3/27

Although I agreed with all of Goedde’s arguments (that creative nonfiction is more engaging and equally important as academic writing, and that Loraine’s obsession with academic writing couldn’t be separated from her thinking through of racial identity), I did see from his article a clear disadvantage to a nonfiction ‘case study’ as compared to the more academic study of Severino and Prim. Goedde hardly quotes, or paraphrases, the specific feedback he gave me to Loraine-- he limits himself to describing only certain higher-level questions he asked Loraine not only their interview but also their tutoring sessions. In Severino and Prim’s academic study, however, we get not only a list of the different questions and types of feedback Fei was given, but also how these determined her percentage of revision, types of revision, and overall reflections on how she had improved (or not) through her sessions. Clearly, the more academic study has over the nonfiction case study the advantage of presenting and analyzing ALL the possible factors that could be at play, not only the emotionally resonant ones (though of course, in direct contrast to Loraine, I stand by loving creative nonfiction more than academia!!).

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