Friends,

     The following comes from Gail Houston <[log in to unmask]>:      (pjm)
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I think this [Joyce Huff's response, #6 in the series] is a wise and
thoroughly astute response.  I might also add that when I was at UCLA, I
started using a technique in the comp courses called "creative imitation"
which modelled the classical paradigm for teaching writing: in other
words, take a famous excerpt from a "great writer" and imitate its style
but change the content.  It worked well and showed the students that they
could become aware of style. Thus,  I don't see any reason to get worked
up about Gates nor about the 19th c. American writer he discusses, whose
creative imitation is lovely,  Gail Houston