UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Feeling Engaged: College Writers as Literacy Tutors DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in English by Lance-David Bennett Langdon Dissertation Committee: Professor Jonathan Alexander, Chair Professor Julia Lupton Associate Professor Daniel Gross 2014 Redacted version May 21, 2018 Chapter 4 © 2013 New City Community Press All other materials © 2014 Lance-David Bennett Langdon DEDICATION To Merilee, Kennedy, and Newbie for good feeling ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. v CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................................................. x ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ...................................................................................... xi INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: BLOGGING CRITICAL LITERACY: NOTES TOWARD ENGAGED PROGRESSIVISM ....................................................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER 2: GENRE AND EMOTIONAL ROLES IN K-16 POETRY WORKSHOPS ......... 99 CHAPTER 3: (BI)LITERACY SPONSORSHIP IN LATIN@ AFTER-SCHOOL SPACES... 161 CHAPTER 4: TEACHING POLICE DISCOURSE AT BARRIO CENTER ............................ 235 CHAPTER 5: THE EMOTIONAL LABOR OF OUTREACH ................................................. 285 CONCLUSION: “HOT” CIVIC WRITING: STRATEGIZING THE EDGE ........................... 333 WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 354 APPENDIX A: FORUM PROMPT – EXPERIENCE IS THE SEED OF RESEARCH ........... 378 APPENDIX B: 4-PART REFLECTIVE BLOG (FALL 39C) ................................................... 379 APPENDIX C: POETS’ LETTER OF INTRODUCTION ........................................................ 381 APPENDIX D: K-12 LITERACY INTERVIEW ....................................................................... 382 APPENDIX E: ASYNCHRONOUS DISCUSSION BOARD (ADB) PROMPT ...................... 384 iii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. EMOTION IN ARISTOTLE AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY .................................. 9 FIGURE 2: WINTER 2012 HOT POETRY RECRUITMENT FLYER. ................................... 106 FIGURE 3. ELECTRONIC EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT (EEE) SCREENSHOT ....... 293 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My deepest appreciation goes to my wife Merilee, without whom I would never have had the strength to survive six years of full-time graduate education. In long walks together over these years, she discussed with me every aspect of the PhD program generally and of this dissertation in particular. Her support and guidance has been essential to this project in more ways than I can say. I also thank my daughter Kennedy for the hugs and giggles, and for all the other emotional communication she directed my way. Oddly, all her yelling and squealing clarified this project at the same time that it kept its importance in perspective. And I offer thanks to my parents, whose care for Kennedy gave me the time to write, and whose common-sense questions helped to clarify what I was up to. I could not have made it to the finish line without any of them. To those who appear in this study but who cannot be named in it – the poets, tutors, and writers of Irvine, the young students from the after-school centers and public schools, and the teachers and other educators who work there – I offer my profound thanks. If others find in this manuscript richness of experience, depth of feeling, or beauty of interpersonal connection, that is largely due to the writers whom I interviewed and observed, and to the adults who welcomed me into the spaces where this writing took place. Their choice not just to gather with me in reading and writing but also to stay with me during repeated rounds of questions deepened this investigation. This study is limited by my insights but not by their generosity or their patience. Dissertation director Jonathan Alexander has my deep gratitude for his work on my behalf both before and during the dissertation process. Talk about emotional labor: Jonathan never turned down a meeting and never expressed any doubts about my ability to finish (even when I gave him ample reason to do either). As my professor for several classes before the v dissertation and my guide during it, he constantly informed my research with composition scholarship present and past. Committee member Daniel Gross’s imprint on this research is also obvious to anyone familiar with the intersection of emotions and rhetoric. I thank him for holding me to a disciplined and historical understanding of both those topics. I also appreciate his generous but pointed feedback throughout the writing process; he often pushed me to find a through-line in my argument and to take a stand when the evidence warranted it. Julia Lupton’s contribution to this research was essential, and not just because the Humanities Out There program she created made possible most of the literacy partnerships I describe. She responded with equanimity, kindness, and insight to my analysis of that program’s virtues and shortcomings. The many “greats” Julia placed in the margins of my drafts, as well as the few well placed “have you considereds?” assured me that this writing was indeed meaningful communication for an actual audience. Without that conviction the process would have been lonely and the product stilted. There are hundreds of others who contributed in one way or another, and I will do my best to thank them here, though the ecology of writing for even a single study like this is broader than I can acknowledge or even know. I thank Susan Jarratt of Comparative Literature for helping me to think through the public sphere with the help of classical rhetoric, critical theory, and contemporary composition. Also, for forgiving me for spilling red wine on her rug and sofa. To Steve Mailloux I offer thanks for introducing me to the world of rhetorical studies and for providing feedback along the way. To Brad Queen I offer thanks for modeling how to conduct oneself during the job search process and for supporting my attendance at conferences where I developed this research. I thank Steve vi Parks and Eli Goldblatt for giving me advice when I needed it and contributing scholarship when I asked for it, and for assuring me that the circle of community-engaged scholars extended beyond the walls of the conferences and campuses I knew. I also thank Lynda Haas for being my first mentor in composition and for saying yes to service-learning when it was just a crazy idea I had about teaching composition. I also thank Tira Palmquist for seconding that motion and for asking productive questions about my learning and writing outcomes for that course. Of the many brilliant professors in the UCI English Department I want first to thank Jayne Lewis for observing my class and writing endless letters of recommendation on my behalf, and Elizabeth Allen for mentoring me and challenging me in my teaching of poetry. Rodrigo Lazo I thank for doing the same, and for guiding me in forming Chicano Studies on my lists. I also thank Arlene Keizer for African American studies and critical race theory. I thank Alejandro Morales for teaching me Chicano poetry and modeling the OC international life. And Richard Godden, without whom I would never have published an article on Faulkner. To him and Michael Szalay I offer thanks for pushing me into a field I love: rhetoric and composition. Others in the English Department deserve my thanks for fulfilling duties ranging from offering job advice to finding copy codes and processing paperwork: Virginia Jackson, Kitty Roos, Jennifer Day, Robert Escalante, Malcolm Bourne, Kazumo Washizuka, Tomas Figueroa, and Christina Jung. I thank Patricia Pierson, Barry Siegel, Blake Kimsey, and Erika Hayasaki for introducing me to the wonderful world of literary journalism. To my colleagues in the fall ‘08 English cohort – Erin Sweeney, Ian Jensen, Samantha Cohen, Selamawit Terrefe, Brian Fonken, Anna Finn, Jenny Liou, and Rosanna Nunan – I extend thanks for their rivalry, wit, and critique. Of those a step ahead of us in ’07, I single out Brian Garcia and Erin Pearson for modeling grace as scholars and camaraderie as conference-goers. Ricardo Matthews, I also thank for reminding vii me that literary study can be professional and passionate without being instrumental. Also, he threw great parties and offered useful parenting advice. But of all my fellow grads I owe the deepest thanks to the Rhet-Comp Grad Collective, who made for great reading and writing partners. They are: Abraham Romney, whom I thank for advice and resources on the dissertation, for feedback on early drafts, for guidance through the job market gauntlet, and for being a great conference roommate and perpetual tech guru; Libby Catchings, my Irvine sister, to whom I give thanks for threading the composition program with me and for swapping baby tales; Elaina Taylor who set me up with a gig; and Maureen Fitzsimmons, Jens Lloyd, and Jasmine Lee, who pulled me into courses in my 4th and 5th year, tolerated my “democratic” leadership