Writing About Thinking
So we went out to dinner tonight because I had a hankering for tacos, and in the restaurant there was a guy making balloon animals for tips. You can guess what the chances of us leaving the restaurant without a balloon for Alex was. So the guy comes over, sees my Fordham cap, and asks me where Fordham is and what I studied. When I mentioned philosophy, he said that he was studying philosophy out in Pittsburgh, and when I said I had a grad degree, he said he was interested in that as well – and then he asked me if I had published anything. I haven’t, in part because I’ve focused on the education/teaching stuff and in part because there’s a voice in the back of my head saying that my philosophical writing voice just isn’t quite right. My papers never really bowled anyone over during my grad work, and I just couldn’t seem to make it click.
When I got home and checked my e-mail, there was a message from a political science professor whose seminar I took last spring. He was sending me a Word file with comments on my term paper, and as I went through there were a number of little style goofs or bad antecedents or what have you. But at the end there was a comment that the paper was unusually well-written or words to that effect. And this was not the first time a poli sci professor had praised my writing.
All of this has me wondering if I didn’t pick the wrong discipline – that my brain somehow works more smoothly in a political theory direction than a straight-theoretical line. Or it could just be down to individual professors’ preferences. Something to think about as I move forward, anyway.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.