Albertson on Albertson and Lundsford

Lundsford strikes me as an excellent writer as well as an activist. For her, writing is the way to make positive changes - by her and by others.

Her concept of forgotten Memory or the art of memory is still not completely clear in my mind but I tried to express this idea to the extent that I understand.
When I come to a word or idea that I don't completely understand, it helps to discuss it with another student or teacher.

Collaboration. This is why I gave the writing assignment. I wanted the audience to experience 'collaboration,' one of several concepts this author refers to. I wanted you all to try to come up with a definition or if not, questions about it. At least it might build some background to help grasp some of the ideas I would present. I also mentioned that this exercise may help you to come up with questions for the Q& A part.

I believe I showed with examples that Lunds ford is a Feminist, influenced by her experiences and also the feminist issues coming to light when she was going on to higher education and entering an arena that has not always been friendly to women. I showed also that this is also a problem for people of color or non- anglos by heritage.

There was collaboration of feminist writers who recoverd the the women's voices, the female writers that were silenced by hegemony.

Collaboration was referred to by Lunsford as a fruitful method of writing. She explained that when she wrote with her friend Lisa Ede. One would sit at the computer typing while the other was composing. Their method was to talk - write - revise- talk -write -talk and revise and so on. There was important discussion that went on which included immediate feedback and also with four eyes a better way to check for conventions and fluency of their sentences.

Perhaps I should have described more how Lundsford writes as an individual. The idea that she must not cannot write until she can see the whole argument in her head. When she cannot find a point to critique , something to question, she may make herself sit on the couch for hours waiting for the idea come. She says she writes fairly quickly once she has it in her head but she absolutely hates to revise. She does have to especially when the publisher tells her so. She has learned to trust the publisher and others who reread her writing.

I believe I showed that Lundsford is always thinking of and identifying potential or real problems and then brainstorming some answers. Her concern for students coming into the doctoral program and not staying or students who do not get in made her write about the importance of mentors, and she gave a good example.

The reason for replacing the GRE is the same as the argument against the SAT for college bound; "that the scores always favor white students." Culturally, there may be questions that relate more to an Anglo American's experience than to a person of color or other different heritage. Then there is the problem of engagement. Are students involved in their education in meningful ways . Could they be collaborating with each other or with teachers on writing projects. Why not have a shared dissertations? a good topic to research. Lunsford celebrates a wider interpretation of English studies which she calls breathtaking imaginative projects. perhaps some Professors are not asopen to change as lundsford.

Finally she expresses her fears but also her hopes in the Gold rush for copy rights and ownership of Intellectual Property. With collaboration of writing projects comes the question of ownership. Who is the author. On the one hand there is good old American Greed. On the other side there are ideas for working together, having shared ownership. I attempted to give some examples of both. Lundsford's writing expresses still an optimism that there will be more shifting of values.

As a writer, I struggle with having too much to say or not explaining fully. I think the solution continues to be that I must narrow the topic and identify what is important and what is not.