Theoretical thinking is needed to help establish writing across the curriculum as a real field and not just a passing fad. The metaphor of the Three Graces--Giving, Receiving, and Returning--suggests a procedure that could generate and sustain both theories and programs. English teachers usually give the initial impetus to cross-curricular programs; they must receive from their students and colleagues in other departments the feedback necessary for shared activity, and they must use the new knowledge gained from this feedback to return to enriched, active giving. And, as with the Graces, on-going processes must occasionally yield to product, to the comtemplation that will help generate the theory that actually perpetuates the whole process. Cross curricular theorizing comes in three forms: (1) "administrative theory," which considers how a cross-curricular writing program should organize itself; (2) "pedagogic theory," which asks specific questions about how writing will be taught; and (3) "speculative theory," which inquires into the two common denominators across fields--mental operations and language. Preliminary reflections on the verb "to be" yield insights not only about writing across the curriculum but about the structure of modern thought and culture. This new perspective is a fine completion, a graceful return, for teachers, students, and the intellectual community as a whole. (JL)