On Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020, Henri Lefebvre broke my nose.
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Henri Lefebvre is my not-quite-one-year-old cat, who honored his namesake when he tried to squeeze through the railings on my balcony (fourteen floors up) and walk along the narrow ledge on the other side of the glass partition. That is to say: he inspired arrhythmia: "It is only in suffering that a particular rhythm breaks apart," LeFebvre (the theorist, not the kitten) tells us"; thereby "enabl[ing] the analytic intellect to function (p. 37). Suffering (of course) = broken nose. Which I earned when I lunged to catch Henri, catching his tail with my hand and the concrete wall with my face.
Henri (pictured right) approached the suffering irreverently. I approached it reflectively. Or, as LeFebvre (again, the philosopher) might say: my analytical function kicked in. As I made my way to the doctor (then another doctor, then another doctor), I scrambled to reschedule Zoom sessions, relinquish other responsibilities, and notify colleagues about dips in productivity. Throughout, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to keep up with my responsibilities through the end of the semester. As I received generous and caring responses, however, I grew more and more appreciative of the digital communities of which I am a member.
So, this blog post is not about Henri (the kitten) breaking my nose. Rather, it's a very brief celebration of some ways in which colleagues have been socially proximate while we have to be geographically distant.
The CCDP Digital Fellows are already geographically distant, but we've become more socially proximate. To risk redundancy: CCDP Digital Fellowships are highly digital. Not only do we get to help produce and promote digital publications--but we also get to do so through digital networks. From Phoenix, Arizona, I've digitally crossed layers
of state lines to gain colleagues in Ohio (Mandy), Illinois (Charles),
and Michigan (Ruth).
Here are just three ways in which my CCDP community has digitally supported me since the switch to online:
- Mandy doesn't know this, but I've been following her Twitter posts about the Howe Center for Writing Excellence (@HCWEMiami) and its write-a-sauruses. I now not only want a write-a-saurus, but I want to write about write-a-sauruses.
- Through reviewing and writing about Charles' podcast with some of the editors of The Rhetoric of ParticipationThe Rhetoric of Participation, I have developed an idea for leaning into my habit of spending excessive amounts of time on feedback by reimagining feedback as participatory. (Still reuminating on this one.)
- Ruth's poetry (I won't spoil it for you, since you'll see it in another post!) reminded me of how I was once deeply affected by Cynthia Haynes' "Writing Offshore," and how I might be more and differently affected now.
My colleagues and I in ASU's Department of English have been geographically proximate since I joined ASU in Fall 2017--but in the wake of The Event, I have found myself particularly thankful for the ways in which we have retained (and in some ways, maximized) our social proximity since our classes went online after Spring Break. Through Zoom With Us! sessions, Doris Warriner (professor of Writing, Rhetorics, and Literacies and facilitator of all things Ross-Blakley Hall), has connected colleagues across all programs and across Maricopa Country. Four times each week, amny of us gather to talk about all kinds of things--from television to teaching to scholarship. Perhaps mom importantly, though, Dr. Warriner shared with me her favorite smoked mac n' cheese recipe.
In sum: I hope that this blog post, rather than a too-brave kitten and a broken nose, prompt you to consider the ways in which your own communities have soxially proximate through digital networks.
References
Haynes, Cynthia. (2003). Writing offshore: The disappearing coastline of Composition theory. JAC, 23 (4), 667-724.
LeFebvre, Henri. (1992/2004). Rhythmanalysis. Stuart Elden & Gerald Moore (Trans.). Bloomsbury.
Woods, Charles. (2020, April 13). What does it mean to participate? Computers and Composition Digital Press. https://ccdigitalpress.org/blog/2020/04/13/what-does-it-mean-to-participate