Writing – Michelle Writing

Babel-ing about the Tower of Power

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 01:39:41 +0000

The title of this post is a play on words. I know, it’s not immediately evident, but this wordplay has just been swimming through my head in the last few weeks. The Tower of Babel is a biblical story about power, and about language. And lately, those things have really reared their head in a modern way in writing, and particularly in the work we do in the Writing Center.

The rest of this text in this post is merely placeholder text. I have not yet written this blog post, but by the summer of 2021, it will all be here.

I will put all my text here. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space. This is really just a lot of text so that I can continue writing text and it will look like a blog post. More text to fill space.

Writing with an English Accent

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:52:44 +0000

I didn’t even recognize my own writing. The editor had sent me the proof of my book review – and mind you, this is a book review for a journal in the UK – and the beginning of the proof started with the end of someone else’s book review, which is pretty typical. But when it got to my review, and I casually skipped over the title of the book, I began to read the text proper. I saw the word “programme” and believed I was reading someone else’s text. But it was interesting, so I kept reading. It sounded like work from my field, so I got a few sentences in before I even realized it was my own work. “Oh, wow, the editor must have rewritten a few of my sentences. I thought I wrote a decent piece.” I kept reading. Then I realized … this was all me. Nothing was changed. Nothing at all, except the endings of words and the “ou”s instead of us. It was me, myself, and I, written in British English instead of American Standard English.

I pulled up my submitted copy, and sure enough, there wasn’t a single textual change other than these “accents” on my writing. I just sounded so different in my head, while I was reading, that I didn’t even hear myself.

The rest of this text in this post is merely placeholder text. I have not yet written this blog post, but by the summer of 2021, it will all be here.

Grammarly: Garbage or a Godsend?

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:11:09 +0000

Today, I saw a post in a forum online for a group that I belong to asking for some support to reject an administrator’s push to purchase Grammarly for the department. Many people quickly responded in support of the post, complete with a youtube video that I will link here entitled “Grammarly is garbage.” Several others posted peer-reviewed journal articles (which I will also link) supporting this idea that Grammarly is nothing more than the devil in disguise.

Of course, with all that said, how could I disagree? Oh, but I do. And where else except in the quiet of my blog will I talk about it?

Why Grammarly is not a Godsend, but it is a great tool

The rest of this text in this post is merely placeholder text. I have not yet written this blog post, but by the summer of 2021, it will all be here.