There has been a lot about writing here lately that was interesting reading.

 I work at teaching writing and commenting as a professional on writing all week long. I look for a respite from that here.  I do make weird posts about my rhetoric research interests and assignments, but not about improving writing in general. If I was a plumber then I would not be on OS debating say the wisdom of copper vs. PVC pipes.  Did that all day already.

How I teach writing is stupidly simple. Ask my students -- yes, Dr. Fox is stupidly simple ;0).  And I have had to think about this because a new job application might require a new teaching philosophy (arrgggh --gnashing of teeth). Other writing teachers will understand why in a work setting I will throw around terms like social construction, revisiting the Western perceptions of Sophistic rhetoric, collaboration, structured group work,  and Freire.   This stuff would bore others to tears.  And rightfully so.

 Anyway nobody nowhere (wll fix the grammar later) writes well when they are psychologically or emotionally uncomfortable. So I work hard the first few weeks of class creating trust and an open atmosphere regardless of the approach I have chosen or that has been prescribed for me (rhetorical theory, literary theory , technical writing, service-learning etc.).  This is also regardless of whether I wake up that day thinking, "I love the world and people and must go see both" or (more likely) thinking, "I just want an hour or three more of sleep." Teaching is above all else performance.  If my luck sucks on a given Tuesday it is not my students' fault and I better be able to suck it up and be sociable and informative for an hour or so in their presence.  That is after all what I am paid to do.

 Really people tend to like being in class.  They work hard but they laugh and get to know each other.  And when possible we talk about comedy and funny stuff.

 OS is generally really good at making it possible for people to feel psychologically and emotionally comfortable while writing.  I would hate to see anyone not post because he or she fears unasked for editing.

I edited someone yesterday calling for better writing who in that call misspelled sentence, capitalize, and proofread.  If he or she had not been calling for higher standards in writing while not using them I would not have commented. I do apologize and regret my comment.  It was a cheap shot. In my defense in my comment I noted that I misspell or misuse words a lot.   Most of it is due to writing too fast, multi-tasking etc.  Some of it is still due to some cognitive damage from chemo that means on first drafts I often use a homonym or some other similar sounding word for the word I mean.  On the board in class the other day I wrote "deep" when I met "dip."  A student noticed and I explained my goofiness and asked her to keep noticing and telling me so I could make corrections.  This does not happen nearly as often as say in the early Fall so my situation is looking up ;0)

There are two writers here who have satirized or made comments about single mothers being less than others which make my skin crawl.   One is a man most likely and the other is a married mother.  Please just shut the f* up.  Obviously, that is a topic that gets to me.  I was once married but am now a single mother.  It is a tough, tough row to hoe.

I also teach many exhausted single mothers going to school on little sleep primarily  to improve the lives of their children.  I am friends with other single mothers whose children are at Tyler's daycare. What we have in common is that we are all dancing as fast as we can. Therefore, I will unleash otherwise worthless skills in discourse analysis on these two writers' vicious and unethical use of text about single mothers either for a cheap laugh or self-promotion.

That was a ramble. Sorry.

 Just trying to explain myself.

 Tyler and I are going to bed soon.