ABSTRACT
The abstract high horse of classroom knowledge decorum had been contaminated with any number of things pinging around the room—possibilities, memories, preoccupations, eyes seeking contact, and bodies shifting in their seats. The room had become a scene the people were in together as bodies and actors. Affect in the classroom was both an intellectual muscle and a social muscle that stretched the conceptual skin between an inside self and whatever was taking place outside it, pushing and pulling the subject into contingent, morphing shapes. The audience has to listen actively, taking notes to compose a response. The aim was to learn to develop concepts through the practice of writing and reading. Habits of thought-feeling begin to sediment; an associative logic builds muscle. The room becomes intellectually, affectively, and socially energetic. Thought-feeling is poised on the edge that links the actual and potential.
