Sunday 23 September 2012

Another oddly misleading bio



We looked yesterday at the way that a well known home educator was able to write almost three hundred words about her experience of home education, without once mentioning that she was actually a home educator herself. I regarded this as something of an achievement and was surprised to see it surpassed by yet another high-profile home educator. Here is her bio from the blog she keeps:



I’m a novelist and poet living in a village perched on the edge of mountains, from where I run an independent press with the assistance of my son and daughter. Independence is a recurring motif in my thinking – I home educated my four highly independent children (now independent young people); did my PhD in feminist theology at a time when it was an emerging mode of thought ; run independent courses in creative writing with the highly independent poet, Pete Marshall, and have moved through major institutions, educational, spiritual and domestic, to work towards my independence.I have published books on home education and parenting, focussing on living with children in ways that respect their autonomy, as well as novels and poetry collections. I’m working on a novel that explores metamorphosis in the lives of three people – I’m Still Here – and a poetry collection that includes a long sequence about Cwmorthin – an abandoned slate mining village near my home. The sequence, ‘Ty Schrödinger’, will be part of the collection A Small Bird Burning. You can find out more about my books here.



I am sure that many readers will recognise the author from this description; she is of course none other than Jan Fortune-Wood, or just Jan Fortune as she wishes to be known since her divorce. What is missing from today’s picture, children? Well the fact that the writer has managed not to mention that she is a priest! This is really weird. She tells us that she is a novelist, that she has a PhD, as well as letting us know that she is a publisher. Why miss out the part about being an ordained priest?

Something else that I am puzzled by is that she claims to have ‘moved through major institutions, educational, spiritual and domestic’ . I think we may safely assume that the major spiritual institution through which she has moved must be a coded reference to the Anglican Church. What though was the major domestic institution? Is she talking here of her marriage? If so, it is a strange way of stating the case; I cannot personally imagine referring to my marriage as a ‘major domestic institution’! This is the trouble with Jan Fortune’s writing. It is OK when you read it with the eye of faith and do not enquire to deeply into the meaning of the words. Once you stop and try to figure out what she is actually saying though, you are lost.

18 comments:

  1. That fact that were a primary school teacher is not mentioned in the sales blurb for your book on home education, despite the fact that it is aimed at education professionals. I wonder why that is? It seems a strange omission.

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  2. Well, not really. It says that I have worked for many years with children with special educational needs. This includes working at two hospitals in Israel, schools in this country, fostering, work at a speech and language clinic, running a charity for twenty years or so, voluntary work and a good deal more. It seemed easier just to encompass it all in 'working with children with special educational needs'. If I were to write a bio of several hundred words, I might be a little more explicit.

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    Replies
    1. So have you worked as a primary school teacher? Because I would think that this would be well worth a mention in addition to 'working with children who have special educational needs', since 'working with children who have special educational needs' doesn't really suggest that you were a teacher. It could easily include someone who worked as a carer or teaching assistant, for instance. Your book's sales blurb does not suggest that you have ever been a teacher. Quite a serious error, in the circumstances.

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    2. Simon said,
      "If I were to write a bio of several hundred words, I might be a little more explicit."

      Maybe Jan would have included more information if she had written a bio of several hundred words too.

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    3. Having met the woman, I'm not surprised that she omitted her role as an ordained priest.
      It was always quite clear that she was constantly reinventing herself.

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  3. I think you present a worthy example of the pot calling the old kettle black, Simon. You have been pinned down rather neatly by the two commentators above.

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  4. simon wrote,
    "Why miss out the part about being an ordained priest?"

    Because it's not particularly relevant to being a writer and publisher? I wouldn't expect her to include her skills as an acrobat or juggler (if she has any) either.

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    Replies
    1. It worked well enough for several bestselling authors. Morris West, for instance.
      And it is rather relevant, go to any book signing and you'll hear people wanting to know just how a writer works and what has inspired/informed them.

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  5. 'why miss out the part about being an ordained priest?'
    Because that wouldn't quite add up with such strong beliefs in independence..
    The church has always been a blunt instrument of the state, to admit to being a priest and indoctrinating the population wouldn't lend Jan Fortune-Wood any credibility in the HE community and that would undoubtedly affect sales of her awful ramblings.
    The KJV Bible is nothing but an instrument of indoctrination, it's the work of politicians responsible for state and spiritual justification of warfare, genocide and racial purity.
    JF-W taught held teaching positions where she taught religious studies to very young children. She taught them to be dependent on that church and state, she taught them reliance on a belief system that is steeped in blood and suffering.

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  6. Independence as a personal motif...

    She always was good at selling bullshit to the gullible.

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  7. That's a short extract from what looks like a longer bio.
    I counted her repeated use of 'independence' seven times in that rather short extract.
    Don't think I'll bother with the books or the poetry thanks.

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  8. If she was in anyway so highly motivated by independence she would employ some body else to run her publishing empire, someone...independent.

    Not like her family, who appear to be quite dependent upon the parents.
    Or is that some sort of tax dodge?

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  9. Just to be clear, the last four comments are from the same aggrieved person, right?

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    Replies
    1. Might be someone who wasn't impressed by JF-W.

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  10. Until everyone starts using a name, who said what will always be a mystery........

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  11. True. That was me at 01:24. I forgot...

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    ReplyDelete