Barbara Guzzetti (Arizona State University)
Leslie Foley (Arizona State University)

Typically, online forums of electronic discussion groups have been used in adult literacy education, formal programs designed for students ages 18 and above outside of higher education as support for academic courses rather than to foster literacy advancement through shared passions (Hayes, 2007). These online discussion forums have generally been used in limited and traditional ways in literacy instruction for adults (Hayes, 2007, 2004). Yet, studies conducted from the perspective of the New Literacies (Gee, 1996; Street, 1995) have documented how adults advanced their own and others' literate practices through an online discussion board focused on a common interest, known as an affinity group (e.g., Hayes & Gee, 2012; Merchant & Davies, 2011). Hence, calls have been made to investigate the potential of online discussion forums for fostering literacy advancement through identity expression and community formation and to explore the role of emotionality expressed in online texts in contributing to these goals (Thomas, 2005; Baym, 1995).

Although emotionality has been posited to be a component of identity (Thomas, 2005; Ellis & Flaherty, 1992), few descriptions of how emotion or what kind of emotion facilitates identity have been offered in the literature. Studies that have explored the relation of emotion to identity have tended to be surveys of adolescents (e.g., Haviland, Davis, Ruetsch, Gebelt, & Lancelot, 1994) or experiments with late adolescents (e.g., Stets, 2005). Yet, extant research has described passion as an emotion that develops and sustains adults' affinity groups (Hayes & Gee, 2012). In investigating affinity groups, however, researchers have not yet described the range and type of passionate emotion that adults express in these online forums that aide in forming community and identity and fostering literacy.

Since survey research by the Pew Internet and American Life project (Gahran, 2012) recently revealed that one in five adults do not use the Internet at all, we anticipated it would be informative to describe the functions an affinity space can serve for adults who do engage by choice in these online forums. Examples of how adults form community and represent identity in online environments could be informative in re-conceptualizing how these online forums could be used in adult literacy education. These descriptions might serve as models to empower others who may be reluctant to participate in new literate forms of expression while contributing to the theory of and knowledge about how adults engage in virtual environments. Such investigations could lend insight into how affinity groups are sustained and how digital media might serve to advance literacy practices for adults in nontraditional ways.

The purpose of this study was to explore the under-researched topic of how adults form community and express identity in an online discussion group through emotionality as a practice of the New Literacies. This study was intended to extend the line of inquiry that described how youth use electronic forums to make social connections and represent identities (e.g., Alvermann 2010; Author & Co-Author, 200x; Lewis & Fabos, 2006) to include adults. Our research questions were: How do adults use literacy to form community and represent identity in an online discussion forum? How does emotionality expressed through language foster group identity and community and advance adults' literate skills and abilities? What are the implications for adult literacy education?

This investigation was conducted from several complimentary theoretical perspectives. The study was informed by a sociocultural view of literacy (Barton, 1999; Street, 1995) underlying the New Literacies Studies (Gee, 2000/2001). Literacy practices are embedded in social goals and cultural practices (Barton, 1999) and are shaped by the purposes they serve and the activities in which they are used (Papen, 2005). Literacy varies from context to context; therefore, there is not a single "literacy", but literacies. These literacies include multiple forms of textual representations, including visual images of graphics, pictures, and diagrams and auditory and spatial modalities (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000). This perspective allowed us to examine participants' literacy practices or "behaviors and social or cultural conceptualizations that give meaning to reading and writing" (Street, 1995, p. 2) in an authentic context relevant to adults' lives.

Identity theory also informed this investigation (Gee, 2000/2001). Research from a frame of literacy as a social practice focuses on associations between cultural conventions, literacy practices, and notions of self and identity (Street, 1995). Cyberspace is considered to be an ideal site for identity construction, exploration, and reconstruction since it is socially mediated (Holloway & Valentine, 2003). Screen-based communications are used globally to establish and maintain new kinds of relationships and to form communities (Turkle, 1995). Identity construction is closely tied to literacy practices within virtual communities formed by common interests, known as affinity groups (Gee, 2000/2001). Gee observed:

People in affinity groups can recognize others as more or less insiders to the group…they may not see many people in the group face to face, but when they interact with someone on the Internet ...they can recognize certain ways of thinking, acting, interacting, valuing, and believing... (Gee, 2003, p. 27).

Members of affinity groups display Discourses or "identity kits" that include actions, words, interactions, attitudes, values, beliefs, and objects (e.g., images, clothing, technologies) revealed through language and social activities (Gee, 2000/ 2001). Within these Discourses, emotion is considered to be "the glue of identity" (Haviland & Kahlbaugh, 1993, p. 328). Identity issues are associated with a differentiated network of emotions or complex reaction patterns by which an individual attempts to deal with a personally significant matter or event (VandenBos, 2006). Emotionality is part of subjectivity, lived experience, and "the physical, political and historical contexts of that experience" (Ellis & Flaherty, 1994, p. 1). This theory directed us to examine how participants' language characterized by emotion assisted in advancing their identities and forming community.

