Please note: I’ve created several “categories” for posts on the *Blog* portion of this site. If you go there, please scroll to find topical categories of interest to you.
Disclaimer: I’ve put up this site for readers – readers who want to become better writers. Maybe you’re one. Hmmm. Have you read an actual book this year – or even held a real (physical) newspaper or magazine in your hands?
I hope so. In any case, the “rules for posting” below will help explain why I’m here and how, if you’d like to contribute, you can join the conversation.
Rules for posting on Up-Wordz.com
If reading doesn’t scare you, then hang out here and learn to improve how you write, speak and listen. And please, if you care to say or ask anything, say it yourself, *your* way and in *your* words. That’s my central and site-defining rule. If you wish to contribute here, please strive to share things that we couldn’t know, without you. Details to follow.
Strive *not* for PC around here – instead aim for “GC”
I’ve dedicated my entire academic and professional life, along with much of my personal life, to studying, teaching, theorizing, and writing about the endless meanings, implications, and applications of the brief statement, “words matter.”
How? Why? To what effect? Making what possible? Causing what limitations? Overcoming what limitations? I never run out of questions. And I come up with some pretty well worked-out answers, too (often with diagrams). It’s what I do, and I love it.
Yep. That’s pretty much the focus of my life. That’s the lens I see through, as I participate and process the world around me. This “admission” may amuse some people who know me (since obvious) but likely won’t surprise anyone.
Do I ever shut up about it? To some people, seemingly no. But I just think, in response to that belief, “If only you know all the things I keep to myself!” As I have seen many times, “sometimes it’s what you “don’t” say!”
Words definitely matter, a lot, in my world – and in yours, too. I encourage you to ever explore the ways in which “words matter.” You can learn a lot from your time on this site. I promise you that.
With that said, allow me to move to “rules for posting” #1. Well, I’m not sure I can call it a “rule,” (lots of grey area involved) but I do request, should you post here, that you strive lesser to the ideals of the PC – or politically correct – favoring more, the ideals of the GC – the grammatically correct.
I know the following may ruffle some feathers, but I need to follow my own rule and eschew the PC for the GC.
You can start by refusing, as I do, to refer to one, single person as “they.” Yes, some individuals show largesse. But none of us constitutes two or more persons, despite our multiple “roles” in life. We act in our world with many “selves” and many “identities,” but none of us is more than one person.
Crucially, I must clarify that if someone in my presence were known (by me, anyway) as uncomfortable in any way with traditional gender traditions and assumptions (not to mention realities), I would gladly – I hope graciously – work around those sensitivities, including avoiding gender-specific pronouns.
But I’m not going to call a single person, “they.” That’s needless abuse of the language I love and teach and love to influence, as it ever evolves. I’m working toward forward innovation, not backward slippage.
That’s just one “clear and present” example of what I see as harm to our glorious language, harm inflicted in this case by PC trends, good intentions notwithstanding. Over on the blog – in the top category there, “Writing” – you can read a lot more of my perspective on the topic I call “pronoun madness.”
The PC reader who checks out that essay had better brace “themselves.” (I just wanted to show flexibility!) You’re in for something you don’t, but need to, understand. Try not to recoil and judge, but to learn.
Avoid the political – instead aim for the practical
In laying out this site’s very few posting “rules” (more like guidelines), I want to get an early start on demonstrating the lack of political side taking that I will demonstrate and also expect from you. Save that for your social media (or not).
I need you to stretch a little and not automatically view the above criticism of current pronoun trends as “political.” Don’t let that knee jerk. It’s a temptation because almost any criticism of that “discursive trend” does, absolutely, come from a hostile (to the left) direction. It’s not critical thinking, it’s nastiness. I wish it weren’t true. My orientation, as a critic, does not come from the right or the left. I think that’s why you can trust me, whatever your politics. I just want the grammar right.
Yes, I am hoping to help any reader – righty or lefty – who wants to better understand and utilize language. That’s what I love, and if you love it, too, we’re buds, in my book. I might critique your sentence structure, but I care little about your politics. That’s not my specialty.
Rest assured, I will stick with my specialized training in language and rhetoric. I may hold some strong political opinions, but that’s not my training, just my opinion, so you won’t be reading much about it here.
However, when and where it comes to language and rhetoric, how people (including politicians!) “talk” (whether speaking or writing) – that’s fair game, for my crosshairs. Just don’t expect to read anything here that you’ve already read. I’m asking for – and striving to practice – originality!
In fairness, I gladly concede (so forgive me, right-wingers) that many of my views, fit easily *into* the worldview of the PC, because many apparent PC sensitivities (just like some from the anti-PC world) overlap with what I judge as “sound critical thinking.” That’s easy to see, when we resist mind-numbing political side-taking.
Truly, both “sides” (PC or anti-) offer important insight into human interaction – not just one side or the other. I want to extol and even model the ideal of finding validity in both directions. That’s *my* bias.
Dear reader and possible blog contributor, as you enter this site, please leave your PC (or anti-PC) baggage at the door.
Agree with anything I say – or disagree – but please strive, either way, to render a view that “signals” to the world, best you can, a bias that’s neither PC nor anti-PC, but noticeably GC (grammatically correct).
It must be true – I saw it on the Internet (or did Siri tell me?)
And here’s a related rule: Before publicly posting your views here (or anywhere), *look into the matter* from multiple perspectives – not just in places you can go to find confirmation of your biases.
