An Interview with Michael Copperman, author of Teacher: Two Years in the Mississippi Delta

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Ed Battistella
Email, RSS Follow

author photo: Ed Croom

From 2002 to 2004, Michael Copperman taught fourth grade in the Mississippi Delta through Teach For America. Today, he teaches writing to students from diverse backgrounds—primarily low-income and first-generation college students—at the University of Oregon. Michael also frontlines The Oregon Writers’ Collective, which fosters a vibrant writing community where emerging writers can connect with one another, discover audiences, and develop their craft.

His writing has received awards from the Munster Literature Centre, the Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Literary Arts, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, among others. Some of the places his work appears include The Sun, The Oxford American, Guernica, Creative Nonfiction, and Copper Nickle.

Michael’s recent memoir Teacher: Two Years in the Mississippi Delta illuminates his experiences teaching in rural black public schools in Mississippi, depicting clashes between educational ideals and realities. Mario Alberto Zambrano (Lotería: A Novel) called the book “heartbreaking and crucial,” and Katie Williams (The Space Between Trees) called it “a work of tremendous skill, honesty, and heart.”

Allie Sipe is a senior at Southern Oregon University who will graduate at the end of June, after which she will teach in Rhode Island through Teach For America.

AS: Tell us a little about your background. How did you come to serve as a corps member for Teach For America in the Mississippi Delta?

MC: I graduated Stanford, where I’d been a college wrestler and also the chair of the Hapa Issues Forum, a multiracial Asian-American advocacy group—that is, I was driven and social justice oriented.  TFA sounded like a good next step, a worthy cause.

AS: Can you talk about translating your experiences with Teach For America into writing a memoir? What did that process look like?

MC:  It took me many, many years to write well about the experiences—I needed the clarifying distance of time to be able to reflect and reckon with what the experience came to mean.  I wrote long emails to family and friends when I was there which was valuable source material—and I wrote many of the pieces of the memoir discretely, publishing piece by piece.

AS: Did you discover anything intriguing or surprising about your time in the Delta when revisiting your experiences to write your memoir?

MC: I found that while I thought I was full of regret and guilt, what I was finally experiencing was longing to be back there with the kids I taught, who I cared about so much that I had been unable to let go of.  I found out that perhaps I had been a good teacher after all.

AS: When reading your book, I was particularly struck by the gap between educators’ idealistic goals for students and the incredibly difficult realities those students endure. At one point, you refer to this as teaching “children with so much promise and so little opportunity.” Can you speak a little more about that?

MC: I went to Mississippi imagining that I could remake the world—take the burden and consequences of slavery and racism and segregation and poverty and create justice, which is to say, give deserving children a chance to learn and so realize the American dream through education.  That proved far more difficult than I knew, as teaching is an art, and while what teachers do does resonate out of sight, it does so invisibly through years and years.  I left believing I’d failed.

AS: One of my favorite parts of your book was reading the notes that students wrote to you and left in your mailbox, as well as reading the poems students wrote in class. Especially in the poetry assignment where students used metaphors to write about their past, present, and future, students’ authentic voices came to life. Why was poetry such an appropriate vessel for students’ voices and stories?

MC:  Those kids, who spoke AAVE in the particular Delta variation of Southern idiomatic English—well, they had style and verve and an ear for rhythm, and they knew the world they inhabited, which was rough and bleak at times, but also beautiful, and richer for the intensity of their experiences.  Their voices were dazzling because poetry freed them from the burdens of grammar conventions which were not native, and because poetry, when freed from the stuffy halls of academia, values life and affirms it, raw and vital and present.

AS: Near the end of your book, you write that, “Teach For America’s merit is that it bridges the gap between worlds.” After reading your book, your work now as a professor at the University of Oregon who works with low-income, first generation students seems to be a commitment to this work of bridging gaps. How would you say that your experiences with TFA in the Delta inform you as a writing teacher today?

MC: The lessons I learned in Mississippi are the lessons I relearn today, again and again, in teaching students who have often come from difficult backgrounds—not to make assumptions, but to listen.  To value students’ experiences and try to make them matter in how learning happens, so that one’s identity is not erased.  Patience, compassion, kindness.

AS: Do you have any advice for emerging teachers and writers?

MC: Teach with passion—if you don’t care, why should your students?  Write from the heart—puffery, tricks, and cleverness don’t hold up, but the truth does, even it is itself insufficient.

AS: Thanks so much for talking with us.

