Whitewater rafting
Martin ELLISON (martin who-is-at mpce.mq.edu.au)
Fri, 01 Jan 1999 10:45:45 +1100
Appropriately this is the day of two-headed Janus, who faces both the
past and the future -- apropos comments about how face the past with our
backs to the future, and how we rationalise and narratise after the
event -- I was wondering about what seems to me to be an apparent
exception (exceptions are always interesting, that's why we have rules)
and that exception is activities undertaken for their narrative value
(rather than experential or learning value, say). I am thinking in
particular of brochures for adventure holidays, in particular, (hence
the subject: Whitewater rafting) -- it seems to me that the brochure
isn't saying "You will enjoy this" or "You will learn something
interesting" but "You will have something interesting to talk about".
There are wider examples of this, such as job assignments undertaken
purely for their value to The Resume. Does this make sense?