A third perspective of fan culture (Jenkins, 2006, 2007; McLaughlin, 1996) also informed our study. Fans have intellectual capital and produce vernacular theory (McLaughlin, 1996). Fans' stories illustrate ethical or moral values (Jenkins, 2006). Self- organized groups of online discussion lists enable fans to communicate, provide access to a broad range of perspectives, and allow for knowledge sharing on a global scale (Jenkins, 2006). The speed and frequency of online communications helps to intensify the social bonds within a fan community (Jenkins, 2006). Emotion is a key element of fan culture since "as fans talk about meaningful encounters with text they are describing what they feel as much as what they think" (Jenkins, 2006, p. 140). This theory allowed us to conduct our research as "aca-fens" (Jenkins, 2006) or aca fans (Hills, 2002), academics who are also fans, focus on a shared vernacular, and attend to the conveyance of emotionality in personal narratives.

A final theory that informed our investigation was human- animal studies (Shapiro, 2008). Also known as anthrozoology, human-animal studies is an interdisciplinary and emerging scholarship "devoted to the investigation of relationships between human and nonhuman animals and their environment and the bonds, attachments, interactions, and communications between them" (Shapiro, 2008, p. 1). Humans' relationships with nonhuman animals are influenced by the complex ways in which society views them. Scientists have shifted away from anthropomorphizing animals to recognizing intelligence, personality, and emotion in animals (e.g., Bekoff & Pierce, 2009; Bennett, 2007). This theory allowed us to understand the ways in which participants expressed how nonhuman animals figured in their lives and directed our attention to narratives of emotionality in human and nonhuman animal relationships.

Figure 1. Santi the Havanese with Santa.

This investigation was undertaken as a discourse-centered online ethnography (Adroutsopoulos, 2008) combining virtual or cyber ethnography (Greenhow, 2011), an interpretive method for studying the dynamic culture of an online community (Hine, 2000) with observation of a site of online discourse and direct contact with its participants. Methods of virtual ethnography have also been called "netnography" (Kozinets, 2010) or "network ethnography" (Howard, 2002). As is characteristic of ethnography, we focused on studying the culture or patterns of beliefs for decision making and action (Patton, 2002) in an electronic discussion group through a connective approach that allowed the space for research to be the space of interchanges of information organized around connection rather than a location (Hine, 2000).

We used methods of online participant observation (Boelstorff, 2008) that allows virtual researchers to gain understandings of participants' identity performances and the meaning those performances have for them (Kendall, 1999). The first author was a full participant/observer on the list, posting and replying to messages, occasionally meeting in person with list members locally or at national specialty events for the breed for over a decade. This online/offline hybridity is typical of e-lists and characterizes the new global citizenship (Luke & Carrington, 2002). The second author was a "lurker" (Fielden & Garrido, 1998), mostly participating by reading the list's archives. We solicited and received permission to conduct research from the list owners/moderators and list members, making our dual roles as participants and researchers known on the list.

In our observations, we attended to language in online interactions (Jones, 1999). We particularly focused on language in identity construction (Phillips and Jorgensen, 2002) since ethnographic research on online archives is language centered (Fabian, 2002). A focus on language practices is particularly well suited to studying online communities in which language takes the place of geography, institutions, and artifacts found in offline communities (Baym, 2000).

As is typical of virtual ethnographies (Greenhow, 2011), we employed multiple methods of data collection. Our primary source of data was the list archives of members' posts from January of 2005 to January of 2011, including posts in 2011 and 2012 that were re-posts of earlier messages. We focused on this period due to the numerous messages and events on the list of relevance to the study. We read 30,435 messages from 1,121 members. Of these messages, we analyzed 436 "threads" or posts with responses to a topic that varied in length from several lines to several pages. In doing so, we noted the senders, dates and times, subject headers, signatures, messages, links, and attachments. We printed and archived each message.

We also collected documents as a second source of data. We archived print outs of electronic resources referred to by list members. These included members' blogs and home pages of their recommended websites. We also printed photographs, graphics, links, and illustrations that members included in or attached to their posts and archived them.

We triangulated these data by interviews. We conducted, took notes on, and transcribed semi-structured interviews (Patton, 2002) by telephone or Skype calls with two key participants on the list whose frequent posts were representative of the list conversations. These interviews consisted of open-ended questions that allowed for probing individuals' posts to determine the stories behind their experiences (Kavle, 1996) and focused on the history and characterizations of the list, affordances of list membership, and elaboration on specific threads. We also conducted informal interviews by e-mail or in person with the list owners/moderators to ascertain information about the list and participation on it.

These data were analyzed by a thematic approach (Patton, 2002). Interviews, documents, and posts were read, reread, and coded both deductively by using categories generated from our theoretical frames and inductively by forming categories emerging from the data. Inter-coder agreement was established through an analysis-of-discordance in which each of the two coders (the first and second authors) independently coded and discussed a random sample of threads until 92% agreement was reached, a level of agreement which exceeds the acceptable level of 80% agreement between coders (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Key linkages within and across data sources and types were signaled by reoccurring codes. These codes were then placed into larger categories. Re-occurring categories resulted in emerging themes or assertions.