 

Posted in Ideas and Opinions, Interviews | Comments Off on An Interview with Michael Copperman, author of Teacher: Two Years in the Mississippi Delta

An Interview with Jan Wright

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Ed Battistella
Email, RSS Follow

Jan Wright is the founder and director of Wright Research and Archives, the archivist for Harry and David in Medford, Oregon, and the former Director of the Talent Historical Society. She is the author of Images of America: Talent (Arcadia, 2009). She is working on a book project to be titled Imperfect Apostle John Beeson, Advocate for Native Americans.

EB: Can you tell our readers a little bit about John Beeson?

JW: Injustice made John Beeson squirm. When he saw something that inflicted pain or wrong on any group of people, particularly the American Indians, he took action. Regardless of the personal consequences to himself or his family, he went straight to the source of the problem and confronted politicians, Indian agents, volunteer Indian fighters, newspaper editors and unfeeling ministers. His fire kept a smoldering camp of Beeson haters who belittled him and his mission whenever they could. Somewhat of a mystic, he fell into Spiritualism and was visited by ghostly messengers who guided him from beyond the grave.

EB: How did you get interested in his story?

JW: I resisted John Beeson for years. I was more attracted to telling the locally significant story of his son, Welborn Beeson, as it unfolded from his amazing diaries. Of course, Welborn wrote about his father’s whereabouts in the east and what he said about the father son relationship fascinated me. My research trips to New York, Illinois and DC turned up so much information about John Beeson that I gave way to the story that had a more national appeal and was so intertwined with the fate of Native Americans.

EB: Beeson wrote the Plea for the Indians in 1857. How was that received?

JW: Written after he was forced to leave Oregon, a Plea for the Indians launched his long career as an advocate for the Indians. He used the book effectively as an introduction to the the East Coast lecture circle. To the city dwellers, he was considered a credible witness of the far west experience but generally the people of the West, derided and condemned him as too soft on “savages.” He eventually became a reliable speaker at suffrage gatherings, abolitionist meetings, churches, government councils and as a form of entertainment with a troupe of Indian singers. One of his speeches in Buffalo, NY was attended by President-Elect, Abraham Lincoln, on his way to his own inauguration. After Lincoln moved to the White House, John Beeson, was invited as a guest to deliver his Indian message along with his favored Indian songstress, Larooqua.

EB: He returned to Oregon later. How was he received by his family and the community?

JW: After being gone for 8 years 8 months and 1 day, John returned (in 1865) to his family on Wagner Creek near present day Talent, Oregon. It was not an easy adjustment to be once again in a rural setting with farm work to do. He was used to crowds of people paying to get in to see him, to making appeals before Congress, to organizing peace groups at the Cooper Union in New York, but on Wagner Creek he was a farmer behind the plow like the rest of his neighbors. His attempts to give lectures in Jacksonville and Ashland were not well attended and though people tolerated his presence, he was out of his element and not generally respected.

His wife, Ann, died while he was home but she only wanted her son, Welborn, to be at her side. John was in the field plowing corn and was unaware of her death until he saw the neighbors gathering at their home to prepare her body for burial.

In the fall of 1867 John left for the East Coast again, hoping he could still be of use to the Indians on a national level. He was 77 years old and nearly deaf on his final return to Oregon in 1880.

EB: His life—and his story–seem to be very relevant today, I think. What connections do you see to current affairs?

JW: He told the truth as he saw it, blew the whistle when he had to, and was willing to stand alone to face his enemies. He envisioned an America that stuck to its stated values and principles and engaged in a non-stop quest for justice as a full-time occupation. He lived on the stranger’s dime, traveled in stage coaches, trains and on foot to school houses, churches, state houses, mansions and cabins to organize a national movement to seek a better outcome for the Indians. His story was a microcosm of what was going on all over America. He walked up the steps of each state capitol, each neighborhood, and visited each congregation with the news of the day and with the same old story. He wore the mantle of leadership without seeking exorbitant compensation. That kind of leadership is manifest in today’s organizations (such as Indivisible) that keep the pressure on local representatives to mind the will of the people. Beeson’s struggles show us that each generation adds a personal narrative and a new baseline from which to start but each has to vigilantly improve the workings of democracy and combat greed, corruption and racism.

EB: There must be some interesting local sources on Beeson in the Talent and Southern Oregon Historical Society archives. What sorts of material are you finding?

