Writing Remains
Saturday, Sep. 23, 2023 | Blacksburg, Va.
The Virginia Tech Center for Rhetoric in Society, University Writing Program, and Rhetoric and
Writing PhD Program invite writing and rhetoric students, students from the wider Virginia Tech
community, faculty, and interested community members to propose presentations, panels,
roundtables, and workshops for this year’s Corridors: The Blue Ridge Writing and Rhetoric
Conference. We seek proposals that engage, explore, or extend this year’s theme, writing
remains. Corridors is a free, one-day conference, which will be held Saturday, September 23,
2023, in Blacksburg, Virginia.
The world is topsy-turvy. Amid the chaos of unjust wars, ecological catastrophes, global
pandemics, economic instability, political strife, and social inequities, few things in life seem
familiar anymore, except perhaps the familiarity of the unfamiliar. It seems like our lives have
become a constant process of responding to crises in professional, personal, and public contexts.
And yet we write, have always written (it seems), and will continue to write. Through everything
else, writing remains.
This year’s conference theme, writing remains, can be read in two different ways. In one sense,
writing remains, it persists in the present and will endure into the future, a stabilizing activity in
a world that is anything but stable. In another sense, writing remains means composing the
rubble of the past into something meaningful for the present. Both of these senses of the
conference theme highlight the central role writing plays in every aspect of our lives. This is why
we do it, and it’s why many of us teach others to do it.
With all the things that are going on around us, writing remains a constant presence, in our
private lives, in the public sphere, and in our teaching and learning. And writing the remains of
the past helps us make sense of the places we inhabit and the people we encounter. Yet for all of
its consistency, writing itself is messy. It’s hard work. And it doesn’t always end up the way we
wanted it to. Writing blurs the lines between public and private, work and home, reasoning and
affect, outside and inside, strangers and friends, permanence and change, individuals and
communities. Still, writing remains.
We invite 200-300 (or so) word proposals for presentations, panels, roundtables, and workshops
that explore the theme writing remains in relation to one or more of the following questions,
prompts, and ideas:
How does writing help us make sense of the past?
What writing skills transfer from one context to another?
How can writing contribute to advocacy?
How can writing help us adapt to new futures?
Writing and social justice
Writing as a social responsibility
Writing and the search for identity
Bearing the truth through writing
Storying experiences and bearing witness
Writing as a product and the measure of user experience
Writing for reclamation
Writing as invention
Proposals may respond to the conference theme or questions/prompts/ideas using one of the
following session formats (all sessions will be 70 minutes with at least 20 minutes reserved for
discussion):
Panel Presentation: 3 presentations of 13-15 minutes each on a specific theme or
question.
Individual Presentation: 13-15-minute presentation (that will be combined into a panel
by conference organizers).
Roundtable Discussion: 13-15 minutes of introductory framing by the leader(s),
followed by a facilitated discussion among participants and attendees (up to eight
participants).
Making Session/Workshop: A participatory session that engages attendees in active
learning related to the conference theme or question. Proposals should be explicit about
the activity and the anticipated takeaways for attendees.
Propose presentations, panels, roundtables, and workshops through the form below before
May
15, 2023.
Corridors Proposal Form
Notices of acceptance to the conference program will be sent by July 1, 2023. Registration will
remain open until September 16, 2023. The conference will be held on September 23, 2023.
Contact Bruce McComiskey at mbruce@vt.edu with questions.
Corridors: The Blue Ridge Writing and Rhetoric Conference is free in that we will not charge
any registration fee. But keeping things free requires a do-it-yourself spirit. We ask that you print
a copy of the schedule and program before coming. Please create your own name tag or re-use an
old name tag from another conference you have attended. You are also on your own for all
beverages, food, and lodging (for those who wish to stay in Blacksburg before or after the
conference) instead of making it a truly one-day experience.