I was a late walker and early talker, which figures.
Wendy Cope has a poem called TUMPS (acronym for Totally Useless Male Poets)
in which she claims male poets can't drive, get lost easily but can always
find their way to the bar. I fit the stereotype perfectly. So does her
partner, Lachlan Mackinnon.
Best wishes
Matthew
-----Original Message-----
From: Candice Ward <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 31 March 2001 04:02
Subject: Re: STIMULUS: THE READER
>As a fellow walker and so-called non-driver (or rather, internal infernal
>engine, I like to think!), I salute you! (Along with your witty
"pedocentric
>myth"--thanks.)
>
>Candice
>
>P.S. This discussion reminds about all the lore to do with babies who
>crawl/not, walk early/late (who's to say?), and the attendant predictions
of
>their intellectual powers on that basis, which I gather have no scientific
>basis at all(?).
>
>
>
>on 3/30/01 3:20 PM, Matthew Francis at [log in to unmask]
>wrote:
>
>> Yes, and I've even heard it suggested that walking comes before driving.
>> Whereas it should be perfectly obvious that all the elements of driving
are
>> present in the act of so-called walking. To suggest otherwise is blatant
>> Western technocratic imperialism aimed at making so-called non-drivers
feel
>> inferior about their supposed lack of a skill which they in fact already
>> posessed. In particular, the romantic nonsense about walking being
healthy
>> and invigorating etc etc is a pedocentric myth. There is no need for
>> L-plates. We have always already passed the test.
>>
>> Best wishes
>>
>> Matthew
>> (non-driver - so-called)
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: chris jones <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: 30 March 2001 04:22
>> Subject: Re: STIMULUS: THE READER
>>
>>
>> Hiya
>> I have a huge problem with saying speech comes first and then comes
writing.
>> Does this mean that writing only came to Australia with the English
>> invasion?
>> That the people that were always here in this land did not have writing
>> before the invasion? That people who are so called illiterate cannot
write?
>>
>> Where does writing begin and reading end? Where does speech end and
writing
>> begin? Why is speech given a primacy from which is developed writing? The
>> idea that speech comes first and is distinct from writing is an
imperialist
>> idea and buys into the very structures of racism in the history of
Western
>> thought and theories of language. In this way writing is said to be more
>> valuable then speech, even if an attempt is made to reverse the values,
>> since
>> such an attempt actually admits that writing is more important then
speech
>> in
>> this way of thinking. So people who are claimed to be illiterate are said
to
>> be lacking something, are lesser people, even if the claim is made that
they
>> can participate by using speech in laguage. This is still a
discriminatory
>> judgement, even if such a judgement is not intended as such. I have
taught
>> creative writing to so-called illiterate people... the very term
illiterate
>> is a misnomer laden with discriminatory judgements, I find.
>>
>> Sorry, but I had to disagree... hope you don't mind this style of
>> intervention which is not meant as nasty, but a contribution to a
politcal
>> debate on language.
>>
>> best wishes
>>
>> Chris Jones.
>> ps
>
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