In addition, we used methods of discourse analysis (Gee, 2011) to examine the list's posts and the social language that contributed to identity. These analyses included the method of instances (Denzin, 1999) or examination of small pieces of talk-in-interaction of list threads. We examined occurrences of initial posts and intersections of direct or indirect references to them. We examined both the form of the cybertalk (e.g., greetings, compliments, responses, closings, etc.) and the content (e.g., requests for help, information, stories, etc.).

Our goal was to describe the structure and content of online written conversation as performance texts, attempts to connect with others (Denzin, 1999) and to understand the relations among ideas in these texts (Goldman & Wiley, 2011). We noted verbs and verb phrases that signaled emotion, including the subject, the object of the verb, and prepositional phrases (Gee, 2011). In addition, we noted emoticons or symbols to convey emotion (e.g., : -),); text symbols (e.g., "") to distinguish physical gestures; and cyberspeak (e.g., "ROFL" or "rolling on the floor laughing"). We used an online dictionary of Internet slang and symbols found on Netlingo.com to do so (http://www.netlingo.com/word/online-jargon.php).

Finally, we conducted member checks (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) by returning interview transcripts by e-mail to interviewees for their comments, corrections or modifications by using track changes in Word. These served as cross checks of our data and resulted in additions of missing information or names and elaborations on comments in the transcripts. We also provided informants with copies of our initial report for their review. In reporting our findings, we have used pseudonyms for most of our informants, but in some cases, we used participants' actual names by their request for purposes of attribution.

Results of our analysis revealed three themes or assertions that permeated the data. These themes addressed two aspects of emotionality--humor and sentiment--through online writing that contributed to identity representation, community formation, and literacy advancement. These postypographic expressions of emotion resulted in the third theme of emotionality as stimulating and sustaining social bonds and connections among list members. Below, these constructs are defined, illustrated from the data, and related to our research questions.

Of the 436 threads we analyzed (referred to below as threads, messages or posts), we classified 133 or 31% as humor by using Chiaro's (1992) definition of humor in conversation because computer-mediated communication is like conversation due to its interactive and spontaneous nature (Baym, 1995). Since humor cannot be separated from the group in which it is used or the individuals who participate (Baym, 1995), the criteria for classifying a thread as humorous was the physiological response it evoked in us as group participants; the initial post had to cause us to smile or laugh, indicators of a funny message (Chiaro, 1992).

Most (72%) of the humorous posts on the list that were taken up as threads consisted of either letters from dogs to list members (43%); letters from list members to dogs (4%); letters from dogs to dogs (3%); or excerpts from dogs' diaries or blogs (22%). The remainder or about one fourth (28%) of the humorous e-mails took other forms, such as humorous poems, quotes or notices.

. Nearly one half of humorous posts that stimulated threads were letters from dogs to list members, a fantasy used to convey temperament and emotion in dogs (Bennet, 2007). In these messages dogs "talked" as humans, speaking in first-person voice, transmitting their behaviors, characteristics, perspectives, perceptions or feelings. For example, in a letter to the list, Lu's dog, Mira, sarcastically complained, "Mom put us on the baby scale and said the numbers out loud. Boy, I felt like I was at Jenny Craig's or the gym class from hell or something." In December, dogs' letters to Santa appeared on the list. One authored in the voice of Lu's dog, Gracie, read, "Dear Sandy Paws, I wish I had hair on the top of my head. My pesky sister chewed it all off! I need a wig for the next year." Another request came from Lu's dog, Nora:

Dearest Sandy Paws,
I saw in a magazine that some people have installed radiant heat in their bathroom so their tootsies don't get cold. I think that sounds like an excellent idea! Because it's evidently rather pricey, I have only one thing on my Christmas list: I want the backyard to be redone with radiant heat. This cold stuff is nuts. Who wants to pee in the cold? Give me radiant heat and my Mom can give away all those piddle pads. Well, most of them.
From the Bottom of my Heart,
Nora Isador(able)

Letters like these reflected the world from a dog's point of view. This perspective was frequently authored in missives like these by a longtime list member, Lu Wyland, a special education teacher and Havanese rescuer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In an interview, Lu explained:

The reason I wrote letters from my dogs …was because I had found that there were times that I would look at them and I felt like they were kind of trying to put together something, and they must think that we are just plain crazy! So, I would start thinking about life from their point of view and I thought they have to think this is just nuts when I jump into a bath tub... They avoid the bath.

In these remarks, as in her stories and letters to the list, Lu alluded to dogs' personalities, emotions, and intelligence (Bennet, 2007) and her humorous writings helped her to illustrate this theory. This view permeated much of the list's conversations and was reinforced by other members. For example, Elyse wrote:

Oh, Lu, You made me laugh out loud! My 16 month old puppy also uses the distraction method to get what he wants....He craves attention –when I am working at my computer and he wants to get me away from it he will manage to find something of importance such as article of my clothing He will prance around next to me waving it around until he gets my attention and then he RunsLikeHeck to the dining room and dives under the table with it...just out of my reach! When I call him out, he comes with the garment, drops it at my feet, and jumps up for me to pick him up. I am such a sucker! I know that I am reinforcing the action by playing into it, but he is sooo delicious that I just can't resist!

