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"Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally's assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress."
Kenneth Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form, 1973, pgs. 110-111)
WPA-GO’s Mentoring Committee is pleased to announce a new mentoring initiative!
Every month, between September and May, WPA-GO’s Mentoring Committee will host a 30-60 min. parlor session. These informal sessions provide a community where mentoring partnerships can workshop any of the projects they’ve got on the front or back burners.
Whatever your needs may be, we’ll be here to support you! This is an informal space for workshopping, brainstorming, and just plain chatting, so don’t feel like anything you’re working on needs to be “complete.”
What?
What?
At a typical Parlor session, you and your mentoring partner(s) will be assigned 30 mins. and can use that time however you see fit. Share on one aspect of your working project or the whole thing, depending on your needs! You can use the space to present, to ask questions, to problematize your situation, to add nuance and robustness to your understanding of a concept.
Who?
Who?
Whether you’re a graduate student or faculty, we invite any combination of mentoring partners to join us. Are you and your mentoring partner(s) working on a research project? an article? a conference presentation? a book chapter? an initiative for your writing program? Then these Parlors are for you!
How?
How?
If you are interested in using one of our Parlors to workshop your project, whatever it may be, please fill out this registration form.
If you just want to come along for the ride, no need to sign-up; just show up using the information provided below!
Schedule (2025-2026)
Schedule (2025-2026)
Access Link to the Parlor Session
Oh no! No Parlors have been scheduled for this academic year 😩
Will you be the first? Sign-up here!
If you have any questions, wonderings, or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to WPA-GO’s Mentoring Committee Chairs directly at bursc021@umn.edu and bellorof@msu.edu. We look forward to sharing this space with you!
Know of someone who might be interested in presenting? You can copy/paste or share the link to this language into any email or announcement -- or direct folks to this webpage.
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