Joseph Harris, in A Teaching Subject, explores the question of what, exactly, writing teachers are supposed to be doing for our students. Towards the conclusion of his book, he argues that “our goals as teachers need not be to initiate our students into the values and practices of some new community, but to offer them the chance to reflect critically on those discourses – of home, school, work, the media and the like – to which they already belong” (142). In a sense, then, a part of the composition instructor’s duty is to create a safe place where students can explore their identity. All humans present slightly different versions of themselves when engaging with these different discourse communities, after all: when I am at home with my family I am not entirely the same person as when I step in front of the classroom. What is identity but the gestalt of these different, contextually driven personae? What is a person if not a pattern of numerous fragmented selves? And what is composition if not the act of giving voice to one self or another? Sherry Turkle, citing Robert Jay Lifton, writes, “[In the Protean Self, Robert Jay Lifton] says [embracing the idea of a fragmented self] is a dangerous option that may result in a ‘fluidity lacking in moral content and sustainable inner form.’ But Lifton sees another possibility, a healthy protean self. It is capable, like Proteus, of fluid transformations but is grounded in coherence and a moral outlook. It is multiple but integrated. You can have a sense of self without being one self” (258). This fluidity of self is not easily acquired, and though our students change personae constantly, many are not aware of how or why they do so. This is a skill we can teach them: to write for an audience, one must first understand persona. Again, though, the classroom itself is a detriment to this mission. In the standard, hierarchical class, we teach students to write in and explore their academic persona; a useful, productive goal, but one that is woefully incomplete if our intention is to empower our students. Even if we were to do away with formal structures within the class room, the visibility of the student – surrounded by his peers – will always prevent him from fully exploring his different identities.