JW: The Welborn Beeson diaries are the single most outstanding source of information about the Beeson family and the historical, social and political events in Southern Oregon. They span the years 1851-1893 and began when the Beeson’s still lived in Illinois. The diary was tucked away at the University of Oregon Special Collections until 2006 when the Talent Historical Society had them microfilmed and repatriated to Talent.

Southern Oregon Historical Society has a photo album which includes some photos of John Beeson and his family and copies of correspondence from friends and relatives. The living descendants of John and Ann Beeson are very much engaged with the progress of the book and have shared family photos and archived information.

EB: Are there important sources about Beeson elsewhere? I understand he lived in New York for a time.

JW: British born John and Ann Beeson arrived in New York in 1830 on the ship Samuel Robertson. John who had been trained as a confectioner in England, followed that occupation in Ithaca and Troy, NY until the family moved to Illinois. I have visited the New York state archives in Albany to do research on the Beeson family and have been in contact with the New York Public Library and the Cooper Union to obtain more information about John while he lived in that state.

I also visited the site of the farm in Illinois where Beesons lived for over 20 years and corresponded with the family who live on that property. My sister and I did extensive research at the courthouse in Ottawa, IL and elsewhere to document that portion of their lives. Newspapers from Maine to Rhode Island, from New York to Philadelphia, from Minnesota to Illinois and of course, Oregon all have multiple articles about John Beeson’s lectures and performances, his resolutions and petitions.

EB: You’ve launched a kickstarter campaign to support the research project. What was that experience like?

JW: The Kickstarter experience has changed the way I view the book. When the campaign ends on June 12th, I will know precisely who my audience is. I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude and responsibility to make the book meet expectations and to follow the truth with accuracy and finesse. From the Mayor of Talent to a widow lady in Ashland, from my former boss, to my own children, people have come through for me and joined in the dream to resurrect John Beeson’s voice. I acknowledge that my journey has been a bit backwards, that the cart is before the horse when I talk about a book that does not yet exist.

In a sense, I am taking up my mission in much the same way as John Beeson did by asking for financial help to relieve me of the worry of earning my daily bread with a 9-5 job while I write the book.

Community support has made me a bit nicer and more disciplined and made me more likely to support others in their dreams as well.

EB: Thanks for talking with us.

JW: It’s been a pleasure. Thank you.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/235507129/imperfect-apostle-john-beeson-advocate-for-native

Posted in Interviews | Comments Off on An Interview with Jan Wright

An Interview with Allison Brennan, a guest post by Kelly Brennan

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Ed Battistella
Email, RSS Follow

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Allison Brennan believes life’s too short to be bored, so she had five kids and writes three books a year. She’s currently writing two series–the Lucy Kincaid thriller series about an FBI agent who believes the rules are there for a reason, and the Maxine Revere cold case mystery series about an investigative reporter who believes the rules are meant to be broken.

Her upcoming release SHATTERED brings her two series characters together for the first time.

Allison lives in Northern California with her family and assorted pets.

Kelly Brennan is an Interdisciplinary Studies major emphasizing in English and Graphic Design at Southern Oregon University.

KB: How did you decide to make a career in writing?

AB: I’ve always wanted to be a writer. When I was 13, I read THE STAND by Stephen King and wrote him a fan letter. I told him I wanted to be a writer “when I grew up.” He sent me back a post card that said, “If you want to be a writer, write.” It took me years before I understood what he meant.

Life happened. I dropped out of college and got a job in the California State Legislature. I got married, had kids, had a career. After my son was born in 2001, I reflected that I was over 30, unhappy in my job and dissatisfied with my life. I read 77 books (all fiction) while on maternity leave and remembered my dream of being a writer. Two books in particular inspired me – THE THIRD VICTIM by Lisa Gardner and THE SEARCH by Iris Johansen. I gave up television for three years and wrote every night from nine until midnight. It took mey five manuscripts before I found an agent who then sold my book in a three-book deal. I quit my day job and never looked back.

KB: You’ve written thirty books in several series—how do you keep all the series and characters straight?

AB: Short answer: I don’t. I’ve made several mistakes over the course of my longest running series (the Lucy Kincaid series now with 12 books.) I’ve inadvertently changed minor details in the physical description of my characters (Lucy’s brother has had three different eye colors!) and another minor character started out as a Marine vet and is now an Army vet.

I wish I had kept a “book bible” as one of my writer friends calls it. Essentially, a journal of all characters and basic physical description and backstory. I don’t mess up my main characters – they feel very real to me, so even if I don’t mention something, I already know it. But the minor characters? Yes, I’ve made mistakes.

