Author: courtneyelizabethking

Civil servant, former language educator, prone to novel-seeking behavior.

Lessons Learned in a Tortuous Job Search

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I began searching for jobs in late February, as soon as I was certain of my next zip code. I applied to a handful of positions in my future town that perfectly fit the degree I was working toward. Adjunct Composition jobs are so stigmatized by some in the academy that we are led to believe that they are, in fact, easy to acquire. I assumed that I could just breeze into one of these jobs. It’s just an adjunct job, right? How wrong I was. Jobs are not plentiful right now and everyone is clamoring for them as desperately as you are. You have to stand out among an applicant pool with nearly identical qualifications.

I have learned volumes about applying for jobs during the course of my search and have volumes more to learn before I land that ideal job. Since I started my search, my cover letters have become more fine-tuned, my CV has become more transparent and informative, and my applications are not being thrown out immediately after I submit them. I am waiting to hear from nine employers at the moment and the delay can be excruciating. In the meantime, I’ve compiled a list of things that I think have helped and hurt me in my job search. Feel free to use this as a guide to help you start out a stronger applicant than I did.

Things that have worked against me in my job search (and how to combat them):

  • My youth
    • I am completely qualified on paper for many jobs that I will never get simply because I am too young. One glance at my CV and some quick math will tell potential employers that I’m only 24 and to them that translates to careless, green, and flighty. I am none of those things, but not everyone will take the time to find that out.
    • This isn’t something I can adjust in my CV, but I can respond to this concern in my cover letters by emphasizing my youthful passion and excitement for my work. I can highlight the positive side of youth and the energy that a candidate like me would bring to a workplace.
  • My recent graduation date
    • Nothing spells “inexperienced” quite like a 2013 graduation date. Yes, I have ample and impressive experience for my age and my position, but few employers want to take a chance by giving someone their first job out of college. Nevermind the teaching I did in and out of my M.A. program, this will still technically be my first “real” job out of my graduate program.
    • There’s no real way to work around this. I just have to hope for an employer who is willing to take a risk on me. I do, however, make sure to mention in my cover letters how recently coming from a graduate program makes me fresher and more up-to-date on pedagogical theories and practices.
  • My address
    • Some employers will not take the time to read applications from out-of-state applicants. They often assume that you are wildly applying to jobs across the nation hoping something will stick. Why hire someone who might not move to the job?
    • If you are in my situation and are applying to  jobs in a very small geographical area, be sure to mention that in your cover letter. I always begin with a casual “I recently acquired my Master’s of Arts in English Literature from Washington State University and will be moving to Mount Pleasant, MI this summer.” If you can, use your future address in your application materials.
  • Shooting too high
    • This is a sad point to make, but an important one. Don’t limit yourself only to jobs that spell out the highest degree you have. Having the required qualifications does not make you a good candidate for a job. Consider the market. Often hundreds of people in the area are as qualified or more qualified for the position than you. I recently applied for a  job in the small town I’m moving to in which 108 other applicants were notified of the position closing. 108! I knew that I was at the low-end of the requirements for this job, so I began branching out.
    • Look for jobs for which you might be not just a suitable candidate, but a stellar candidate. I was probably among the least qualified applicants for that job with 108 applicants, but I may be the most qualified applicant for a job that only requires a Bachelor’s or a high school diploma. Try to be someone’s star applicant.

Things that (I believe) have worked to my advantage in my job search:

  • Reliable transportation
    • For graduation, I got a 2009 Ford Focus from my grandma. This car gets great mileage, handles well, and gets me where I need to go safely. So long as she survives the drive from WA to MI, this car opens up my application possibilities considerably. I know that not everyone has a grandmother willing to buy them a reliable car, and for that I am very privileged.
    • If you have a car or can get one affordably, use this to your advantage. If I didn’t have a car, I would only be eligible to apply for 7/16 jobs I have currently applied for. This investment will pay off.
  • Diverse experience
    • The summer between my first and second years of my M.A. program I applied for an ESL teaching  job I found on a listserv. I was not traditionally qualified for this job, but the fact that they posted it on the WSU graduate student listserv only three weeks from the start date told me they might be willing to take a chance on me. I wrote a heartfelt cover letter that said something to the effect of “what I lack in experience I make up for in enthusiasm.” It’s a corny sentiment, but it made the difference between me and more qualified applicants who approached the job without the excitement I had. At the interview I demonstrated my passion and that was reflected in the administrators. They seemed as excited to give me the opportunity as I was to take it. I got the job, loved it, and was able to add five lines to my CV about the five distinct courses I taught in this program. My experience in that program got me the job I have now teaching ESL Composition at WSU. Now, I’m able to apply for ESL composition jobs, Intensive English jobs, and have a great foundation should I ever go back for a M.A. in TESOL.
    • Take every opportunity to volunteer, intern, or work in adjacent fields. The more diverse your experience, the more jobs you can justifiably apply for.

