Mellix – E367: Writing and Diversity

Class, Fri, 9/13

Relating Mellix and Lu

Fastwrite

You might see Barbara Mellix and Min Lu as telling very similar stories— stories about the gaps between the discourses of “Home” and “School”, and the struggles that they experienced in shifting between them. In such a view, the only real differences between their two stories are the details, the particulars: South Carolina or Shanghai, the speech of “country coloreds” or the language of the “great books”, the University of Pittsburgh or the Revolutionary Workers School, and so on.

But is that really the case? Are Mellix and Lu really arguing the same thing, just with different examples? Or are there differences we might point to between the stances they take toward learning to write, toward mastering the discourse of school? Take a few minutes to see if you can identify some possible points of disagreement between the two pieces.

Language, Power, and Identity

John and Bridget respond to Mellix
Kate and Amanda respond to Lu

Of Interest

“Flagships Fail on Financial Equity“, Inside Higher Education, 9/12/2019.

To Do

Mon, 9/16, class: Read James Paul Gee’s “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics”. I will lead our discussion. I will want to make sure you feel you understand what Gee means by “primary” and “secondary” discourses, and to see if those concepts can help us better understand the pieces we’ve read so far
Mon, 9/16, 4:00 pm: Group C posts responses to Gloria Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”.
Tues, 9/17, 4:00 pm: Everyone else reads Group C’s responses and posts comments on at least two.
Wed, 9/18, 9/13, class: We will use those responses and comments to structure our class discussion of Anzaldúa.
Wed, 9/18, 4:00 pm: Group A posts responses to Richard Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire”.
Thurs, 9/19, 4:00 pm: Everyone else reads Group A’s responses and posts comments on at least two.
Fri, 9/13, class: We will use those responses and comments to structure our class discussion of Rodriguez.

Class, Wed, 9/11

Barbara Mellix, “From Outside, In”

Fastwrite

If you wrote one of the first responses to Mellix, read through the comments on your post. Post a comment replying to what one or more of your readers have had to say.
If you wrote comments, pick a response that you didn’t get a chance to comment on, read through what your classmates have had to say about it, and continue the conversation.
In either case, find a passage in Mellix’s essay that you’d like us to talk some more about (whether you write about this passage in your comment or not).

To Do

Wed, 9/11, 4:00 pm: Group B posts responses to Lu’s “From Silence to Words”.
Thurs, 9/12, 4:00 pm: Everyone else reads Group B’s responses and posts comments on at least two.
Fri, 9/13, class: We will use those responses and comments to structure our class discussion of Lu.
Mon, 9/16, class: Read James Paul Gee’s “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics”. I will lead our discussion.

Same Animal, Different Beast, One Language

Barbara Mellix’s “From Outside, In” was what I thought to be a very interesting response to a cultural difference that has been taking place in America since the very first slave traders began to bring men and women over to the colonies. She begins immediately by describing the difference between “Black English” and “Standard English.” Mellix explains that how when she is around her immediate nucleic family she feels comfortable to speak in what she considers her native tongue of Black English. When she is at an event involving more distant family members or people that she does not know, she tries her best to speak in Standard English. Interestingly, she notes that her immediate family is always uncomfortable when it comes to speaking Standard English. She goes in to detail about her father speaking when she writes,

“My father was more articulate, more aggressive. He spoke quickly, his words sharp and clear. But he held his proud head higher, a signal that he, too, was uncomfortable.” (Mellix, 259, p 3)

I found this to be a fascinating description because of how uncomfortable and how distinct she believed the difference in the dialects to be. Both parties involved are speaking English and, yet, Mellix and the rest of her family, all of whom know how to use Standard English, seem to be almost wildly uncomfortable when they are not using their “native tongue.” This still goes on today. I have many friends who live in more urban areas than myself and when I visit them, the dialect is different – different words, words being used in other fashions. It is striking how distinct the differences are.

To continue, Mellix goes on to discuss her journey with Standard English in a college classroom when she found herself in an entry-level composition class at the University of Pittsburgh. Barbara Mellix initially describes her experiences in the class as,

“Each experience of writing was like standing naked and revealing my imperfection, my ‘otherness’.” (Mellix 264, p 2)

Quite obviously, Mellix is very comfortable with Standard English and she writes with incredible talent, however, she is very uncomfortable being able to utilize her ability to go back and forth between using Black and Standard English with ease in the early stages of her writing. I believe this to be intriguing because of mastery of the English language in which she writes with. She demonstrates her elite writing talent but has come so far from an entirely different dialect of the English language being able to write and speak as well as she does.