Recently, I finished writing SHATTERED (on sale August 22, 2017) which is a cross-over book starring my two series main characters. Before I wrote it, I re-read several scenes from previous books to make sure that I got certain details right. This was crucial because the book is about the twenty-year-old cold case murder of Lucy Kincaid’s nephew when he (and Lucy) were only seven. I knew readers would remember the details because it was a turning point in Lucy’s life, so I had to make sure that I didn’t get something wrong.

KB: Is there a theme that runs through all your work? Justice, perhaps?

AB: Yes, probably justice. I don’t write with a specific theme in mind, but my books always have a happy (or bittersweet) ending. I think in life we often see that justice isn’t served. That the bad guys get away with awful crimes and innocent people suffer. While people suffer in my books (otherwise I wouldn’t be writing crime fiction!), the bad guy always gets what’s coming to him. My mother pointed out that I kill off all my bad guys at the end of the book. That’s not completely true … but it’s mostly true. 🙂

Another theme that shows up in most of my books is the idea that we’re not an island. My main character often feels that they are the only person who cares about solving a specific crime, or that they can do it by themselves. Over the course of the story, they realize that they are not the only person that cares, and that sometimes they need the help of others to save the day – that asking for help is not a crime.

KB: You seem to have a lot of fun writing, sometimes even putting real people in the books. Tell us about that.

AB: Yes, I love writing. Doing what you love as a way to earn a living? There’s nothing better.

I don’t put real people in books per se, but there have been times I’ve used people’s names. I’ve done a lot of charity fundraisers (for example, the Sacramento County Friends of the Library) where patrons will pay a lot of money to have their name in a book. I don’t use anything about them, just their name, and they have to sign a disclaimer. For example, one person became an underage prostitute; another became a cop; and friends of the family became victims of a serial killer.

I did, however, use traits of my brother-in-law Kevin Brennan as the basis of creating my serial killer in THE HUNT. I interviewed Kevin as research – he’s a wildlife biologist, and my killer was a wildlife biologist. He helped me make my bad guy very realistic, and gave me some great technical and geographic information that helped my good guys identify and stop the killer. Kevin also helped with my book CUTTING EDGE that started with research ducks being released by eco-terrorists, ultimately threatening an entire species.

KB: What sort of research goes into the books? Do you have FBI or police consultants?

AB: I love research. Other than the actual writing, research is my favorite part of writing!
I extensively research for all my books. I learned the hard way in one of my earliest novels that getting the details right is important not just for me, but for reader enjoyment. (I got a medical detail wrong and several nurses emailed me about the same error.) I have several friends who are in all areas of law enforcement who I can call upon at any time, which is my primary source of information. I have a library of more than fifty books about crime, the criminal justice system, forensics, and criminal psychology. I’ve toured the morgue, viewed an autopsy, been on ride-alongs with local law enforcement, participated in the FBI citizens academy, have been a role player in numerous FBI-SWAT training exercises, and participated in the Writer’s Police Academy where I was invited to speak about how to research when you’re not an expert on anything.

While researching STALKED, for example, I visited the FBI Academy at Quantico and toured the facility. This was my second trip east for research purposes. I was able to walk around the campus, question the media representative, talk to some of the recruits and trainers, watch drills, and learn as much as possible about what it’s like to be an FBI Agent-in-Training without actually going through the process. All this helped immensely in writing a story about a murder at Quantico.

One of my favorite research books is BOOK OF POISONS put out in the “Howdunit” series by Writers Digest. I’ve used it extensively, and recently have been perusing it to find the perfect weapon to kill someone slowly.

KB: What do you enjoy most about writing, or about being a writer?

AB: This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. It would be easy to say, “I love writing” because it’s true, but that’s not really an answer. I love creating a story filled with characters that readers can believe—at least for a short time—actually exist. My favorite fan letters and reviews will say that I kept them up until the wee hours of the morning. That makes me feel like I’ve done my job – that I’ve given someone a reason to keep reading past their bedtime.

KB: What’s the worst part of being a writer?

AB: Sometimes, the stress of life makes writing next to impossible. Whether it’s worries about finances, or health, or my kids – if I have a major issue to deal with, creativity takes a backseat. When I have a deadline, this is doubly stressful because I know I HAVE to write to meet my deadline, but the situation makes it impossible to focus and create. Anytime you make your living through the creative arts, outside pressure can have a devastating affect on the end product. I think this is why many creative people develop chemical dependancy (drugs or alcohol) because sometimes to push aside the personal conflicts the creative person uses artifical solutions. In the short term it works. In the long term, it creates even more problems.