Of course, I am still unemployed so my advice is far from perfect. I just wanted to share some insights from someone currently in the throes of the application process for those of you who might soon be coming upon this momentous time yourselves. Best of luck to you, unless you happen to be applying in the Mount Pleasant, MI area. In that case, I do not wish to help you.

Courtney Elizabeth King M.A.

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It isn’t a particularly impressive title, but I earned it.

Today I officially graduate with a Master’s of Arts in English Literature. I decided not to walk, so my closure comes from writing this blog post and exchanging blurry-eyed embraces with the dear friends I’ve made in this program. Washington State may not have been the perfect fit for me on paper, far from it, but I’ve grown more as an academic, as an educator, and as a person at this university than I believe I could have anywhere else.  The people here have been supportive and inspiring and I am ultimately thankful for this experience.

My single regret in coming here is born from the cynicism about the future of the humanities that runs rampant in our department. This has not worn well on me, and has caused me to spend many sleepless nights pondering my own worth. In departmental meetings, in the halls, and over coffee, my colleagues and I have engaged in endless conversations about how disposable our field, and by proxy, we are. I have not spoken with one of my cohort members who is completely certain that they made the right decision by getting this degree. Seeds of self-doubt and self-hatred have been planted not by people in the sciences or the media, but by our own mentors and friends.

I have fallen prey to this worrisome negativity just as much as the next graduate student. However, after much fretful consideration, my liberal arts background makes me certain that there will always be a place for the arts and humanities, although it may not be in the public university. I believe that the university as we know it will be completely restructured in the next 5-15 years and that people will be reintroduced to the joys of literature in new ways. Perhaps this will be through MOOCs or Google Hangout book clubs. Or, more likely, it will be through a new application of technology we have yet to discover. This is not a bad thing and it is far from a death knoll for what we do. It’s just a metamorphosis. Above all, we, the Literature instructors and professors, must advocate for our own field and not become victims to the rhetoric of our own impracticality. Being practically useful is not the only value in our world and we cannot risk forgetting that. After all, valuing beauty is what brought most of us to this field to begin with. Or have we forgotten that too?

Time makes even the brightest believer cynical. I realize that. As an 18 year-old freshman in college I was just as confident in my English major as I was my Political Science minor and my Environmental Studies minor. These three fields held equal weight to me. No one in the Oz that is Truman State would consider telling me that my major was impractical. In fact, I never heard the “You’ll never get a job” talk from any of my professors. They all seemed equally certain that I could become a professor just like them, and live an idyllic life at the Harvard of the Midwest or a comparable liberal arts school where teaching is valued over publications. I believed them. Soon after, I found out that there are no comparable schools. Our Princeton of the Prairie is unparalleled in its selectivity, value, and setting. Rural, publicly funded, secular liberal arts colleges are unfortunately not commonplace. Trumanites are very much in a bubble. A bubble in a wheat field.

WSU is also in a wheat field, but in a bubble we are not. The real world hits hard on this campus. In the short time I have been here, we have experienced a sinister wave of violence and unrest among students who consider college to be not a vital part of career preparation, but a roaring fun life stage.* Activism is not the norm here; apathy is. This attitude our students exude is reflected in us. We cannot help but absorb some of their disinterest in the academy and the literature we try so hard to promote. It is difficult not to lose our lustre. However, what we (hopefully still) have and what we can forever hold onto is our intellectual excitement. The joy we gain from books and from writing is what put us where we are. If we lose that, we have lost the battle. I refuse to give that up. I still read books for pleasure. In fact, the books I read for my classes bring me unmeasurable happiness. Writing my thesis was one of the most wonderfully fulfilling tasks I’ve accomplished yet. And yes, I still love Virginia and plan on rereading some of her work this summer. I refuse to give up on something I hold so very dear. It is too delightful to be profitable. But it is likewise too important to let die.

 

 

*For the record, I am not against having fun in college. I’m against the notion that every person should graduate from high school and go to college because it’s what Americans do. Go to college because it’s what you want to do.

