Abstract
Hemmeter all identify definition as an issue critically important to the writing center community. Ede and Runciman assert that current definitions inadequately describe what happens in centers and invite us to redefine our positions within centers and the academy as a whole. Addressing such redefinitions, Carino states, "In one sense, this is how it should be. . . [Definition is always already tenuous, for to define is to symbolize, to create metaphors, to be in language" ("What Do" 31). Although Carino commends these re-creations, he nevertheless warns that "we must maintain critical consciousness about ourselves" (39), an idea shared by Hemmeter, who likewise remarks that we "need to become more self-conscious of how we talk to ourselves" (44). Examining the act of definition itself, both Hemmeter and Carino investigate the impact current definitions have on writing centers, and suggest that only through continual self-reflection will we understand how these definitions influence our theorizing about writing centers and our activities within centers.