Other list members were also inspired by stories like these to share their own personal narratives that humorously illustrated how their Havanese figured out ways to get attention from their humans, such as this story authored by Laura, a longtime list member who organizes an annual online auction to benefit Havanese Rescue International:

It was a busy stressful day, but now it's 1:00am and I'm ready for a good night's sleep. There's a soft Spring breeze wafting through the bedroom window. I'm snuggled under my favorite quilt. After a few minor adjustments, every crook in my body has found a nook in the mattress - nothing itches, nothing hurts or twitches, and for the first time in a long time, I'm completely perfectly, utterly, blissfully comfortable. As the timer turns off the TV, I doze off, ready to resume last night's dreamy rendezvous with Andy Garcia. Our embrace is interrupted by Shadow's whining. I try to dream myself back into Andy's arms. Shadow whines again. I ignore, he wines, I ignore. I close my eyes – Andy, where'd you go? Shadow's soft, "You're aware that I'm here in the kitchen, right, Mom?" whimper has evolved into an "ATTENTION ALL MOTHERS, I MUST PEE" bark. I get up, slip on my sneaks and go into the kitchen. Shadow's waiting impatiently at the door. I turn on the porch light and let him out. He proceeds down one step then SITS and leans against the railing… I picked him up, turned him around, put him on the landing and came up the step to open the door. He ran down the steps, sat down, leaned against the railing and stared off into the distance. That was it! I picked him up and carried him inside and he offered a little growl of protest. I turned out the lights and went back to bed. The mattress was not as welcoming as it had been earlier and Andy was gone.

Amusing stories and letters like these that promoted the view of personality, intelligence, and emotion in dogs helped to shape the attitudes, beliefs, and customs that constituted list culture (Kozinets, 2010). Promotion of this theory through humor advanced the list as a group of insiders to special knowledge and reified group identity. Although the view that animals have physiological responses analogous to humans' emotional responses was first posited by Darwin in 1872 (Darwin, 1872), list members fostered this theory as if it was their own discovery.

List members conveyed humor in letters and stories through myriad literary devices. These included personification, personalization, point of view, voice, alliteration, rhyming words, invented language, and "baby talk" known as child- directed speech or "motherese" (Newport, Gleitman & Gleitman, 1977). For example, personification, personalization, point of view, voice, rhyming words, and motherese were literary devices used in a letter from Mira to describe the world from a canine's viewpoint and allude to interrelationships among dogs:

Mom did it again. She put us in the car for a billion zillion years (dog time) and let us out in a place called North Carolina. We're in the mountains and there isn't any road what goes straight. They're all like dog paths which of course is wunerfull…there are all kinds of bugs here and most of them you shouldn't eat. I just thought I'd let you know that before you made your own baction plans.
Your Fur Niece, Mira, the Roamin' Deara

In addition to using literary devices like the ones illustrated above, list members incorporated personalized writing within the standard format of e-mails or letters to create community. These letters from their dogs were addressed to list members to engage each reader. Letters were personalized by positioning dogs as family members and situated the author/dog as a relative or friend of list members. For example, these missives, particularly those from Lu's dogs, Mira, Cali, Desi, and Graci, began with greetings like, "Dear Favorite Aunties and Bestest Friends"; "Dear Favoritests Aunties and Uncas." Letters ended with such closing as, "Your Loving Fur Niece"; "Your Pal"; "Yours with Lots of Love and Well Placed Kisses." These parts of a letter that conveyed endearment were used to foster interrelationships among list members and positioned the sender as a valued member of this online community by relating the sender to the receiver, a type of bonding language characteristic of listservs (Hayes & Gee, 2012). Message headers were also used to signal that a humorous letter from a dog's viewpoint followed, including, "Puppy Truths by Mira"; "Mountain Climbin' and Bear Huntin' by Mira"; and "Christmas Talk by Cali and Mira."

List members also formed community and represented identity through an invented and shared language of emotionality and exclusivity of humor. For example, veterinarians were referred to in letters and stories as "Dr. Stick Me" or "Dr. ColdHands." Groomers were referred to as "Mrs. ScissorHands" or "Mrs. ClipperHands." Members wrote letters from their dogs to "Santa Paws" and referred to their dogs' high-energy bursts displayed by racing as "RunLikeHell" or "RunLikeHeck." Dogs were affectionately referred to by terms that promoted them as almost human, such as "FurKids" or a "Dogters" while their people were referred to as "HuMoms" or "HuDads." Other terms, such as nicknames like "Hav" for Havanese and word play, such as "Hav-a-nese Day" were exclusive to and characteristic of this particular community of fans of Havanese dogs. This linguistic capital was exchanged as currency among list members and served to delineate and insulate the community.

