Have you transitioned from Lit to Rhet/Comp? I want to hear how that goes

[CrashJupiter]

CrashJupiter, if your wife is going to Kentucky and you may end up there, you may want to hold off on buying a house in Louisville. Certainly both of you living in Lexington and studying there would make for an easier commute...

Thanks, rising_star. The house is a family house. We're buying it to keep it in the family (and the financials more than make up for the commute) and that's the primary reason it's Louisville over Lexington. 

[VirtualMessage]

I've been working on postcolonial lit for three years and have recently been adding Irish lit into that mix. In fact, my thesis places Kavanagh and Walcott in conversation. I also really want to do more with comics. Between those three, I've realized more and more that what I'm already doing is pretty rhetorically heavy. As I've talked more and more with Rhet/Comp colleagues in my program, it seems as if I may have more opportunity to work in and move around between my interests if I went rhet. Particularly, I'm interested in examining comics (not necessarily graphic novels) as one of the last remaining truly serialized storytelling forms, and I'm less interested in trying to "literaturize" them as a means of valuation. I want to look at them as a compound medium, not a vehicle for text. I want to look at what they do. To me, asking what something does and how, rather than what it is leans more the rhetoric way. 

 

I've spent two years now teaching composition and so far really enjoy it. Teaching lit is second nature and very fun, but teaching comp is challenging and rewarding in that it feels more like I am making a real difference. 

 

And sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I really just want to write about the ways in which Five Nights at Freddy's evokes fear and then convinces you that it's incredibly scary, despite the scares being low-hanging fruit, just for example. I really really can't do that in lit.

 

I am moving to Louisville, KY, with my wife, and I know that UofL has a heavily multi-modal Rhet/Comp program, so I felt this transition at least earned an honest exploration.

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I'm really glad this took on a life of its own. It's more likely that this thread will be useful for people beyond myself, since my specifics weren't clogging the conversation up. Awesome!

 

 

Shout outs to ProfLorax, empress-marmot, Wonton Soup, Romanista, and ComeBackZinc so far.

Between Fields, your story is especially interesting to me, if you could expound on what you were working on in postcolonial theory and how that fed into your rhet/comp transition. 

 

And I, so far, at least, really appreciated VirtualMessage's input. Reading on some of the less pretty aspects of the conversation I've just entered into is useful. I found the responses to VM useful, as well. The controversy and high emotions are definitely something I needed to know about as I work through this. So thanks again, everyone.

 

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I do not want an administrative job. In the current climate, it would feel like enabling to me. Perhaps that's unfair, and I don't have a full understanding of WPA programs; my university does not have one connected to r/c, but does have a strong rhet/comp program. Ours is a first year English program and really does curriculum and training. Hmm. Perhaps that is administrative. It just doesn't cast itself as such, and the emphasis is on student experience. Our particular program is run by two directors, both with degrees in lit both of whom also actively teach FYE, and two graduate students who help run the program for a year in lieu of teaching. 

 

I also am seeing things about other programs that just are not true in mine, despite being at a major state school. There's no real stratification, and all of the professors, tenured to adjunct, teach undergrad classes. Graduate classes are pitched and accepted, but no one teaches strictly grad classes. That's an interesting thing to watch out for as I investigate programs. The lack of true stratification in this way (there's still the hierarchy of titles and permanence) lends itself to a department-wide collegiality. There are rooting interests, but no real rivals, even between sub-departments.

 

This conversation is awesome, even if it felt painful while you guys were having it. These are concerns beyond my experience and I'd not have thought of them myself. I don't begrudge the little backbites, since I recognize that there is a lot of baggage coming along with these issues. You're all pretty darn good at supporting your points and I'm not convinced any of you are wrong (as of the 18th post).

 

Quick aside: I dislike reading pedagogy articles. I also very much see their use. Sometimes they tend too far into the personal experience realm for my rather scientific tastes, but every last one I've read gave me something useful, once my imagination and specific situation were added. Nods toward universality are troubling, but that's true in rhet and lit, too. Again, my program is flexible enough that I've never felt bossed, despite being near the bottom of the rank pile here.

 

This whole conversation was painful, but I don't think either side was trolling. Experiences vary. Mine is not yours. Being given a little window into VASTLY different experiences here is really nice. ComeBackZinc and VirtualMessage, THANK YOU. Genuinely, THANK YOU (as of the top of the second page). That had to be frustrating for both of you. You gave me, as well as the rest of the people reading this, a lot to think about and digest.

 

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That's all for now. Back to thesis formatting. Thanks, all.

 

I am glad it was helpful. You have a refreshing attitude. Good luck to you.

[CrashJupiter]

I am glad it was helpful. You have a refreshing attitude. Good luck to you.

 

Alternative and varying perspectives are useful. In fact, variances in perspective are what make lit, rhet, and pedagogy valuable, so far as I'm concerned.