Katrina and CCCC, One Week Later
News and Views. In response to my last blog entry, which I sent as an email to the entire membership of CCCC, I received dozens of emails with suggestions for what the organization should do in response to Hurricane Katrina, and with the input of the officers and executive committee, I’ve distilled them into a few initiatives. Most immediately, CCCC and NCTE have created a bulletin board at http://www.ncte.org/announce/122013.htm on which members and their students affected by the disaster can post their needs and their news, and members who want to offer materials or expertise can do so.
Second, in the near term, I'll ask the CCCC leadership to explore whether we might subsidize participation in the organization by affected members, perhaps helping some attend the convention in Chicago. I’m very sensitive that offering free conference registrations or travel assistance at this point, when people have lost everything including lives, seems positively Marie Antoinettish. However, I’m not so sure that in a few months, some reconnection to their colleagues mightn't be something those members really appreciate.
We already have an example of this kind of foresight via Susan Bernstein and Kathleen Baca, Co-Chairs of the Conference on Basic Writing, who sent me the following message on behalf of the CBW board: “We are pleased to inform you that the Conference on Basic Writing will dedicate the 2006 CBW Fellowship to a Basic Writing educator who has been displaced by Hurricane Katrina and/or who teaches Basic Writing to displaced students. The CBW Fellowship provides $500 to subsidize travel to CCCC in Chicago in March and to participate in the Conference on Basic Writing Pre-Conference Wednesday Workshop. The full text of the announcement can be found at http://www.asu.edu/clas/english/composition/cbw/Fellowship.htm
I deeply appreciate the commitment of the Conference on Basic Writing.
Finally, several members have suggested that we gather the stories of those who have been affected by the Hurricane and its aftermath. This strikes me as a singularly good thing to do. I’m well aware that, when people need bread and water and roofs, to ask for their stories seems like an insufficient, even insulting gesture. But I hope we might benefit not only the storm survivors but others—and all of us—by making sure that the “official record” of this disaster, is tempered by the truths of those who experienced it.
Yours truly,
Doug
Second, in the near term, I'll ask the CCCC leadership to explore whether we might subsidize participation in the organization by affected members, perhaps helping some attend the convention in Chicago. I’m very sensitive that offering free conference registrations or travel assistance at this point, when people have lost everything including lives, seems positively Marie Antoinettish. However, I’m not so sure that in a few months, some reconnection to their colleagues mightn't be something those members really appreciate.
We already have an example of this kind of foresight via Susan Bernstein and Kathleen Baca, Co-Chairs of the Conference on Basic Writing, who sent me the following message on behalf of the CBW board: “We are pleased to inform you that the Conference on Basic Writing will dedicate the 2006 CBW Fellowship to a Basic Writing educator who has been displaced by Hurricane Katrina and/or who teaches Basic Writing to displaced students. The CBW Fellowship provides $500 to subsidize travel to CCCC in Chicago in March and to participate in the Conference on Basic Writing Pre-Conference Wednesday Workshop. The full text of the announcement can be found at http://www.asu.edu/clas/english/composition/cbw/Fellowship.htm
I deeply appreciate the commitment of the Conference on Basic Writing.
Finally, several members have suggested that we gather the stories of those who have been affected by the Hurricane and its aftermath. This strikes me as a singularly good thing to do. I’m well aware that, when people need bread and water and roofs, to ask for their stories seems like an insufficient, even insulting gesture. But I hope we might benefit not only the storm survivors but others—and all of us—by making sure that the “official record” of this disaster, is tempered by the truths of those who experienced it.
Yours truly,
Doug
posted by Doug Hesse | 2:52 PM
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