These personal narratives were popular among list members. Upon request, Lu has reposted her stories and letters, particularly those that were seasonal. These included, "The Laundry Explosion - A Halloween Tale", a dialogue told in the voices of two of her Havanese, Cali and Mira, relating their misadventures resulting in a knotted rope of underwear, laundry strewn around the living room, and Mira stuck in the laundry basket. A photo of these two innocent-looking Havs appeared with the story [See Figure 2: Mira and Callie, Little Pumpkin Sisters]. Individuals responded by posting comments like one from Tina: "Lu, I have always LOVED your stories. You have a gift in writing stories that make us laugh, cry, and be inspired" and reactions from Loraine: "Oh, Lu, this talk and picture made me cry. Gosh, Mira looks just like Stella. Keep these coming. I enjoy them so." Marge echoed: "Lu, or rather Gracie, you made me LOL [laugh out loud] at your post! You are a hoot!" Some list members valued these letters enough to archive them, returning them to Lu years later on her request when she was attempting to compile them.

Figure 2. Mira and Callie, Little Pumpkin Sisters.

. Other list members created blogs for their dogs on Blogspot.com or kept diaries for their dogs written in their dogs' voices. These posts conveyed humor by positioning their dogs as family members and intelligent creatures capable of making and discussing their decisions. For example, Desi's diary read, "Dear Diary, I have been a busy boy. I got the shredded paper piles to prove it, too!" and, "Dear Diary, Today I pooped paper. I think I better cut back on the fiber."

. The remainder of humorous posts to the list took diverse multitextual forms. These included photographs of dogs in amusing situations, such as one of Karen's Havanese puppy, Tucker, unrolling toilet paper and the aftermath of tissue shredded and strewn around the floor. Nancy created a chart to address list members' questions about whether to get a male or female when they have an old dog. One cell of the matrix read, "Old female outlives the new male and takes all his money. She invests the money in producing her own reality show where she visits home after home and urinates on their carpets." Lu posted a "Work Wanted" ad from Mira: "Adorable apricot sable female seeks work in an understanding environment. Skills include skivvie inspection, lap warming, couch top dancing, and ear cleaning."

The few posts from men on the list tended to be comical expository texts rather than personal narratives. This may be because men from middle class, Anglo-American backgrounds tend to suppress or view emotions as private experiences (Rosaldo, 1987). One of these men, Jerry, a Havanese breeder, posted a reprint taken from the Internet by an unknown author, a fictitious press release from the National Institute of Health announcing the discovery of a dangerous substance in the hair of dogs, "amobacter caninii" thought to cause females to become addicted to dogs. His post included a warning that dogs are "expensive, addictive, and may impair the ability to use common sense." .

These posts in their various forms serve as reminders that because humor relies on group norms, knowledge, and practices, it provides a way to create group identity and solidarity (Baym, 1995). These discourse practices among members who valued humor as linguistic capital (Bury, 2005) provided a way to foster individuality while establishing group identity. Humor served as a powerful force to affirm the group's self-definition and establish its social structure.

Of the 436 threads we analyzed, we classified 143 or 33% as sentiment. In doing so, we used a blended definition of sentiment from philosophy and humor theory, defining sentiment as an act of or intention toward evoking feelings of goodness, affection, tenderness, admiration, sympathy or compassion (D'Arms & Jacobson; 2000). Oring, 1994). A second criterion we used in these classifications was the physiological or emotional response we experienced as list members in reading these data, including tears, smiles or feelings of compassion.

Figure 3. Mira and her HuMom, Lu.

How list members used sentiment to establish and maintain community was illustrated best by one event that occurred on the list, dominated communications for over a month, and has still been referred to on the list to the present day. The list fell nearly silent on other topics as members waited for or responded to daily updates on Mira, Lu's five- year old Havanese, diagnosed with cancer. (See Figure 3: Mira and her HuMom, Lu). Below, we present excerpts from these e-communications, including Lu's posts in her own voice and in Mira's voice with list members' responses to Lu and to Mira. We present these in chronological order uninterrupted by analysis to avoid disrupting the emotional impact of these sentiments. [Example screenshots from this thread are can be found at the end of this article as Attachments A and B.]

Mira Deara, My Mira(cle) Girl by Lu -10/1/05
Mira, the dog of my heart who fit in my arms and life as perfectly as any dog could from the first time I met her was diagnosed with lymphoma tonight. No stories about Dr. StickMe or Dr. Coldhands could come from that visit to the emergency room. We meet with the canine oncologist on Monday….tonight, between bouts of tears and times with Mira lying very still on my lap, I've searched canine lymphoma on the Internet and joined canine cancer email groups. If there is a star out where you are, please wish upon it for Mira Deara. We've looked tonight but it's black black black here. Not a glimmer anywhere though I hope to find one tomorrow.

My Day by Mira – 10/305
This morning, I met a really nice doctor who, if she was a dog, would be called Sparky. She's my new ONCallOhJust. I'm not sure what she's OnCall about, but there she is, whenever you need her and I need her bad!

Thank You by Lu - 10/5/05
On Monday we start another drug and I am reminded that everything has flip sides. Poison and healing. It's like a burning prairie. If you only look at the destruction, you miss the future of wild flowers and grasses and all the creatures that find it home living in what now looks black and crisp and for all the world like something dead. So Mira gets poison on Monday and I see hope. I have to. We keep the fire from burning too far and wait for the follow up, the shoots of green and the sparks of life. We watch closely so we don't miss a single shoot, a single flash of firefly light in what first seems like the darkest of nights.

