“… What writers do should free us up, shake us up. Open avenues of compassion and new interests. Remind us that we might, just might, aspire to become different, and better, than we are. Remind us that we can change.” - Susan Sontag, At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches.
I identify with this quote quite easily. Freedom, shake-up, compassion, difference, change… These are words that resonate with me. Writing for me too is liberating, emancipatory… I can grow in ways that I cannot using other means of expression. Writing is my way of expressing myself.
I do like being provocative when I write but not confrontational or offensive. For instance, inflammatory posts on Twitter offend me, even when I wholly agree with the content and position. Shaking up gently works for me. The responses tend to be more useful.
Compassion feels like a desperate need, for me, for others perhaps. Almost like the air we need to breathe. Though I associate compassion more often with ‘listening’ and ‘reading’. Giving voice to others in writing doesn’t seem compassionate to me – it’s a tricky sort of appropriation. At the moment, I’m more interested in ‘doing’ compassion than ‘expressing’ it but I’m aware that this is just where I am now.
Difference is simply the most important concept in education and scholarship. Learning and teaching is all about working with difference in the broadest possible meaning of the word, as far as inclusion.
Finally, change is for me the best evidence of learning something new. I would even go as far as saying that if there is no change there is no learning at the risk of overgeneralising.
Freedom, shake-up, compassion, difference, change
Today I’d like to comment on this quote:
“… What writers do should free us up, shake us up. Open avenues of compassion and new interests. Remind us that we might, just might, aspire to become different, and better, than we are. Remind us that we can change.” - Susan Sontag, At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches.
I identify with this quote quite easily. Freedom, shake-up, compassion, difference, change… These are words that resonate with me. Writing for me too is liberating, emancipatory… I can grow in ways that I cannot using other means of expression. Writing is my way of expressing myself.
I do like being provocative when I write but not confrontational or offensive. For instance, inflammatory posts on Twitter offend me, even when I wholly agree with the content and position. Shaking up gently works for me. The responses tend to be more useful.
Compassion feels like a desperate need, for me, for others perhaps. Almost like the air we need to breathe. Though I associate compassion more often with ‘listening’ and ‘reading’. Giving voice to others in writing doesn’t seem compassionate to me – it’s a tricky sort of appropriation. At the moment, I’m more interested in ‘doing’ compassion than ‘expressing’ it but I’m aware that this is just where I am now.
Difference is simply the most important concept in education and scholarship. Learning and teaching is all about working with difference in the broadest possible meaning of the word, as far as inclusion.
Finally, change is for me the best evidence of learning something new. I would even go as far as saying that if there is no change there is no learning at the risk of overgeneralising.