KB: How do you juggle five kids while writing full time?

AB: I have worked full-time since I was 20 years old and dropped out of college. There are many working mothers out there – women who work 9-to-5 or more—in order to provide for their family. Writing is my job – it’s how I make my living. And while in some ways it is more demanding and stressful than when I was working 9-to-5 in the Legislature, I have more flexibility. I can, for example, take a few hours off to go on a field trip or drive a kid to practice. I make up the writing time at night or early in the morning.

I would much rather have flexibility than to be stuck in one cubicle for eight hours straight.

KB: What is the editorial process like for you? What kind of feedback is most helpful?

AB: I have been blessed with great editors.

My first editor, Charlotte, taught me the most – she taught me how to self-edit and how to recognize story flaws. She made me a better writer. I’m with a different publisher, but the editorial process is similar: I write a good book. My editor reads the book and asks questions about the character and story that help me revise my book into something much, much better.

The editorial process is not really a simple process. To create a book worth publishing, I go through several steps:

    1) I write the first draft. This is my “sloppy copy” – because I don’t plot, this is basically a rough draft that I also keep notes in. Meaning, if I don’t think something is working I might write notes to myself to look at certain scenes or threads.
    2) My rewrite. Though I edit as I write, when I get to “the end” I will go back to the beginning and do a more thorough edit/rewrite and address any major story problems I can see.
    3) I send this next draft to my editor. She sends me notes, sometimes with the manuscript attached, and I then revise the entire book.
    4) Copyedits. Most of the time, I only go through one round of editor revisions before the book goes to copyedits. This is the stage where the copyeditor conforms the book to house style, identifies any grammatical issues, and queries potential plot problems. (For example, in my first novel I had a character exit the same scene twice!) I get to review the copyedits and make any additional changes. I might tweak the book a bit – word choices, trimming repetition, etc. I might add/delete a scene but not any major revisions.
    5) Page Proofs/Galleys. The revised copyedits go back to my publisher to be set for print. I get a set of proofs before they go to print. This is where I look for minor errors (mostly in typesetting) or tweak content to make it as strong as it can be.

KB: What are your favorite books/writers? Who inspires you the most?

AB: I read a lot of mysteries growing up. I was born in 1969 … we didn’t have a Young Adult genre. The YA section was a mere shelf in the library. I started with Encyclopedia Brown and moved on to Trixie Belden then Two-Minute Mysteries and Nancy Drew and then my mother’s Agatha Christie collection. When I was 13 I read THE STAND, my first Stephen King novel, and never looked back. King is the master of character and suspense … few have come even close.

As an adult, I’m most inspired by Lisa Gardner, J.D. Robb, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, and Ray Bradbury. FAHRENHEIT 451 is still one of my all-time favorite books. Though I write crime fiction that focuses on the thriller elements of writing, my dream is to write a utopian/dystopian series. I have always been drawn to the “what ifs” in the world around me.

KB: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

AB: My advice changes with my mood. The first bit of advice? Write what you love. Never write to trends because by the time you’re done, the trend will have passed.

Posted in Ideas and Opinions, Interviews | Comments Off on An Interview with Allison Brennan, a guest post by Kelly Brennan

In Defense of Valley Girl English, a guest post by Reilly Nycum

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Ed Battistella
Email, RSS Follow

Reilly Nycum is an English and History double major in the Honors College at SOU.

In Defense of Valley Girl English: I’m, like, so totally gonna ace this paper.

When one hears Valley girl English, the eyerolls almost become audible. Images of skinny girls prancing around in short skirts at the mall are instantly conjured. In the early 1980s, musical artist Frank Zappa released “Valley Girl,” a song depicting stereotypical Valley girl English, thus forever immortalizing the term for users and listeners alike. In the song, Zappa chants “She’s a Valley Girl / And there is no cure” as a high-pitched voice whines about her superficial life in the Valley: “Like, OH MY GOD! / Like-TOTALLY / Encino is like SO BITCHEN” (Zappa). Zappa’s easily recognizable depiction of Valley girl English, the term specifically prescribed to the dialect spoken by those living in and around the San Fernando Valley, resonates with listeners in several ways. People attach a stigma to Valley girl English to such an extent that most seem to revile the dialect and label its distinctions as bad habits. Many fail listen past the parodies and satire to pay attention to what is being said. However, the characteristics of Valley girl English, such as vowel shifting, the quotative and non-quotative like, slang, and uptalk demonstrate the assets of a legitimate dialect that is spreading throughout the nation.

