NBC has been addressing the Education
Crisis this week. Only lower education,
however. Higher seems ok--or under
the radar.
Toward a Theory of Communication
Fiction and Transcendence
(conversation as resource)
My classes are a waste of time. No other
evaluation can be reached from the stand
point and perspective of any normal class
—with its emphasis and value on agenda,
covering ground, getting R done: & rigor.
The difference is something like (on the one
hand) the collective constellating of clusters
of loose associations & possibilities, scattered
metaphors, false starts, digressions & trans-
gressions, playful & confrontational oppositions,
emerging phenomenon & values, probably no
closure but open ended pretty much like how
you daydream driving to Connecticut, say, or
Cleveland. The destination, in this case, don't
matter: it’s the road trip going on and on that
counts—
and then on the other hand, the linear,
sequential & consequential stay-on-task-
driven progress getting to Hartford or
Santa Cruz is what counts and not the
journey, damnit. .
Converse Action
Converse Action is the subject matter of my
courses. Content is mere token for the play
of converse.
And so: content is slighted and sacrificed
in my classes the way context and converse-
action is ignored in them other courses.
Nothing I can say will justify my
figure / background reversal to
those for whom CONTENT is
what counts.
But I say it’s converse-action that counts.
Content is galore
hey, how you doon;
nice day' e -= mc squared,
polar bears are dying;
mountain tops are slaughtered
for coal and houses; use semi-
colon to link main clauses with
out independent conjunctions;
subvert dominant paradigms;
Justin tosses his hair annoyingly;
Christine O’Donnel’s got prettier
teeth than Palin…etc.
How much of that is information and
how much mere phatic communion.
A ME any ME, me-ing?
It doesn’t matter, the topic, what’s
always being communicated is see
me, hear me, touch me, feed me…
please.
aka: Relationship: Strokes & Status.
Fitting in and fitting out and how do
you like them apples? How do you
like me?
No, seriously: do you like ME? (I would
never ask that directly, but it’s implicit &
carried in every utterance I make. )
If you are caught paying your attention
efficiency to the topic, content. subject
matter, the course-going-on, say, any
class-day, the argument in Glad, the
resolutions in caucus and forum: you will
naturally think that THAT’s what’s going
on—the subject matter.
But it’s not.
Well, it is—it’s the means and media for
the message or massage: for what is
called
RELATIONSHIP
Message is media for the massage.
Cheap example: two significant others fight
and carry on and on over who paid the
Charter Bill, who took out the trash, who
changed the litter or the baby last, who filled
the tank—or didn’t—doesn’t matter, that’s
the point: take your pick It's not about any
of that..
Unless we are involved in the tangle ourselves,
We KNOW it’s not about what it appears to
be about. It’s about the RELATIONSHIP
Need we argue? The fighting is token topic
for Relationship-Going-On and if one makes
that observation, the other is just as likely to say
“NO, damnit,
it IS about the TRASH”
not wanting to shift from figure to background,
from text to context, because topic is easier to
handle than RELATIONSHIP
If you buy that, then consider the lecturer at the
podium discoursing on global warming or steep
slope management or Near East relationship, or
extending tax cuts—that it’s NOT about that
but rather : see me, hear me, touch me, feed me
And if you’ll grant me that, then I can talk about
how-it-is CONVERSATION (converse action)
is what counts in my classes—whatever the
token topics are used as means: our deepest
untapped resource and local food. .
Converse-Action: live, in-performance be-here-now
talk in air or on paper or screen: the back & forth
ping & pong interaction of minds calling & responding,
words educing words, notions & ideas in play or
controversy: metaphor & bias & belief systems
controlling & shaping and calling each other into
question, an entity one walks away from wondering
how could I possible have said that? The conversation
made me do it. etc.
Converse- Action like any actual real-time rugby
game going on, or jazz jam improv happening unless
it's dead, scripted, focused on task and then mostly
predictable, instrumental, utilitarian, good for
getRdone, rubric estimating improvemental
calibrating,measuremental documentation
and accreditation.
Need we argue? That would be good.
Redeeming, actually Live converse
even on screen. Our most
neglected educational
resource.
xxxooo, Sam
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