I suppose the professor meant the kind of writing that gets published; otherwise, a writer would be undressing privately... or perhaps for some other person. I was tempted to come up with a witty retort, the friend being a published writer herself. But I stopped myself, seeing that she had "mentioned" the professor in the post, and I wasn't really sure how my reply would be taken.
And I do agree with him to some extent. There might be some controversy - unspoken or not - on what constitutes writing and who could be called a writer. By no means does merely graduating with a degree in creative writing or journalism entitle anyone to be called a writer. But is it really an entitlement? Can't anyone
I'm certain the statement was made in some context related to the course, but I'm going to try to make some sort of qualification myself to maybe illustrate how I agree with him. I like to think that when people write, they reveal details about themselves, from the trivial to the brutally honest - from just unzipping to downright nudity - such as the seeming lack of care for coherence and grammar, a knack for confusing readers, a wonderful sense of humor, a vicious imagination, personal biases, advocacies, day-to-day experiences, life stories, etc. One can never be absolutely detached from one's writing, whatever kind it is.
Many would agree then that a lot of the "stripping" actually happens online. Blogs give people - at least the honest ones - a chance to claim some virtual space of their own, so to speak, to reveal details about themselves. Never mind that it's usually done in the comfort of anonymity. It certainly takes a lot of guts to bask in some degree of nakedness, opening yourself up to criticism and suspicion, and, of course, stalking and spamming.
I can only stretch the metaphor so far, so I'm going to end with that thought. That's my portion of this week's show for our little strip club.
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#1 - Somayyah Abdullah
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