Self and the
Word
One of the popular recurring theories of composition pedagogy is that through writing we learn what we know (think of Elbow or Flower and Hayes among many). In MOOspace, we are constantly in the cycle of coming to knowledge of self through the written word. To connect to MOOspace, to interact in MOOspace, to lurk in MOOspace... all of these require textual communication of some sort. I must type commands to breach the electronic gap between my computer and the server of the MOO, I must read other characters' words to hear their voices, and I must type my own words to communicate back to them. To survive in MOOspace I must write. I must code my own destiny.
Virginia Woolf once wrote that all women need a room of their own and enough money to support themselves so they could write, so they could create, so they could know themselves. In MOOspace, I can build that room. And I can know myself.
With each word I type, I name myself to those around me. I create my own space... my own room. All those who enter see me... perhaps not as I truly am, but as I would hope to be. They can look at me. My description at MediaMOO when other characters type "look sandyet" offers a succinct one sentence summary of me. It says:
"You see a short woman with longish reddish-brown hair, green eyes, three tattooes, four earrings, one navel ring, and one doggie."This doesn't really tell them anything else about me. It doesn't tell them that my occasionally reddish hair comes out of a bottle or that I probably haven't taken a shower in a while; things they might perhaps notice if I was with them physically. But this description is what I have offered them. There are, however, other insights into me. Everything they would glean about me can be found in my text. As I said before, I have created my own virtual room, Sandye's Tearoom.
Sandye's TeaRoomAs you can see, my friends can come in for a virtual cup of tea and a plate of sandwiches, or they can disregard my textual description of my environment completely.
You have entered Sandye's sanctuary. Here you may relax and partake in the civilized pleasure of tea, while you escape the occasional doldrums of academic life. Please have a seat on the couch, one of the two chairs, or simply flop on the floor. The tea is always hot, and the sandwiches always delicious. Enjoy.
You see: Teapot, Sandwiches, Dessert Plate, Bulletin Board, Surprise Card
Sandye is here.
But can they really ignore the environment I have created? When I type my words welcoming them into my space, my words, my texts, filter through the electric cables to become more pixelated background, more environment. Through my text, through my every utterance, they learn more about me. And through every word I type, through my every utterance I learn about the self I have created.
Sometimes I surprise myself. Once after a conference, inspired by a football game, I (usually shy and usually quiet, a born-lurker) suddenly went on a wild textual rampage chewing up football players' limbs. Other characters ran in fear, except for one. She looked at me and said, "I knew you had that in you." I didn't know. But I learned something of myself. I am a Wild Woman. And my words can guide others. And in MOOspace I am always in the state of Be-Speaking.
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