfilled aspirations accomplish nothing when it all counts. "I close my eyes only for a moment and the moment's gone," emphasizes the loss of valuable time when productivity could be achieved. Livgren stated that in writing this song he was "expressing [his] own searching for something." That something is a purpose in which we justify our existence. Eccles stated that regardless of our destination in life, our self-made work is all that is significant. In identifying one's purpose, one is taking a step in accomplishing something greater with what they are given, even being a handful of dust. In expressing his search for purpose, Livgren is urging others to do the same.

Most stimulating is that "we refuse to see" that "all we do crumbles to the ground."

Despite all depressing circumstances that we must all meet, we refuse to believe that all we have done is for nothing, making our time on Earth worthwhile no matter what the achievement.

Ultimately, it is what we do with our time that makes it worthwhile in the end, although we all encounter death, regardless of the path we choose. In memory of

Native Americans and in search of a purpose, Kerry Livgren draws hope from a depressing situation within his lyrics. Differentiating the song form the traditional

Kansas sound, Livgren inadvertently recorded a hit through a remorseful tone throughout his language, tying fans together with one common thread of optimism.

Although each individual is "just a drop of water in an endless sea," uniting the pieces will upturn amazing results, just as a crowd of fans at a concert. Any one person 80 hollering in inaudible, but a stadium of cheering is riotous. With enough dust, you do have something. But what can you do with it?

Essay 6

Student 3 (Kelly)

CSUSM Freshman

Live in the Moment

Whenever I listen to music, I try to listen carefully to the words to see if the

songwriter is actually trying to send something out into the world. Most of the music

today is just performed by the artist and not written by the artist. One song that has

caught my eye for a long time would have to be "This is your Life," by Jonathan

Foreman of Switchfoot. The song is inspirational to the youth and elderly of

America. The song is telling people of America to move on, don't live in the past,

and make sure you're living your life the way you want to, to be who you really are.

When Foreman writes, "Yesterday is a wrinkle on your foreheadN esterday is

a promise that you've broken," he is projecting, don't worry about the past, it was

yesterday. Even if it was a hard day, it's okay to move on. The next verse is, "Don't

close your eyes, don't close your eyes, this is your life." By closing your eyes you

are looking into the past and not moving forward. You want to live your life to the

fullest and not look back on one mistake. Foreman writes, "And today is all you've

got now. And today is all you'll ever have. Don't close your eyes." Foreman is

stating that you need to live in the moment and not in the past. Everything is in the 81 future and in the moment, don't close your eyes and fall asleep or your miss out on a lifetime experience.

The second stanza starts out, "This is your life, are you who you want to

be?/This is your life, are you who you want to be?". Are you really living life as you

want to? Or are you a follower and staying behind? Be the Shepard and not the

follower. Next verse of the song is, "This is your life, is it everything that you

dreamed that it would be when the world was younger, and you had everything to

lose?" When we are younger we dream about our future and how great it is going to

be, but once we hit the real world everything changes. When we were younger we

had everything easy and had everything going for us.

The following is the third stanza, "Yesterday is a kid in the comerN esterday

is dead and over. The third stanza is restating that, do not worry about the past even

if there were bad memories, just move on. A child in a comer is the same feeling of

something painful and not worth living through again. A child in a comer has

nowhere to go and if you live in the past you will also have nowhere to go. The last

stanza illuminates the idea of are you being true to yourself and are you really living

your life the way you want, "this is your life, are you who you want to be? This is

your life, are you who you want to be?"

I love songs that reach out to their listeners and the artist wants something

meaningful to come out of their songs. Switchfoot does this in all their songs

especially, "This is Your Life." Ultimately the song reaches out and wants everyone

to live in the moment and not look back on their past and troubles. If you do so you 82 will have no one to go to and you will be stuck at a dead end. Foreman is telling everyone to live in the moment and live your life to the fullest. Living in the past you will regret your life and the way you were. Be who you want to be and don't listen to others.

