national writing day

[Dennis Baron]

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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