In 2003, the National Commission on Writing released "The Neglected "R,"" its report on the state of writing instruction in the nation's schools. The report identified an apparent paradox: writing, which the Commission defines as an essential skill for the many that has helped transform the world, is nevertheless increasingly shortchanged throughout the school and college years. To state that paradox a bit differently, if writing has indeed helped transform the world, it seems to have had little transformative effect on most of the students. In this essay, the author talks about writing as "praxis". He explores the possibility of writing as praxis because he believes that writing can and should be a vehicle for individual and collective transformation. He wants to understand what it means to engage in writing as a practice of being, as a way of living together on the earth people share. (Contains 4 notes and 1 figure.)