The vowel shifting observed in Valley girl English represents a change in language observed in many other American dialects. In a study conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, linguists noted that back vowels are shifting forward in Valley girl English, “front vowels have raised variants in some phonological environments and lowered variants elsewhere” (Bucholtz et. al 125). This vowel shifting has also been observed in dialects in Philadelphia and Detroit (125). Though other dialects are experiencing a vowel shift, people connect the change with Valley girl English. For instance, in “Valley Girl” Zappa satirizes the vowel shift in words such as “super” or “totally,” pronouncing them by fronting the /o/ sound. Do You Speak American?, a book studying various dialect trends across the United States, expands on the UC Berkeley findings by explaining how this vowel shift and other vowel shifts are a part of a larger trend in the United States: “These linguists also found some chain-shifting of vowels resembling William Labov’s Northern Cities Shift around the Great Lakes—black sounding like block” (MacNeil and Cran 161). Characteristics of the Northern Cities Shift, first defined by linguist William Labov, began far before the creation of the Valley girl dialect (38). When characterizing Valley girl English, it remains important to recognize that the vernacular borrows from the vowel shift but does not represent a completely new change in the language. Vowel-shifting, while an important trait in the Valley girl dialect, is not unique to the vernacular despite its cultural association.

The term like, often looked down upon as a meaningless interjection used by the younger generations, also did not originate from Valley girl English. In an article titled “Like and Language Ideology: Disentangling Fact From Fiction,” Alexandra D’Arcy, a professor at the University of Canterbury, calls attention to the myths surrounding like and concentrates on its tangible usage in the language (D’Arcy 386). D’Arcy systematically breaks down various stereotypes surrounding like, including the erroneous belief that the practice began with Valley girls (391). By analyzing many different speech patterns, D’Arcy gathered that the frequency of like usage does not correlate with the beginning of Valley girl English but only heightens with the advent of the dialect (405). Moreover, she points out that the term “Valley Girl” did not even come into existence until the 1980s: “Stated differently, outside its local milieu, “Valley Girl” was not an active model for association, linguistic or otherwise, until after 1980” (404). The assumption that like began with the Valley girls contradicts the fact that the use of like as “discourse marker, a discourse particle, and an adverb of approximation” came into existence far before the creation of the Valley girl dialect (405). In addition, D’Arcy’s identification of like as containing much more meaning than an empty conversation filler or a verbal tic shows the true range of expressions like has in the language. Her analyses also reveal that like has set significations that set out rules of when to use like or not (395). Instead of viewing like as a signal of uncertainty D’Arcy calls to mind that linguistic trends almost always have hidden rules that outsiders do not understand. Although the myths surrounding like attach original usage and a pointless meaning to Valley girl English, there is no logical basis for that assumption.

The use of quotatives such as be like, say, and go, carry a similar connotation as like but have a different purpose. Three scholars from Cornell University studied the phenomenon of be like as a way for speakers to introduce both “inner monologue or direct speech” to add a certain level of emphasis depending on usage (Blyth, et. al 215). After leading a study examining the dialects of a diverse group of people, the researchers came to the conclusion that “be like is functionally versatile and therefore may have more staying power in the lexicon” (225). Without an understanding of the intricacies of quotatives such as be like, listeners misunderstand the intention behind them. They only hear phrases unfamiliar to their vernacular and associate the change with a degradation of the language by younger generations. As with like, the quotatives be like, say, and go do not correlate with the advent of Valley girl English. In fact, some scholars classify the usage of be like as a convergence between Black English Vernacular and White English Vernacular (216). Additionally, say and go offer a much more complex range of expressions than outsiders generally apprehend. Outside listeners often think that go is a synonym for say and fail to see the difference between the two. Scholars notice that “the use of go correlates with only the dramatic use of historical present and direct speech” (216). Although many non-speakers identify the uses of these quotatives as a demeaned and illogical use of the language, the quotatives signify far more to speakers who comprehend the particulars of their vernacular.

