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theory and research permeating throughout the conversation of
the field but simply because the curiosity that brought me to
this work finds its consummation, again, in the past, with the
past, rather than the “current” or the “new.”
This said, I also believe that the “past”-ness of the past
is not always what it seems to be. Concerns and dilemmas of the
past can linger unseen and, through them, the past can indeed
infiltrate and inform the present much more than we ever realize
– or want to realize. My future research may follow such an
investigation. But as things stand now, however, this work does
indeed offer a few things to the field and those working,
teaching and researching, within it today. First, I believe
that it will serve as an explanation of why those polarized
extremes of Certainty and Uncertainty exist as epistemological
traps that are so very easy to become snared in and, so very
unfortunately, crippled by. Second, I also believe that it will
work to explain the essential worth of that dialectic to those
who would try to not simply stay clear of those hazardous mires
but urge their work, whether writing or the teaching of writing
or both, beyond their current limitations. And last but not
least, I believe that it will stand as a testimonial to the
dialectical nature of human reality.
Very simply, life is change. You are born and you die,
but, between those two definite and defining moments of
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