A Case in Point

Here's an e-mail message Berdine received today:
Hi! I recently found your college web page.
Tell me something about your program and your university life.
I'm interested in learning about the life of style or academic lives in
other countries.
By the way, here is a short self-introduction I wrote for my freshman
Academic Writing course. It will tell you a little bit about me.

I'm Shouko Ishizuka. I came from Ten-ei, a small village to the north of
Koriyama, in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. It is famous for cucumbers.
There are nine members in my family: my father, my mother, my elder
sister, my younger brother, my grandfather, two cats, a dog, and me. My
father works at an office and my mother works at a florist shop. My
sister is a junior at a university. My brother is a second-year student
at junior high school. The cats always take a nap and the dog moves
slowly, so I am envious. They seem to be enjoying their lives.
I came to the University of Aizu because I am interested in computers.
I, especially, like to read comic books and sitin the sun. When I'm
sitting in the sun on a lawn, I feel a pleasant breeze, so I want to lie
on the lawn at this university in the afternoon.

If you're interested, here is my home page:

http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/~s1080020/academic_writing.html

I'm looking forward to hearing from you, if you have the time to write
back.
This is just wonderful, and just in time, too. Yes, what you write in this medium is for audiences beyond the course. It matters. And the implications of global connectivity that this examplifies will continue to develop, faster than we can imagine.