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[I]n my family the past provided the only possible understanding of the present.
-Linda Brodkey, "Writing on the Bias" 528
[W]hen left to my own devices I continue to measure the value of the present in terms of itself rather than the future. The future only interests me when the present becomes intolerable.
-Brodkey 542
[A]utobiography [is] a sensitive instrument of critique, certainly the only critical apparatus sensitive enough to register the subtle rumblings of class in higher education.
-Carolyn Leste Law, "The Making of Working-Class Academics" 7
My mother is never late for anything. In fact, she's infuriatingly early for doctor's appointments, movies, personal dates. When my siblings and I were kids, we heard over and over again, "Hurry up. You don't wanna be late." My brother Guy and I are our mother's children-never late for anything, usually five or ten minutes early. My habit of being early has paid off for me, I have to admit. I've gotten the job more than once because I was the first one there. Employers see me as dependable and conscientious, and my friends know they can count on me to be there when I say I will. My sister Sue, though, chose to respond to our mother's chronic promptness by rebelling-she's late for everything. When I lived with her for a year in Anchorage, I found myself adopting her way of thinking for a while. Doctor's appointment across town in twenty minutes? Sure, I've still got time to eat my breakfast. I can't remember whether Sue was late for her own wedding, and if I asked her now she'd surely say she was on time, but if my mother's gol it right, Sue will be late for her own funeral.
Beginning this essay with a personal reflection is not unusual; we see these sorts of beginnings all the time in scholarly articles in College English and CCC, and we're usually drawn into the piece. We want to keep reading. And as much as you want to keep reading, I want to keep writing about the way my family understands notions of time. But I've got a point to make. When we see a piece in College English or CCC that begins with a personal story, we...