Certainly, I, like most people, can easily conjure up quick and semi-informed (if informed at all) opinions on just about any topic. But on this site, above *my* name, you will find only things I’ve given much thought to and, in most cases, have studied formally and even taught, written or discussed publicly, aided by my love of research.
Indeed, I’ve taught “research methods” to many college students, to help move them past finding things that validate their opinions and biases to finding things that challenge and upgrade their opinions and (inevitable – since we all hold them) biases. What a special joy to read a paper that starts out, “I thought I understood this topic, but, boy, was I wrong!”
Thanks to the algorithms of social media and the Web in general, you need not seek out (mis)information that “validates” your inevitable biases. It will find you (!) and force its way right into your phone. But for information that might *contradict* your biases and views, that will take some hunting. Please do this work, before posting anything. Your posts will gain in merit and impact, both.
And when you say it . . .
I’ve saved my most important “posting rule” for last: Say it as only you can.
Notice how my rules differ markedly from the ones you usually see on sites where the public can post. Yes, I expect the typically “mandated” (ha ha) attributes of respect, civility, open-mindedness, and decency. I hope you follow those “rules” everywhere you go (through your *words*, especially).
But, as this very rule requires – and I do strive to “practice what I teach” – what I crave is not “politeness,” but *originality,* or, as I often call it, authenticity.
It’s easier than you think. When you incorporate into what you write (and speak from) your own lived experience (along with your own research), then, by logical necessity, you can’t be simply regurgitating “what people (with your biases) usually say.” Nobody else has lived your life.
And allow me to point out a second, even more powerful (for some) resource for displaying your authenticity: your personal writing *style* or, as we might say, your personal writing voice.
As I’ve pointed out, nobody else has lived your life. Well, likewise, nobody else can speak through your “personal dictionary.” I refer to vocabulary, yes, but I also mean your “way with words.” Or should I say, your *prospective* way with words.
Learn my system, and your writing will sing – in your own voice! Just go straight over to my “Writing Lessons” tab, and dig right in. Lesson One awaits you, as of this posting. And, as the weeks fly by, more and more “sequential lessons” (each building on the ones before it), will appear there. Your beautiful voice awaits just a little instruction and coaching. You’ll see.
I know that I’m asking a lot in these days of social media, where the vast majority of what gets “communicated” (among friends and loved ones) is nothing more than a cheap “forward” of, alas, SOMETHING SOMEONE ELSE ALREADY SAID. Yuck. Who needs it? I say, TO HELL WITH THAT!
And one last rule, no “ALL CAPITALS”!
Sorry for the “all caps” above. You won’t find much more, if any, of that on this site. Please avoid them, yourself (so your post will stay up), and I’ll do likewise (so your eyes will stick around) – well, that’s my hope.
If there’s one thing we *don’t* need, it’s more of “what somebody has already said,” especially when our culture is about down to only two main biases and opinions. I think we’ve all heard plenty of both of those, already.
As for my tacky all caps above, I just needed, this one time, to call major attention to the *single biggest enemy of this site.* (From now on, no more all caps, but I do now and again lean on *pairs of asterisks,* as you may have noticed, for “special emphasis,” similar to italics (which aren’t always available).
You may use *these*, too – just NO MORE ALL CAPS (ha ha).
Please understand, as you crank up your *learning attitude*, that people – especially alleged leaders – who customarily resort to ALL CAPS may think they are coming off as bold and powerful, but, in truth, they are merely highlighting their own immaturity, ignorance, and lack of writing (and thinking) skill. Do you know anyone like that? Something tells me that you do.
Help! I Need Somebody
If you need help with originality, head straight over to this site’s Writing Lessons section, and get started on the project. Or maybe you have a specific writing-related question (grammar, structure, style, or other). If so, post it under Writing Q & A, and I’ll personally answer it.
And, as I answer any given question, I welcome other opinions (maybe *yours*?), to foster, in our teaching and learning some productive dialogue.
As you might read elsewhere on this site, I’ve written – for extremely critical eyes – a 415-page book with the title, “An Anatomy of Dialogue in Teaching and Learning.” Yes, I refer to my 2011 doctoral dissertation at the University of Colorado
I ask only that you strive to *follow the rules* (and philosophies) listed and explained above.
On the other hand, if all you want to do is *read* some things that you won’t – in fact *can’t* – read anywhere else (because I’ve cooked it all up, right here, just for you), that’s fine, too. I promise that you’ll learn a lot.
If you do choose to contribute – whether in *agreement* with me (or anyone) – or not! – I will relish that your *original* insights have, in the name of dialogue, enhanced this site and the learning of all of us.
I’m not asking for agreement, just something said as only you could say it, based on your experience and coming in your personal “voice.” But do feel free to cite a source, when you have used one to inform something you post. That, right there, will set you apart.
Me, I mostly want to inspire, spark, and teach *real writing, from real people, to real people*. Let’s bring that back from the dead, folks. That’s my mission – well, a big part of it.
Yes, I’ve snuck into these “rules for posting” a lot of concepts. The teaching has already begun. But, for any learning to happen around here, we need you!
In the words of Ringo Starr, “It don’t come easy,” especially not – in these divisive, copycat times – when it comes to originality.
But you can do it! If you can follow the rules above, you’re half-way there. As for the other “half” of the learning, I put this site here expressly to HELP!