I'm just going to leave this here.
In my last post, I talked about my wish for the relationship between science and writing to be something we all acknowledge and hold hands over, possibly singing Kumbaya over, while roasting marshmallows on bunsen burners. (That was good -- you should have snorted there.) I see this theme continued in our readings for Tuesday.
I think my dudes David Deutsch and Artur Ekert said it best in Beyond the Quantum Horizon, except I don't think they meant to say it in the way I immediately interpreted it. So often, I feel that no one wants to discuss the importance of writing outside of the humanities (this class doesn't count. We're all weirdos). It's like these dudes were saying:
"'If you think you understand [writing], then you don't.' 'You're not allowed to ask that question.'" (38).
Well, lucky for those assholes, I'm not about to shut up anytime soon. The world needs to accept that a conversation about writing is not the plague. It's not going to kill you -- in fact, it won't even infect you. Writing is communication, interaction -- it's something that we do. We better get used to talking about it. If all else, I'll resort to tweeting about it. Maybe somebody will follow me then...
Earle Holland claimed in Universities that a University Science Writer is basically a job blessed by the nectar of the Gods. If that's the case -- why are the people in the sciences in Universities so damn scared to say, "Hey, what's this writing thing?" Of course, I'm not so naive to think that no one in the sciences asks this. We are extremely fortunate for the individuals who do. What bothers me most about it is the cultural stigma around writing in these disciplines.
My main lady, Elise Hancock, says in Ideas Into Words:
"The science writer and the scientist are allies, sharing a commitment to science and the public understanding thereof -- upon which depend future funding and essential political decisions. Each party brings special expertise to the table. The science writer knows how to translate science for the public, while the scientist knows the science," (45).
Preach it, sister. Preach it.
Hello Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteI am just a random visitor from another group. I wish to respond to what you said hither :) :
I like what you said about people not wanting to discuss writing outside the humanities. It’s not something I’ve ever really thought about before, but the more I think about it, the more it seems to hold true. Although I sort of wonder if another part of the lack of talking about writing is because they maybe don’t value writing (and writing theory etc) as much as we do. For example, I have a friend who is a chemical engineering major. Whenever I bring up writing or my papers or my classes, the conversation gets quite awkward lol and I’m never sure what to say because she doesn’t have the same values or perspectives that I do with regards to writing or my major. But… that goes both ways because it can be annoying at times when all she wants to talk about is science classes, lab, math tests and stuff that relates to her major.
Anway, thank you for your post :).
So much truth to be found in this post! I have the hardest time trying to get a dialogue about writing going with my friends who are not humanities students. They often ask me "What are you going to do with a writing degree?" "Are your classes even hard?" It's absolutely aggravating! I just sit there like, "Yes my classes are hard--you try reading 300 pages of hard literature a night! And I'm going to use my writing degree to write, god damn it!" It often feels as if the value of writing is lost on some of these people. As if they feel they know everything they need to about writing and can now move on from learning about it. Boy are they mistaken!
ReplyDeleteI also wonder why on earth they don't talk about writing. Like you state in your post, writing is an essential part of communication, and (in my opinion) a skill that every single college graduate should have honed. So why do our hard science friends tend to ignore it? They should be every bit as dependent upon the skill as us "liberal arts" kids. This brings me back to my post, and thinking about how A Field Guide tells us we need to hold our reader's hands as we take them through the texts. Well, if scientists took a little bit of time to focus on writing, maybe they wouldn't quite feel the need to walk the reader step-by-freaking-step through their work. Maybe, just maybe, if scientists took a moment of time to think about and hone in their writing skills they could learn to trust the reader to use their own logic and understand the point the scientist is trying to make.
Also, that GIF is perfect. And might just describe the way I feel about life 85% if the time!
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