Steaming, Compressed Air

Abstract

This essay, composed over a span of eight months, was developed through a collaboration meant to redefine notions of writing that excludes people with disabilities. As post-colonial/collaborative composition theory suggests (Davies, 1992), the author and the writer of the narrative are two distinct people. While the author constructed the words verbally through a series of ongoing dialogues, the writer transcribed, edited, and re-ordered the text. Douglas Biklen’s book, Communication Unbound (1993), inspired us to explore these non-traditional ways of “writing” that, while grounded in conversation and collaboration, also disrupt models of efficiency and individualism.