Appendix B- Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt #1 "A Balance Between Nature and Nurture" by Gloria Steinem1

All Things Considered, August 22, 2005 ·

Is it nature or is it nurture, heredity or society? In that great debate of our time, conservatives lean toward the former and liberals toward the latter.

I believe both are asking the wrong question. I believe it's nature and nurture, and this is why.

I didn't go to school until I was 12 or so. My parents thought that traveling in a house trailer was as enlightening as sitting in a classroom, so I escaped being taught some of the typical lessons of my generation: for instance, that this country was "discovered" when the first white man set foot on it, that boys and girls were practically different species, that Europe deserved more textbook space than Africa and Asia combined.

Instead, I grew up seeing with my own eyes, following my curiosity, falling in love with books, and growing up mostly around grown-ups -- which, except for the books, was the way kids were raised for most of human history.

Needless to say, school hit me like a ton ofbricks. I wasn't prepared for gender obsessions, race and class complexities, or the new-to-me idea that war and male leadership were part of human nature. Soon, I gave in and became an adolescent hoping for approval and trying to conform. It was a stage that lasted through college.

I owe the beginnings of re-birth to living in India for a couple of years where I fell in with a group of Gandhians, and then I came to the Kennedys, the civil rights movement and protests against the war in Vietnam. 83

But most women, me included, stayed in our traditional places until we began to gather, listen to each other's stories and learn from shared experience. Soon, a national and international feminist movement was challenging the idea that what happened to men was political, but what happened to women was cultural -- that the first could be changed but the second could not.

I had the feeling of coming home, of awakening from an inauthentic life. It wasn't as if I thought my self-authority was more important than external authority, but it wasn't less important either. We are both communal and uniquely ourselves, not either-or.

Since then, I've spent decades listening to kids before and after social roles hit. Faced with some inequality, the younger ones say, "It's not fair!" It's as if there were some primordial expectation of empathy and cooperation that helps the species survive. But by the time kids are teenagers, social pressures have either nourished or starved this expectation. I suspect that their natural cry for fairness -- or any whisper of it that survives -- is the root from which social justice movements grow.

So I no longer believe the conservative message that children are naturally selfish and destructive creatures who need civilizing by hierarchies or painful controls. On the contrary, I believe that hierarchy and painful controls create destructive people. And I no longer believe the liberal message that children are blank slates on which society can write anything. On the contrary, I believe that a unique core self is born into every human being -- the result of millennia of environment and heredity combined in an unpredictable way that could never happen before or again.

The truth is, we've been seduced into asking the wrong question by those who hope that the social order they want is inborn, or those who hope they can write the one they want on our uniquely long human childhoods.

But the real answer is a balance between nature and nurture. What would happen if we listened to children as much as we talked to them? Or what would happen if even one generation were raised with respect and without violence?

I believe we have no idea what might be possible on this "Space Ship Earth."

• Define Steinem's argument. • How does she support her argument? • Do you agree with Steinem's assertions? • Does she have an agenda?

Writing Prompt#2 84

Hegarty Close-Reading, Pop Culture Length: 2 to 3 pages (typed, double-spaced, 1" margins, 12 point font)

Assignment: Using the tools that this course has supplied you with to analyze art, take a close look at something you care about, namely a piece of music that you'd like to analyze as a poem. When asked about what he does, Bob Dylan responded, "I am an artist. I try to create art" (Interview with Ron Rosenbaum, March 1978). Take this notion that, despite the medium and popularity, the things that you enjoy are art. Choose lyrics that inspire you, and look closely at the work from a critical perspective, framing your critique with a thesis. Please attach lyrics to the back of your paper. Enjoy.

