Head to Head

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My relationship to “Petals on a Wet Black Bough” is rather more agonistic than Paul’s. I admire Vielstimmig’s achievement and bravery, and I see their work as a dare that I feel compelled to take. I think Paul is rather more in awe of their achievement than I am. Their learning - yes I agree is well demonstrated. Their achievement - on aesthetic grounds may be well realized. However, the readability, the fun factor involved while reading the text, could be improved upon. This is what I want to achieve here. I would like this document to be more exciting while still being academically relevant or at least competent.

I've been teaching advanced composition for a while and sometimes think it should be renamed advanced boredom. I accept that writing is a process that can be improved, but studying the same old genres seems a sure fire plan for beating all the interests out of students. In addition, rhetoric is about a bag of choices from which you take the best for your audience, context, purpose, etc. Why not scour new media and new forms for new strategies rather than kill ourselves with endless revisions and refinements of older forms?