Slang also plays a large role in distinguishing Valley girl English. Terms such as those used in the influential 1995 film Clueless characterize the vernacular in the eyes of those who hear and speak it (MacNeil and Cran 157). Although movies and television do not change people’s speech, Clueless does seem to influence Valley girl English, especially in relation to slang, and may act as an exception to this rule (157). Linguists Robert MacNeil and William Cran endeavored to catalog Valley girl slang by conducting a study on teenagers from Irvine (159). After giving the teenagers cameras to record their speech for several days in both personal and formal environments, MacNeil and Cran asked the teens to help them compile a dictionary of the terms they used throughout the footage (159). In this dictionary, MacNeil and Cran notice “Ten of the twenty-two expressions listed above are borrowed from black talk, or, as a student called it, ‘the ghetto fab vernacular that many teens use today’” (161). Just as with the quotative be like, slang terms get appropriated in the Valley girl dialect. This carrying over of linguistic characteristics complicates the current opinion on Valley girl English. Much of the vernacular does not show any original movements in language; however, the dialect does call to attention the changes that are happening. While many correlate slang terms and other linguistic trends to the creation of Valley girl English, this may only be due to the massive media coverage of the dialect.

Uptalk, much like other language developments related to Valley girl English, tends to be overexaggerated by the media and thus labelled as yet another horrible trend led by the younger generations. James Gorman coined the term uptalk in a 1993 New York Times article titled ON LANGUAGE; Like, uptalk? (Warren 6). According to Gorman, uptalk is defined by a rising intonation at the end of a sentence that transforms the sentence into a question (Gorman). Although Gorman correctly defines uptalk, his further account of the trend reveals his bias against the tonal shift: “Nobody knows exactly where uptalk came from. It might have come from California, from Valley Girl talk … Some twentysomethings say uptalk is part of their attitude: cool, ironic, uncommitted” (Gorman). While it seems extremely doubtful that “young twentysomethings” consider uptalk as a part of their “cool, ironic, and uncommitted” attitude, Gorman’s comments certainly reflect the popular perception of uptalk. People interpret uptalk as an act of doubt and stupidity, characteristics also imbued onto Valley girl English. Gorman states later in his article the idea that “Uptalk won’t be uptalk anymore. It will be, like, American English?” (Gorman). While Gorman does not condone the spread of uptalk, he hits on an interesting aspect of the trend. Uptalk is spreading amongst all genders, ages, and areas. While people regularly connect uptalk with Valley girl English, uptalk extends into many other dialects and languages.

People tend to instill negative implications on uptalk, in part due to portrayals in the media and articles like Gorman’s; however, it remains a lasting and prevalent trend. In a book titled Uptalk by Paul Warren, an Associate Professor at Victoria University, Warren thoroughly investigates the mechanics behind uptalk as well as the media’s depiction of the shift. In a sample examining 182 media portrayals of uptalk, Warren noted “a sizable minority (78) were clearly negative or condemning of uptalk … If speaker sex was mentioned, then it was almost always to indicate that uptalk was a typical female trait” (Warren 129). The way the media depicts uptalk creates a general distaste for the intonation which fosters an unhealthy view of the quickly spreading trend. The misrepresentation of uptalk as being a feature only found in young, female speakers shows misrepresentation of a trend that is used by many different types of people, including men and the older generations. While Warren did notice that females and younger people tend to use uptalk with a higher frequency, men and older people use uptalk far more than most people acknowledge (111). Furthermore, rather than defining uptalk as a feature of indecisiveness, Warren suggests that it may indicate “openness, only in this case they are inviting the listener to participate in the conversation, or to indicate their understanding of what has been said. It is used to share information rather than to tell (or to question)” (188). Warren’s findings on the intentions of uptalk challenges negative views on the trend and give a less biased perspective on uptalk as a whole. The confusion around the purpose of uptalk and its association with a small subset of speakers severely understates the real impact of uptalk on modern dialects and people.

Despite the fact that the California dialect finds representation in many songs, movies, and television shows, relatively few scholars have studied the range of dialects in the area. Carmen Fought, a professor of linguistics at Pitzer University, was the first to conduct a study in 2002 to help gain clarity on the dialectology of California (Fought 113). In her study, Fought handed 122 respondents, 112 of them from California and therefore included in the analysis, a blank map of the United States (114). She told the respondents, students in an undergraduate linguistics class, to mark the boundaries between where they thought people starting speaking distinct dialects (114). The methodology that Fought utilizes in her study acts as tool for linguists to help them understand not only how people distinguish different dialects but also how they perceive their own dialect. After examining the maps she received, Fought noticed that “California is associated with good English, but never proper … It seems that California is a state caught between a general aura of desirability and a specific association with negative linguistic stereotypes” (133). The slight distinction between ‘good’ and ‘proper’ reveals the confusion Californians feel about their dialect. Additionally, in perceptual dialectology it has been found that people rate California very highly in respect to ‘correctness’ or ‘politeness’ but rate the Valley Girl dialect as a signal of low intelligence (127). While Californians have the same “local preference factor” as others, they do not see their dialect as something that could be considered ‘correct.’ Although Fought’s study operates under the constraints of a small sample size, the results reveal a significant aspect about the biases Californians hold about their own speech patterns.