Toxic Tinkle and All That by Mira Deara - 10/7/05
It's been a very intense week here in Wisconsin…. I want to thank everyone that's helping with my fundraiser [the Mira-cle Fund]. Mom showed me the page with my picture on it just 12 hours after round 1 of chemo. I'm a lucky dog, that's for sure. You, my favoritest aunties and bestest friends remind me of that in all the best ways with your thoughts and prayers and mediations and candles and letters and even another chance at life. I will never forget it and hope to wag for many years in gratitude.
Your Pal,
Mira

Mira Deara Week 2: The Comfort of Feet by Lu - 10/12/05
As of this morning, Mira still hadn't rebounded from this set back. She has been very lethargic and clearly doesn't feel well. She rested last night at one point on the floor at my feet, her nose touching my toes, sighing deeply and breathing me in. I marveled at the fact that there's somebody who finds even the smell of my feet comforting and felt so incredibly lucky to have this dog in my life. And then I remembered that I feel the same way about Deara dog's feet. They always smell like Fritos to me and when I hug her, I often lift those sweet feet with their salty smell to my face, breathe in and then blow on them, feeling her tail wag as I do so. The comfort of feet. Who can predict such things?

I'm on a Mission... by Mira Deara – 10/24/05
I'm writing cuz Mom said tonight is a night to celebrate. ..I'm not sure what to make of it, but she said Dr. Sparky said I'm in a "complete read mission." So far, the plans are that I still go in every week to see Dr Sparky, My OnCallOhJust. Tonight I had doxorubicin ...it's gonna make my hair fall out and kick some canine cancer butt. I figure that's pretty good. And if it helps get the Lyphoma into the Cancer Garage so I can stay in complete read mission, that's a good deal, too!

I'm on a Mission... by Ursula – 10/24/1/05
All our hearts are singing tonight our dear Mira Deara and everyone is going to sleep well knowing you're in read mission!
Love, Auntie Urs

Mira is Much Worse by Lu - 10/29/05
Mira is much worse this morning. Her heart rate is elevated as is her blood pressure. She's producing very thick fluid through the NG tube. Her stomach hurts. I'm on my way to the emergency clinic to see her again. I can't pass the message along right now. If you belong to another list that has been following her progress please just share it with them. She needs the positive thoughts and prayers now as much as ever.
I didn't know that you could hold grief in your hands. And it's wet.

Dear Mira-Deara by Charlene - 10/29/05
There's something special about a girl be she a furrgirl or a birdgirl or a 2-legged girl who has the ability to make the world stand up and take notice of her heart. And there's something special about a girl whose beauty and pureness and innocence comes shining through day or night, rain or shine, good day or bad. I know there have been many times when I needed strength to get me through just one more tough day and a note from you gave me that strength I needed. None of your Aunties or Uncas or Bestest Buddies can count the number of times you've brought us smiles. Wisdom….I'm sending you all of my strength. All of my fight. All of my determination to win.
Aunti Charls and your other special Aunties, Uncas, and Bestest Buddies

Re: Dear Mira Deara by Shelia – 10/29/05
Thank you, Charls, for that –beautifully said - I, like so many of you I'm certain, just can't get the tears to stop today and your note was comforting to read between those tears.

I'm Losing Her... by Lu – October 30, 2005 7:08am
Mira is septic. I'm going to see her but she is not going to be coming home to me. Please light a candle for my dear angel girl.

Re: I'm Losing Her by Cyndi, 10:28am
With all my heart, I hope this is premature…but going by your post and because you asked...Candles are lit for both of you. One to help Mira find her way over the rainbow bridge. The other to help give you the strength to get through leaving her at the bridge's end...just for now until you can meet up again. This time sending hugs through tears, Cyndi.

Dear Mira Deara by Karen, Pipsqueak and Krikit, Peter and Shawni -10/30/05, 11:15am
Our prayers have been said, our candles have been lit, our hearts are breaking and our eyes are crying. We want you to know how much we love you even though we haven't been able to really "meet you." We love your courage, your sense of fun, your spirit your humor, and all the other things that go into make you "you."

Mira Deara March 20, 2000 – October 30, 2005 by Lu, 11:39am
Mira Deara, who fell into my heart 5 ½ years ago left too abruptly this morning in my arms. She fell into my heart but she will never fall out. Despite that, there is an emptiness that I can just barely stand without her. As I said earlier this week, I found you can hold grief in your hands and it's wet.
Mira taught me many things in her time on this earth. Damn but she was a good teacher and I swear to you that I have so much more to learn. Today she taught me one last lesson before she sighed and slept…. Sometimes you think you're cheated because you didn't get one last RunLikeHell or one last precious nap in your bed with someone you love, but if you live a concentrated life like Mira did, taking in what you can whenever you can, you find a last nap against someone's chest and look into their eyes one more time will make it a lifetime. She went in peace. Oh how I miss that angel dog of mine.

Mira-Our Deara by Charlene - 10/30/05, 12:10PM
God must have needed her more than us,
Though I do not understand why,
Maybe He needed her spirit,
To light our darkened sky.
Maybe a little girl went to Heaven
Missing her family pet
And God called upon Mira, so she wouldn't be upset.