Teaching Technologies and Android App Feature: AndroClass – Teacher Tablet ($9.99)

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Since my last blog post I’ve found an app with which I can manage my class completely. I take attendance, record grades, assign groups using a random student generator, and make notes about class period goals all in one easy to navigate app called AndroClass. It’s available in a tablet app for $9.99 and a tablet compatible phone app for $5.

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The catch? The set up takes some time, patience, and willingness to play around with the interface. I was up to the challenge one afternoon and set the whole thing up in just a few hours. As long as you follow the well-explained format, you can import an entire class from a .csv file. You can include the students’ ID numbers, birthdays, special needs, etc. all at once. This is a major plus. Manually entering each student would be exhausting, but I simply downloaded a .csv file from my university’s course management website, made some adjustments to fit the program’s requirements, and voila! I had my class ready to go.

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I spent the beginning of a class period playing photo booth so I could have each of my students’ photos attached to their names in AndroClass. Now I can quiz myself on my students’ names and take attendance without yelling names and interrupting their work time. This is the quickest that I’ve learned a class’s names. Now when students come in for conferences early in the semester I will be able to pull up an overview of their progress with out asking “And what’s your name again?”

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The very best thing about this app is its developer. German developer Andreas Schilling and I have exchanged quite a few emails with my ill-informed questions. He responds very quickly with thorough and helpful answers. For a developer who has to answer questions in multiple languages from frantic instructors worldwide, I am very impressed. This is top-rate customer service.

Teaching Technologies and Android

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As part of my technologies series I would like to discuss the apps I use on my Android tablet to make my life as a teacher easier and more enjoyable. I won’t mention apps for iPad users because I have no experience with Apple products. Plenty of more useful and extensive guides exist for iPad users. I will make a note of the applications that are cross-platform (available for iOS and Android devices) by marking them with an asterisk (*). What I look for in a good application:

  • Usability
  • Cost (preferably free)
  • Compatibility (with Word and other common programs)

As a graduate student, I don’ t have the luxury of buying extra programs on a whim, especially if I might find that they don’t serve my purposes. The multitude of free, high-quality apps to choose from in the Google Play store makes owning an Android tablet a dream for me. I will say that I usually download 3-6 apps that all do essentially the same thing, try them each out, and then uninstall the ones that were not up to par.

A few of my favorites:

1. Kingsoft Office (Free)

This application has been a game changer for me. My students submit all of their papers electronically into the cloud. From there I download their file onto my computer at home and then provide feedback through margin comments. Until recently, I was unable to do this on my tablet because it doesn’t support Microsoft Word. I tried Splashtop Streamer 2 as a remote desktop to solve this issue (see below) but this is an even easier to use and smoother option.

A dream come true.

2. Splashtop Streamer 2 (Free or $9.99/year)*

Splashtop Streamer is a remote desktop app. It allows me to access my home computer from my tablet on any wireless connection! This features costs around $10/year but if you primarily use your tablet and computer in the same place/same wireless connection you can use the free version.

Android users will delight to see this: Microsoft Word!

3. Mindjet (Free)*

This app works with Box.com and is fantastic for brainstorming. Have students create a mind map for their projects as an assignment directly in the Box.com interface, and upload it from there!

It’s even easier than pen and paper!

4. Box (Free)*

A nifty app to keep your Box.com files easily accessible.

Nifty!

Do you feel slighted because I forgot your pet app? Please, share them in the comments!

Teaching Technologies and WordPress

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I’ve spent the last few days focusing on online resources for teaching ENGL 101. My course this semester uses Colorado State’s Writing Studio for their course management site and although I like many of the features of this website (including their fantastic guides) I feel like I could be doing more with technology to make my class accessible, engaging, and multimodal. Some of my colleagues use WordPress as their course website and because I have years of experience with WordPress, I figured I might give it a try.

I chose the ever so corny URL http://englishoneohone.wordpress.com. I know it’s goofy, but so am I, and I feel like that’s a vital part of keeping open lines of communication with your students. I set up the basics: menus with my assignment descriptions (still in progress), my contact info, links to other websites with resources they need, etc. I always feel somewhat limited in what I can do with a wordpress.com blog due to the javascript restrictions, however, in this process I discovered a few key tools that WordPress offers that might be useful to other teacher/bloggers out there.

1. Milestone

Available in the widgets menu, this tool allows you to display a countdown to an important date or deadline (mine is the due date of their first assignment) in the side column of your blog. This can offer a little visual reminder of how much time they have to work on their papers before the due date without me verbally nagging them every day.