Other studies have been conducted since Fought’s that reveal information about the way Californians and non-Californians view dialects. In a study published in the Journal of English Linguistics titled “Hella Nor Cal or Totally So Cal? The Perceptual Dialectology of California,” undergraduate field workers at UC Santa Barbara used the blank map methodology with an included survey to help distinguish how people see their home state’s dialect as well other dialects (Bucholtz et. al 329). The survey also asked respondents to identify the places they thought spoke the best and worst English (329). The results generally showed a high degree of salience in the Los Angeles region, most likely due to the fact that the largest group of respondents identified the Los Angeles area as their home state (338). Researchers also documented that while nonresidents thought they had a greater degree of confidence when labelling California, their responses reflect biases found in the media: “Nevertheless, this higher degree of salience does not necessarily lead to a higher degree of accuracy in the perceptions of nonresidents, which focus on the most stereotypical and highly visible aspects of California’s language and culture” (349). Even if people live and grow up around those who speak Valley girl English or other well publicized California dialects, they still carry the prejudice reflected in popular media about the dialect. Still, despite this data people are still inclined to rate California as speaking ‘good’ English (348). This study and others reveals the role of perceptual dialectology in revealing the perceptions people hold due to the vast influence of media and other cultural phenomena.

The way people think about Valley girl English finds a basis in many facets of popular culture. Popular culture, however, tends to overstate the qualities of Valley girl English and transform the vernacular into something inexorably linked to materialism and superficiality. This presents many issues when attempting to understand the dialect because it fosters an inherent predisposition against its characteristics. In addition, this prejudice causes people to understand Valley girl English as a dialect only spoken by a certain type of person, the Valley girl. This simply does not account for the wide usage of the facets of Valley girl English, such as the quotative be like and uptalk. While one may feel that Valley girl English sounds ‘dumb’ or ‘air-headed,’ its features are not unusual and may even be appropriated from other vernaculars. Furthermore, the changes observed in Valley girl English are growing increasingly apparent in other dialects across the United States. When people dismiss dialect patterns as purposeless and annoying, they fail to recognize the ways in which people utilize the patterns as a valid way of communication. Studies on Valley girl English offer a glimpse into an important dialect trend and call attention to the generally one-sided view of the vernacular in popular media.

Works Cited

    Blyth, Carl, Sigrid Recktenwald, and Jenny Wang. “‘I’m Like, ‘Say What?!’: A New Quotative in American Oral Narrative.” American Speech, 65.3, (1990): 215–227. JSTOR. 19 Feb. 2017.

    Bucholtz, Mary, Nancy Bermudez, Victor Fung, Lisa Edwards, and Rosalva Vargas. “Hella Nor Cal or Totally So Cal? The Perceptual Dialectology of California.” Journal of English Linguistics 35.4 (2007): 325-352. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

    D’Arcy, Alexandra “Like and Language Ideology: Disentangling Fact From Fiction” American Speech, 82. 4 (2007): 386-418. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

    Gorman, James. “ON LANGUAGE; Like, Uptalk?” The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Aug. 1993. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

    Fought, Carmen. “California Students Perceptions of, You Know, Regions and Dialects?” Handbook of Perceptual Dialectology, Volume 2, edited by Daniel Long and Dennis Preston, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2002, pp. 113-134.

    Hinton, Leanne, Birch Moonwomon, Sue Bremner, Herb Luthin, Mary Van Clay, Jean Lerner, and Hazel Corcoran. “It’s Not Just the Valley Girls: A Study of California English.” Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society [Online], 13 (1987): 117-128. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.

    MacNeil, Robert, and William Cran. Do You Speak American? Harcourt, Inc, 2005.

    Warren, Paul. Uptalk. Cambridge University Press, 2016.

    Zappa, Frank. “Valley Girl.” Ship Arriving too late to save a drowning witch, Barking Pumpkin Records, 1982.

Posted in Ideas and Opinions, Language | Comments Off on In Defense of Valley Girl English, a guest post by Reilly Nycum