Re: Mira Deara March 20, 2000 – October 30, 2005 by Mindy & Shadrach -10/30 7:54PM
With tears I too grieve Mira Deara, that little furball that captured our hearts. Thank you for introducing her to us cyberpals. I'm holding my sweet one even closer tonight.

Thank You by Lu - 11/9/05
For anybody that helped in this journey with Mira, I offer you my deepest thanks. Whether you wrote letters of encouragement or condolences, called me on the phone, knit a purple sweater for my baby girl, shared a Mira story with me, shared your own story which helped me know I wasn't alone, took a picture, offered help, sent in money to help pay for her treatment, gave me hope, researched cancer treatments or diet options, celebrated our good moments, bathed my dear girl when she was sick, treated her kindly when she was hospitalized or getting treatment, gave a hug, sent a card or flowers or special dog treats...you made a difference. You helped more than you may ever know.

Lessons by Lu - 11/9/05
...[I] found just how much loving you really can pack into 30 days and how differently things are measured with the heart versus the calendar. Lifetimes in a moment, Mom. That was the title of the class Mira taught and I followed along picking up some lessons quickly, some gracefully and gratefully, and others quite reluctantly…..I keep thinking, it's another lesson she taught me. Doing something for somebody else heals you somehow even when you had no intention of that happening.

Lu's words like these sharing her experiences, a common strategy for soliciting emotional support (Eichhorn, 2008) inspired individuals to take action. Through establishing The Mira-cle Fund, a cross-list fundraiser to pay for Mira's cancer treatments, members raised over $3,000, paying for all of Mira's treatments from individuals' donations through PayPal on a website created for this purpose. Others sent links to the animated version of The Rainbow Bridge, a Flash film of a legend promising afterlife and reunion for people and their pets. Another posted The Sailing Ship , a poetic eulogy by Bishop Charles Henry Brent. A candle ceremony was held for Mira as members gathered collectively but individually across the world at a pre-established time to light candles and say prayers for Mira through a website, PetLoss.com. Others sent Lu Chinese herbs, a dog collar with beads, and a package of stones with words of comfort on them.

This thread chronicled a significant event in the life of the list that stimulated group solidarity, triggered members' multi-textual responses, and demonstrated how sentiment became a powerful force in reinforcing community. Individuals took collective responsibility to provide emotional, financial, and physical support in face of this community crisis. List members wrote and inspired others to compose messages of comfort, support, sympathy, compassion, and catharsis. Their narratives characterized by agency and voice conveyed shared ethics and values (Jenkins, 2006) regarding the significance of nonhuman animals in their lives.

These adults' expressions of sentiment also demonstrated that life in an online community is no less than life offline in terms of emotionality. The same biophysical reactions can be prompted in a virtual environment as in a physical one (Thomas, 2005), demonstrating a blending of the virtual with the physical world. For these list members, life online was a part of "real" life.

In later years, Lu reposted humorous letters from Mira as a memorial. Lu told the list that this was a way for her to honor some of what she loved so dearly about Mira and remember her spirit. List members responded with comments like Betty's: "I hope it helps to share. Mira's story touches all of us who've lost a heart dog [favorite dog] and those who are still lucky enough to have a very special dog here in this space" and Tina's remarks, "I look forward to reading them all again. For those of you who were not here during Mira's life stories the first time, DON ‘T miss them this time around." These members' comments are a reminder that humor can become a channel for sentiment (Oring, 1994).

Lu recently reported that people at dog shows still refer to Mira in conversation by remarks such as, "Well, we know what Mira would say about that!" Lu explained, "It's kind of like people are before-Mira or after-Mira Havanese owners." In reflecting on the ways in which list members responded to Mira's illness, Lu remarked:

This wasn't just something that they read about and moved on to something else. They had really come to really love this little funny dog and her quirky view of the world. It's a little bit humbling and nothing I ever expected to have happen. People had always responded to my letters before. Most of the time, the letters were pretty funny and that's why I thought people responded because we all like to laugh. The website for the Mira-cle Fund said something about, "Mira is really our dog. Lu has been sharing her and she belongs to all of us." I really hadn't thought about how through the things I was posting she had become something like everybody's dog… Never underestimate a funny letter. It sticks with you.

Lu's comments like these are illustrations of how emotionality stimulated and fostered the online/offline hybridity that characterized this virtual community (Luke & Carrington, 2002). This incident extends that hybridity previously identified as off-list encounters to include expressions of and responses to humor and sentiment in print texts and in multi-textual forms sent both on and off list, as well as in-person meetings. Like other researchers, we discovered emotion to be the fuel that sustained this virtual community (Hayes & Gee, 2012). Through this event, the emotion that initiated and perpetuated this affinity space shifted from the group's shared passion for Havanese to collective sentiment directed toward an individual community member and her dog.

In considering the functions that this virtual community played in the lives of these adults, we queried active participants on the list to determine their perceptions of the benefits of cyber-community membership. Each alluded to the social connections and friendships she made with otherwise strangers from the list. For example, the first author received this e-mail response from Christine in Belgium:

[The list] gives me the opportunity to get into contact with people who I normally never would have know off. For example, "us." I have a daughter and some grandchildren of your dog. We came into contact thanks to the list. We will probably never meet but we have something through mail. Even if I can't go outside (newborn puppies for example) I will never be lonely because I have friend on the Internet. Very difficult to explain this because as you know English is not my language.

