Alena-- A agree with almost all your comments re Tannen and Bruce's note,
but there is one point I do not agree with. It is the following:
I'm just a graduate student, with fewer years in academia than many on
this list and less authority to talk about "us"
Any member of this group who contributes to the discussion has as much
right and authority to talk about "us" as any other. The importatation
of academic rank into this medium simply isn't helpful. Almost none
of us have ANY direct power over any of the others of us and all of us
are well versed/experienced with respect to relevant knowledge that others
know little of.
Don Cunningham's note earlier this morning (I am slow at getting to my
email, or through it today) points us toward things he at least knows
SOMETHING about (and in some cases a LOT about) that I know nothing
about.
Thanks a lot for your contribution. But don't feel you need to reduce your
own voice owing to factors of ascribed status. Achieving status here depends
on what you do here, and what you have done is contribute helpfully to
a difficult discussion.
mike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Oct 10 2001 - 15:49:08 PDT