2. Box

I explored Box because it too has been added as a standard WordPress widget. Because I know that WordPress is selective in which widgets they add, I decided to check this service out. Much to my delight, I found that Box offers many of the features we’re used to with Dropbox, but with 5 GB of free storage and tons of apps to make the service more usable. These apps include not only the standard Windows/Mac/Android/iOS applications, but also multiple apps to allow you to annotate PDFs, apps that allow you to print directly from Box, and above all, InstallFree Nexus. This app works in the Box platform and allows any user with a web browser to utilize the full capabilities of Microsoft Word . . . for free! This is a game changer for teachers who often run into the issue of students not owning a copy of Word and therefore finding it hard to get to a computer lab to write. Now they can read our comments and even compose directly from this web-based app! Above all, WordPress had the insight to add it as a widget where students can directly access files or click on the Box link to upload their assignments to a class folder.

3. Scribd

Scribd is a fantastic service that allows you upload files and then integrate them into your website or blog. If you click on my CV link, you will find that Scribd is hosting my CV and allowing this aesthetically pleasing alternative to download links right on WordPress. After you upload a file, you simply choose how you want to embed it, in this case you select “WordPress” and they provide you with a WordPress-ready code. Voila!

4. Google Calendar

I’ve long been a fan of Google Calendar (and all Google services) but only recently tried implementing it into a blog. This is another simple process in which you locate the embed link on your Google Calendar page, copy and paste it into the page you choose, and WordPress does the rest for you. I plan to keep a Google Calendar updated with all of the assignment deadlines for my upcoming ENGL 101 course.

These are just the few that excited me. If you have others, please share in the comments section!

The Home Stretch

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Compulsory Space Needle image.

Today I signed up for my last semester of classes as a master’s student. I am taking a course entitled Regionalism, Race, and Nationalism in Late 19th and Early 20th c. American Fiction taught by Dr. Donna Campbell. I am looking forward to this class as well as an opportunity to shadow Dr. Leeann Hunter‘s Women Writers course. What an exciting spring!

Earlier this fall I presented at the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association‘s conference in Seattle. I had a fantastic time exploring the city and presenting my paper. My presentation employed Judith Halberstam’s theory of Queer Temporality on the Victorian prostitute and explored the ways in which women of the time could have used prostitution as a means to agency. My paper was very well-received. I was lucky enough to present on one of three Women and Work panels, led by Dr. Susanne Weil. I love presenting my work and this was perhaps the most supportive and fun conference I’ve attended. The keynote was Sandra Cisneros who put on a spectacular reading of some of her poems and her most recent work Have You Seen Marie? Her spirit and energy had the whole crowd in tears and was personally moving and inspirational.

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In our hotel before my presentation at PAMLA.

The primary theme of this semester has been self-motivation. I have started waking up around 6AM every morning in order to take full advantage of each and every day. Through this I have been able to integrate a daily writing regime, better time management skills, and a more self-reliant and affordable daily routine (making my own breakfast, lunch, coffee, and tea.) This leaves me with more time in the evenings to do the things I love like knitting, baking, and mindlessly watching television with my partner.

The primary motivation for this new schedule is my thesis. I am two chapters in at this point and I feel confident that I will finish by my self-imposed February 1st deadline. My committee is made up of three wonderful WSU faculty members and I am excited to hear more feedback as my writing progresses. My thesis is about Virginia Woolf’s use of  écriture féminine mecanique, my thoroughly modernist reinvention of Cixous and Kristeva’s paramount theory of bodily women’s writing. I am tentatively using To the Lighthouse, The Waves, and Orlando as my textual foundations. I’ll keep the blog up to date with further developments!

Conferences, Composition, and Conversation, oh my!

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What a whirlwind of a semester!

Daniela, Me, Aree, Sarah, and Owen after our presentation at LSU’s Mardi Gras Conference.

Since my last update I presented at LSU’s Mardi Gras Conference with several of my colleagues. We formed a panel entitled BAM! POW! CRASH!: The Under-Appreciated Power of Comics as Social Texts. My paper was on David B.’s Epileptic and discussed his work as applied to disability studies. My paper title was “Seizures, Samurai, and Saving the Family: Epileptic’s Reappropriation of Disability Stereotypes” and I feel like the panel was well-received. I enjoyed attending this graduate level conference, but look forward to pursuing larger and more prominent conferences in the upcoming semesters.