The "something" that Christine referred to in her e-mail alluded to the kind of unique relationship formed by e-community members who are enabled to "meet" in online spaces of the virtual world if not the physical world. Common bonds were formed by list members through shared interests that filled social needs for community and connection. For Christine, the list served her desire for companionship in instances where she could not find it elsewhere.

Some list members distinguished between acquaintances and friends on the list. For example, Patti reported that she was motivated to take the time to write on the list "due to the core of my personality which is sharing information and connecting with acquaintances" and the ability to connect with the five people on the list who she considered as friends. Lu reiterated the capability of the list to facilitate forming actual friendships among list members. When asked what she would like for us to convey in this study, Lu advised:

My thoughts are for people who are not involved in these kinds of lists where you have this kind of underlying connection to something like a pet; it is very hard for anybody to really grasp that these really are friendships. And they are friendships that do stand up and hold up even when things in our lives change. I found that people are amazed that I have met these people offline. I went to California to see one friend! People couldn't believe that I was traveling to see these people or when people came here and stayed with me. They were just blown away at the idea that somebody I hadn't physically met before would be coming physically into our lives. But, the fact that these kinds of groups really can form friendships is what I would like to see out of this.

The list had an inherent and unique ability to provide for social needs. Unlike other social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, there was one passion that all list members held in common that provided a focus for global communications. Because it was an actual albeit virtual community with common values, invented language, and shared beliefs, individuals found impetus to share personal information that assisted in sustaining the life of the list and forming friendships among list members. Lu elaborated:

It would be interesting to find the differences for people who belong to lists versus people that do other things like Facebook or Twitter… Twitter just seems very odd to me. People post that they are eating French toast for breakfast and I think, "Yippie Skippy!" What a weird thing to say to people. I wouldn't say that to you if I met you at the office. I wouldn't tell you what I ate for breakfast. So, that always seems to me very weird and superficial. But, the list a lot of times gets to the real nitty gritty. You get the people that share devastating news or news with a big impact.

Lu's remarks allude to the nature of communications in the online community that stimulated and developed social bonds and provided support to participants, a function of listservs like this one (Hayes & Gee, 2012). The list was unique in this capability for its members compared to other forms of social media that lack a common focus and shared values and language among users.

This study responded to calls to investigate how affinity groups are sustained (Hayes & Gee, 2012) and in doing so, to analyze the role of emotion in identity performance, community formation, and literacy advancement (Thomas, 2005; Baym, 1995). This investigation revealed how texts of humor and sentiment were created by list members and the ways in which these texts of emotionality served to foster group identity, community, and literacy. This attention to humor and sentiment in online communication was an important focus because only a few studies (e.g., Baym, 1995; Thomas, 2005) have addressed how group identity and solidarity occur in online communities or how self-representation and unanimity are negotiated in part through emotion.

This study also demonstrated that adults create intellectual capital through sophisticated forms of literacy in online communities. Adults in this study invented language to express their relationships with their dogs and to demonstrate personality and emotion in nonhuman animals. In the past, literacy researchers (e.g., Lesley, 2012; Lewis & Fabos, 2006) have credited adolescents with creating their own online vernacular, such as the language of instant messaging, including terms like PLOS (Parents Looking Over Shoulder). Members of this cyber community demonstrated that adults also invent cyber language for their own purposes. Individuals in this affinity space invented a shared language - not to communicate quickly or privately as adolescents have done- but to convey emotion, promote group values and views, and foster exclusivity and group solidarity. This shared language served to foster and insulate the online community while advancing a view of nonhuman animals as almost human.

This case also illustrated how a range of passionate emotions can fuel community formation and identity expression while fostering literacy. When passion becomes the basis for creating affinity spaces, adults create texts that serve as emotional support that advance their literate abilities. These social networks may be more powerful in fostering literacy than academic agendas set for adults by others.

Findings from this study advance a theory of adult literacy as socially and culturally constructed practice and call for promoting electronic discussion forums as online affinity spaces in adult-literacy education. In doing so, adult-literacy educators can advance adults' new digital literacies skills and abilities by providing practice in composing threaded texts that refer back to, support or question other texts. At the same time, when electronic discussion boards are used to form affinity groups, adults can be enabled to advance their traditional literacy skills in comprehension and vocabulary acquisition in motivating and personally relevant ways. As other researchers have also discovered (Williams & Murphy, 2002), online forums can facilitate adults' abilities to synthesize and evaluate different perspectives and to write for an authentic audience. Adult literacy educators have called for authentic literacy activities like these that are based in adults' interests, expertise, and realities (Jacobson, Degener & Purcell Gates, 2003). Using electronic discussions as affinity groups advances this agenda.

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Attachments:

Attachment A: Screenshot of "I'm on a Mission" (image format), 124 K.

Attachment B: Screenshot of "I'm on a Mission" reply (image format), 33 K.