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A book for citizen activists, scholars and professionals who want
to use writing for social change. Empowering tools include freewriting
and audience analysis along with ways to organize ideas and the writing
process itself. A favorite tool is a process for feedback that does
not activate self-censorship.
Drawn from many traditions and piloted
in classes and workshops over forty years, these tools build self-confidence
and skill in writing for real-world audiences. They are grounded
in inspiring stories of people at all levels of education undoing
their reluctance to write and producing letters, memos, op-ed articles,
and proposals with the power to shift attitudes, change policies,
and restore sanity to a world gone mad.
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Here’s what activists, teachers,
and trainers say about Undoing
the Silence
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“Undoing the Silence accomplishes what other
books on writing do not: it links our writing to our beliefs, our
activism, our voice. (read
more . . .)
— Gary Delgado President Emeritus,
Applied Research Center,
from the Foreword to Undoing the Silence
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“With these tools, my ordinary words become a vehicle for
change.”
— Mary Leno, Eviction Free Zone, Cambridge Women’s
Commission, Older Lesbian Energy
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"A valuable, beautifully written resource,
this book will certainly inspire and unleash critical thinking
and writing for social change - both for activists who never imagined
they could be writers and for seasoned writers in need of renewal.”
— Shamim Meer Activist Writer
and Researcher, South Africa
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“(Louise’s) work--and her own deep
commitment to work for a better world — inform her wisdom
about writing and the writing process. Excellent insights and techniques
become all the more powerful when conveyed not just as ways to
work on writing, but ways to work on the world. I don’t know
anyone who conveys more essential insights more clearly and briefly.
I can’t think of a better
book to recommend to people who want to make a difference.”
— Peter
Elbow, Author, Writing With Power, Writing Without Teachers
Professor
Emeritus, University of Massachusetts/Amherst
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“Louise Dunlap, a high profile graduate writing instructor
at Berkeley, MIT and elsewhere, brings us this elegant and moving
book on how to find your powerful voice and understand your audience.
I've used her work for years to teach planning and public policy
students to write for bosses, constituents and communities rather
than professors. And her writing, full of apt case studies, demonstrates
just what she teaches. Every professional grad school should require
this book.”
— Ann Markusen, Humphrey Institute
of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
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“I began my graduate studies at MIT with much fear and trepidation — having
worked in medical and federal government jobs that required writing
in a passive voice. In Louise’s course I realized that not
only was I writing passively, I was thinking passively! The tools
help me focus on what I want to say, then write it in a way the
reader can fully understand."
— Emma Featherman-Sam, Oglala
Sioux Tribe, Department of Transportation,
Transit Program Coordinator
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“If fish had hands, Louise Dunlap could teach them to write!
After attending her workshops and classes, hundreds of labor and
community activists have used Dunlap’s tested techniques
to write clearly and passionately for social and economic justice.
With the publication of Undoing The Silence, Dunlap’s
tools are available to all those who struggle to write and to those
who teach them."
Susan Moir, Director, Labor Resource
Center, University of Massachusetts Boston
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“I did not know I could do it.”
“I actually am
a writer.”
“I knew my story was important and I had some
thing to say. The course with Louise gave me the tools and courage.”
“I
like what I have written.”
These are the statements of participants
in the Community Fellows Program that I directed at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. The program required participants to write
a description of a problem in their community, approaches to solving
the problem and how it would be implemented. For some at first
it seemed a daunting task. The techniques in Undoing
the Silence value the knowledge and experience of emerging
writers. The power of this work is “The Lifting of Every Voice”….
the basis of building a real democracy in this country.
— Mel King, community
leader and former Massachusetts State Representative,
Professor
Emeritus,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Gary Delgado,
President Emeritus, Applied Research Center
Chapter one: We Are
the Second Superpower
Mainstream Americans are reluctant to speak
out in writing, even when it can make a real difference. How can
we shift that reluctance and turn writing into action? This chapter
suggests six tools to undo the silence by setting aside self-judgment,
releasing fear, and tapping our common heritage as powerful thinkers.
Chapter two: Understanding the Silence
What keeps us from writing to make a difference?
Grassroots educator Paulo Freire saw “silencing” as
part of our culture. This chapter explores what keeps us from
writing and shows people undoing their silence and using the
written word to play more powerful roles in a more democratic
society.
Chapter
three: The FREEWRITING Tool
Letting go of self-judgment
Most people
will do just about anything but sit down to write, even though
all of us have powerful voices somewhere inside. This tool helps
end harmful self-criticism, reach buried insight, and create
pages of energetic writing. Stories and exercises make getting
started easy.
Getting Comfortable with Freewriting
Tapping Deeper
Insights with Freewriting
Using Freewriting
Chapter four: The PROCESS Tool
Finding a Flexible Writing Process You Can Trust
There’s no single
recipe for all writing situations, but you almost always save
time by doing more than one draft, taking things step by step.
Writing comes more easily when you know you'll be able to change
it later. Stories and exercises in this chapter show five core
mental activities to mix or match for each project.
Why We Need a Process
Developing
a Draft
First core activity: Generating ideas
Second core activity:
Organizing and strategizing
Third core activity: Writing a “mad
draft”
Revising
Fourth core activity: Incubation
Fifth core
activity: Revising the mad draft—in three stages
Adapting
the Process to Your Situation
Chapter five: The THINKING Tool
Organizing ideas and framing your message
Learn how experienced writers organize
ideas more powerfully with a set of techniques not taught in
most schools. Stories, examples, and exercises boost your ability
to think critically.
What Makes Thinking Powerful?
Generate and
Deepen Ideas
Organize and Connect
Sharpen Your Argument
Back
to the Roots
Your Message and the Legacy of Thinking
Chapter six: The AUDIENCE Tool
Who’s going to read it?
Put yourself in your readers’ shoes.
Figure out how they see things and how to get their attention.
Stories and exercises help you strategize to get your message
heard.
Step
one: Realize That You’re Writing to Communicate
Step two:
Demystify Your Readers
Step three: Analyze Your Audience
Step
four: From Analysis to Strategy
Step five: Strategies for Conflict
and Confrontation
Chapter seven: The FEEDBACK Tool
How do I know it “works” for
readers?
Receive real support from a group method that sidesteps
traditional critique to help you develop ideas more fully and build
democracy at the same time. Stories and exercises help you give
and receive empowering feedback with or without a group.
An Overview
of the Feedback Tool
Fine-Tuning the Process
Common questions
about the Feedback Tool
Starting a Group and Adapting the Method
A Tool for Transformation
Chapter eight: The WORD-POWER Tool
Review it all
and fine-tune your language for readers
Check the action in your
sentences, cut out the “lard,” and learn what you need
to avoid the “grammar gatekeepers” that make so many
writers uneasy. Examples and exercises show how to clean up all
those little things that frustrate readers and how to strengthen
your power with words.
Looking at Your Draft with Readers’ Eyes
Cutting
to Keep It Simple
Linking and Transitions
Grammar is Power
High-Energy
Language
Chapter nine: “Lift every Voice”
Getting active
with writing
Find subjects you’re passionate about, balance
urgency and joy, seek small and larger ways to go public with
writing, and find supportive community.
Appendix A: Letters to the Editor
Appendix B: Two kinds of Opinion Columns
Appendix C: Letters of
Inquiry for Funders More Resources
About the Author
Index
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