Offers a perspective on "techne" that respects the formative--not professional--situation of technical writing students and emphasizes the importance for technical writers to attend to history, artistry, and well-developed social relations in their work. Offers historically grounded, creative meditations on "techne" that emphasize its manifold nature: it is conversational, ingenious, cunning, full of trickery, and unpredictably artistic. (SG)