national writing day

[Joel S. Berson]

Dennis,

I'm sending the Web of Language article to two teachers of ESL I know.

1)  For your quotation from Sen. Alexander:  I didn't find it
Googling.  And the paragraph is not in the Web article -- were you
unable to verify it?  8-)

2)  It might be amusing to add Virginia Gov. William Berkeley's 1670
remark upon printing (and "free schools").  I found the following via
Google Books in _Religion in America ..._ by Robert Baird (1844),
page 147, footnote:

"Sir William Berkeley, in 1670, in replying to the inquiries
addressed to him by the Lords of Plantations, says:
'I thank God, _there are no free schools nor printing,_ and I hope we
shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
_disobedience,_ and _heresy,_ and _sects_ into the world, and
printing has divulged them, and libels against the best
government.  God keep us from both!' "

3)  And to add a comment about prohibitions against printing the
Bible in the vernacular, and against the hoi polloi reading it.

Joel

At 10/21/2009 12:31 AM, Dennis Baron wrote:
>There's a new post on the Web of Language:
>
>It's National Writing Day. I wrote today, did you?
>
>Senate Resolution 310 proclaims today, Oct. 20, as the National Day on
>Writing. Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English, the
>National Day on Writing seeks to promote personal, professional, and
>civic writing in all its forms and celebrates writing by establishing
>a National Writing Gallery to display all the writing created on
>National Writing Day.
>
>The Senate resolution passed only because nowhere in its text are the
>words "health care" or "communism"; there is no mention of the colors
>red or pink; and so far as the administration's leftist agenda is
>concerned, left-handed writers are specifically prohibited from
>receiving government funds for any writing-related activities.
>
>Speaking against the resolution, however, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R.,
>Tenn.) attacked the National Writing Day for promoting socialism. As
>Alexander told a gathering at the Hoover Institution, "The
>Resolution's second whereas clearly states, 'Whereas the social nature
>of writing invites people of every age, profession, and walk of life
>to create meaning through composing.' That says it right there, the
>'social nature of writing' -- writing is a socialist activity."
>
>Read the rest of this post on the Web of Language: http://bit.ly/weblan
>
>
>____________________
>Dennis Baron
>Professor of English and Linguistics
>Department of English
>University of Illinois
>608 S. Wright St.
>Urbana, IL 61801
>
>office: 217-244-0568
>fax: 217-333-4321
>
>http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron
>
>read the Web of Language:
>http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
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