This is an example of the assignment that I've worked on the past few nights .... gh

Landscapes of Loneliness

Although a great deal of popular music capitalizes on the notion of the break­ up and waxes cliche linked to cliche through three verses on heartache, it is relatively rare that a work in this genre brings freshness to relationships. Counting Crows' Adam Duritz's lyrics navigate the spaces, both physical and emotional, of isolation that dominate the postmodem landscape. At the heart of the loneliness in "Richard Manuel Is Dead" is the hopelessness of the moments that he seizes upon. When Duritz writes, "It was cold when I awoke/ And the day was halfway done,/Nearly spring in San Francisco/And I still can not feel the sun/You were sleeping next to me,/But I knew that you'd be gone," attention must be paid to the overall desolation of the landscape. Not only is there the notion that a lot has been lost, "And the day was halfway done," but that what lay ahead is bleak in that even though spring is nearly upon the speaker, the landscape of both his window and his relationship is quite wintry. Most powerful is the fact that the sun is out, as "I still can not feel the sun" implies a visible sun producing no heat as it parallels the fact that the speaker's lover lies next to him, though the passage of the relationship is inevitable. The fact that Duritz writes of the scenario before the break-up, yet still insinuates the situation as helpless positions his speaker in a position to do nothing. Neither can he run from what is not yet over nor, does it appear, that he can salvage. In this second verse, the lyric ties the speaker's relationship to a landscape that is equally frozen, in a place that is neither winter not spring, suggesting that the process of rebirth has yet to begin. While the second stanza puts the speaker in a specific place and time, the first stanza unsettles the notion of place, time, and reality. When Duritz writes, "I got a message in my head that the papers had all come," he emphasizes in the first lines of the song a blurring of hard reality that the rest of the poem establishes. The fact that the message is in the speaker's "head" complicates meaning, leaving the reader 85 unsure as to whether this is fantasy or reality. Also, the historical accuracy of the title ofthe piece, "Richard Manuel Is Dead," an allusion to The Band's lead singer and pianist who died in 1986 grounds this lyric, released in 2003, to two specific time periods. Linking the loss of Manuel to the landscape, Duritz writes, "Richard Manuel is dead, and the daylight's coming on." Rather than read this aspect of the piece symbolically, it is more appropriate to see this as an anchor to reality, clarifying the first line. The "papers" come into context as the newspapers announcing Manuel's death, as well as the grounding of the speaker to the moment at dawn when he writes, "Well, I been wandering through the dark; now I'm standing on the lawn." It is as if the intensity of the moment pulls the speaker out of a dream state, as if yanking him back to the now of the poem. The abrupt nature of the transition, "I had been wandering," to "Now I'm standing" emphasizes this shift. The development of this theme of a present reality aligns with the deterioration of the speaker's relationship in stanza two by the way in which he awakens to realize that he and his lover will soon part. After establishing a landscape that clings to reality, though a lonely reality, Duritz fractures his lyric in the final stanza. To make sense of this part of the piece, one must look the line "you've been fading day to day" to see that the separation in this song is not only the separation of the couple, but also a separation from anything solid in the speaker's life. The speaker's mandate, "So take some time before you go," is more of a question than a command, in that the audience can only wonder to what use the lover could use the time. Coupling this with the speaker's physical instability, "I've been moving town to town," insinuates that this is a poem that is about brokenness. Threading through the entirety is a refrain that emphasizes the speaker's inability to find self through expression. Clearly, he is unable to give of himself, as he needs to justify himself both for the something that is unknown as well as for the fact that he cannot fully give his love. By encompassing the meaning of the chorus in two complicated metaphors, Duritz further confuses meaning, leaving the audience unsettled in much the same manner as the speaker. By equating his lover with a medicine that cures the pain of stupidity, the healing seems very unidirectional. In other words, the speaker's lover cures him of his pain, but the fact that it is pain caused by "stupid things" implies that in curing, the lover is also getting hurt. The final metaphor, "I'm an anchor on the line of a clock that tells the time," figures the speaker as trying to stop time. So, while he implicates himself in the pill metaphor, Duritz's narrator fruitlessly attempts to slow the inevitable, yet he still fails to take responsibility as it is the "you" who time runs out on and not the "I." Ultimately, "Richard Manuel Is Dead" speaks not of the death of an artist, or as the title suggests, of "all my love," but of an inability to cling to anything solid. As the landscape, reality, and the speaker's relationship fade into nothingness, the audience is left with a haunting emptiness not so much due to the mistakes that the speaker makes, but due to the desperate nature of the situation. 86

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