My ENGL 101 course is going well. I have been struggling to keep up with my grading, but that pain is self-inflicted. Seven writing assignments in a semester? Never again! The students seem to have enjoyed the format of the course otherwise, so I will be integrating some of my original ideas into my next syllabus with much more sensible applications. I have loved teaching Composition this semester and cannot wait to be able to focus my energies exclusively on teaching.

I received word today that I was accepted to a position at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, ID this summer working for their Institute of Intensive English where I will be tutoring and monitoring the language lab as well as teaching a Conversation course. This will be a fantastic opportunity to work with international students and experience an ELL classroom. Wonderful professional development and well worth the hour commute.

Additionally, I will be participating in the grading positions the university offers to 101 instructors. In this position I will be reading entrance exams and placing the students into an introductory composition course. This job will be sporadic and I will only be able to attend about a session a week due to conflicts with my IIE job, but it seems like a great way to experience the testing side of college composition.

I have submitted proposals to a few semi-local conferences for next semester including but not limited to PAMLA and Sirens.

I’ll try to keep the blog updated more frequently in the future.

Asterios Polyp & Fun Home: Two Critically Acclaimed Graphic Novels with Nothing in Common

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Okay, they have some things in common, such as involving words and images, being bound into books, and being created by humans.

If you’re still waiting to be convinced that graphic novels are a valid form, I have two examples to convince the most skeptical reader and rebuttals to a few of the more common arguments against the 9th art.

Comics are for children. The graphic novel is just an extended form of the Sunday funnies.

Now that is funny.

I completely understand the common tendency to assume that all things comic-related are childish, easily digestible, and base. This is a long-held assumption in the Western world. The association is backed by the simplicity of images, the superhero association, and the 10-year-old male audience base for newspaper comics we all know so well. The graphic novel certainly can take on this form, but many of the biggest names in the field work against these associations. Take a look at David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp for a moment and reconsider.

CMYK Sophistication

Mazzucchelli uses CMYK to make meaning in his text, giving the two main characters more dimension through colorization. He uses drawing styles to denote conflict between characters. He uses images to say something about the subtleties of romance that words fail to convey. A master both of word and image, Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece could be broken up into individual images and praised page for page, but as a medium to tell a moving and devastating story, it is more than just a sequence of breathtaking imagery. It is likewise more than a moving written story.

Simplistic?
For children?

Graphic novels are dumbed down and too simple. They’re for people who can’t read and need images to help them understand what’s going on.

Wow, anonymous critic, you’ve led me to my next point perfectly! If Asterios Polyp disproves the misconception that the images in graphic novels are simplistic, Allison Bechdel’s Fun Home does the same for the words between those images.

Key Term: Tragicomic

In Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic we see the boundaries of comics simultaneously upheld and crossed. Detailing the events of Bechdel’s unusual childhood and strained relations with both of her parents, Fun Home is meticulously pieced together, producing something more archival and literary than one might expect. While maintaining traditional panel layouts throughout most of the comic, the content is often text-based and life-like. The reader feels like a voyeur pouring over every suspect detail of Bechdel’s life. Unlike the autobiographical comic that one might expect in which an explicit chronological narrative unfolds by illustrating those events which make for a good story, Bechdel includes painstakingly recreated pages from her diary entries, from her father’s letters, from literary texts, maps and even her family’s behemoth dictionary to create a non-chronological masterpiece that reads more like a novel, interwoven with literary parallels than a standard autobiography.

Text overpowers image

The text so predominates the image that I’ve heard others say that they found it difficult to read. I don’t necessarily agree. I found it wildly engaging and well-written, riddled with references to classic literature (both of Bechdel’s parents are English teachers. How could she resist?) and effectively convincing the reader to stay captivated. It is her obsessive nature which makes Fun Home such a hit. If Bechdel had lost her childhood diaries, had not found her father’s police records, posed for each image in the novel (proof below), the novel would not have the precision which makes it so impossible to put down.

Let's just pause here for a moment.

Without the images, Bechdel’s story would still be phenomenal. She would still be a gifted writer and I would probably still appreciate her work. When juxtaposed with her simple yet explicit images (clearer and more exact images representing archival recreations and classic comic style representing elements of the story) it is another masterpiece of its own right.

You’re very convincing, Courtney. Where should I look for more graphic novels?

Well, anywhere books are sold, my dear lady! There are so many choices out there! I’ve introduced you to two of my favorites, but you might also consider two others, Craig Thompson’s Blankets or Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World. In the upcoming weeks I’ll have a review of David B.’s Epileptic on this very blog. Here’s a list of the basics if you’re interested in diving in!

