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Tess Catalano "Take Back the Night" and other academic essays, 1982

1982-12-10 Ms. Shephard Page 3

what I had written, and she decides If you use the present tense here, you probably should in the rest of this sentence. to interupt and talk about english. She made a few more comments about opening sentences and transitional sentances and then asked me to go on. She had a certain briskness about her delivery that left you hanging on to the silence after she spoke. I must have looked at her funny because she smiled and said would I please continue. She was always saying weird things like that. "Would you please continue", that was one of her weird little phrases, like "as it were" and "in the popular sense of the word". Little funny phrases at the end of a sentence that made you wonder if she was laughing at you.
   Eventually, I did continue. There were no more interuptions. Ms. Shepard said nothing until all the papers had been read. Then all she talked about was what a suitable subject was for an argumentative essay. "It has to be something you believe in", she said looking at me, "something you really want to persuade someone about, as it were." Silently, I agreed. It really seemed to me that the rest of the class had bombed out.
   That was the first time i had contact with her.
   After that, it got to be that every paper was, in a way, for her. Each topic was carefully selected to reveal something about my character. After each paper was returned, I would search it for comments that she had made. Looking for her handwriting, the economic slant in thin blue pen, rather than the looping curl of the Junior Assistant.
   At registration for second term classes, I made a point of taking her Core Lit course. It met at eight 'oclock in the morning, but I didn't want to take it with any other professor. I had these fantasies of becoming one of her brilliant students. She would discover my yet unrefined talent and would gradually tutor me until I was famous for my work. "...taught by her friend and mentor, Ms. Shepard, this surprisingly young talent grasps hold of life with the experience of a veteran novelist, as it were..." nice touch It was then that I began to dream of being a writer. Admittedly,

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what I had written, and she decides If you use the present tense here, you probably should in the rest of this sentence. to interupt and talk about english. She made a few more comments about opening sentences and transitional sentances and then asked me to go on. She had a certain briskness about her delivery that left you hanging on to the silence after she spoke. I must have looked at her funny because she smiled and said would I please continue. She was always saying weird things like that. "Would you please continue", that was one of her weird little phrases, like "as it were" and "in the popular sense of the word". Little funny phrases at the end of a sentence that made you wonder if she was laughing at you. Eventually, I did continue. There were no more interuptions. Ms. Shepard said nothing until all the papers had been read. Then all she talked about was what a suitable subject was for an argumentative essay. "It has to be something you believe in", she said looking at me, "something you really want to persuade someone about, as it were." Silently, I agreed. It really seemed to me that the rest of the class had bombed out. That was the first time i had contact with her. After that, it got to be that every paper was, in a way, for her. Each topic was carefully selected to reveal something about my character. After each paper was returned, I would search it for comments that she had made. Looking for her handwriting, the economic slant in thin blue pen, rather than the looping curl of the Junior Assistant. At registration for second term classes, I made a point of taking her Core Lit course. It met at eight 'oclock in the morning, but I didn't want to take it with any other professor. I had these fantasies of becoming one of her brilliant students. She would discover my yet unrefined talent and would gradually tutor me until I was famous for my work. "...taught by her friend and mentor, Ms. Shepard, this surprisingly young talent grasps hold of life with the experience of a veteran novelist, as it were..." nice touch It was then that I began to dream of being a writer. Admittedly,