 

Book Review: Comp Tales: An Introduction to College Composition through Its Stories

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My edition of Comp Tales

Update: This post has been published in Truman State University’s Master’s level publication, The Wide Net!

Let me preface this review by saying that I am not anti-transparency. I do not think that the academy should keep secrets, that there should be inside information that the public cannot attain. My primary issue with this text is a small one: the misleading subtitle. Let me know if you think I am reading too much into this, or if  you disagree and think that Comp Tales is a good way to introduce an “outsider” to the world of composition.

In an effort to collect some of the predominant lore of the composition academy, Richard H. Haswell and Min-Zhan Lu sent out a call for tales. They asked for diverse stories dealing with any element of the field, told to anyone involved (or not) about any and all things comp-related. In their call which was sent out to instructors and institutions in the field, they asked for “the whole range of professional tales. But they must be tales that you actually tell and pass on” (227). What was received and published was a wide-range of tales both praising and admonishing the academy, some standing up for composition and some putting it down. These tales feel authentic and heartfelt, offering some insight into the range of experiences in composition instruction. What was not included, however, was the voice of the student, the administrator, professors outside of the field, or the public. This collection is told from a singular perspective and intended for the same audience that created it: composition instructors.

This simple fact is not meant to demean the collection or its merit. It is certainly an entertaining and interesting resource for members of the field. Perhaps what I find most problematic is its misleading title, or more specifically its subtitle. No one can argue with Comp Tales, because the book contains just that. I do object, however, to the implication that this book can provide a sufficient or productive introduction to the field. If I had picked this book up in an effort to familiarize myself with the study of composition, I would be horrified. I would want nothing to do with the field as a student, administrator, or instructor. It reveals the overwhelming biases, conflicts, and injustices that dominate the field. It showcases some of the worst cases of instructor laziness and negligence (see tales 14, and 42 for prime examples) and highlights the petty disagreements and institutional misgivings that go on behind the scenes (tales 81, 91, 93, and most of the Professionalism chapter contain evidence of this.) This is information that members of the field are privy to. Few composition instructors will be surprised to hear that a department formed a boys’ club (tale 93). Fewer will read tale 92 in which a GTA treats his students with condescension and cruelty and not relate it to their own similar experience. This is what makes Comp Tales enjoyable and validating for us. But it is not the face of composition that we want to show the public.

As a newcomer to the field I have been flooded with tales of all kinds. The horror stories are always more engaging and build the teller’s ethos as a tough and capable member of the department. One must successfully deal with plagiarism, ignorance, and outright insolence before being awarded with the worthy instructor badge, and most graduate students are eager to tell you about how they’ve conquered all three. This compilation of tales includes plenty of stories along these lines, but also some disturbingly self-important tales which reveal the privileged position of the academy.

The section entitled “The Public” was particularly disturbing at times, when considering that an actual member of this “public” might pick up Comp Tales. In tale 85, for example, the conference bus driver, an often criticized member of the public who comes into contact with members of the academy is the star of this comical tale because he asks the storyteller if he uses “The Palmer Method” (a common method for teaching proper handwriting) in his classroom. Readers will guffaw at this silly man for not understanding how very important composition is and how irrelevant handwriting is to today’s classroom. This tale redeems itself in its explanation, the author stating “I sometimes tell this story to colleagues to illustrate how we need to do a better job of explaining our work to the general public” (104). Tale 83 features the patented position of superiority some teachers of composition take in order to combat the ignorance the public has about their careers. The teller of the tale responds to those outsiders who assume that composition instructors have an excess of free time and a simple, easy life by asking “How easy do you think it is to teach someone else how to think, and express their thoughts in a cohesive manner on a page?” (103). This sort of response, implying that we teach our students how to think, will not sit well with the public, especially those members of our public who see academia as a liberal propaganda machine. Tales like these reinforce the negative ideas that others hold about our profession.

What all of this really comes down to is an awareness of perceived and actual audience. Even a haphazard reading of Comp Tales will lead the reader to think that this book was intended exclusively for the academic elite*. It is a private discourse, one that might better be shared as a set of pamphlets, on a blog, or in its original form, as oral stories. Of course, this book is not a top-seller. It is not prominently sold at bookstores, nor is it something that might catch the eye of a passerby. It does, however, feature a misleading title that might intrigue someone with curiosities about the field. This discrepancy should have been at the forefront of these editors minds who clearly have quite a stake in valuing and upholding the legitimacy of their oft-chastised field of composition.

*If you can call composition the elite of the academy. Many in its ranks would argue it is far from it.