the others were congenital mediocrities, that our writing program amounted to an academic Ponzi scheme, a literary racket…After I ran out of words he cleared his throat, assured me he could appreciate the torsion and doubt I labored under, praised my candor, my valor, even, and got me to promise I wouldn’t leave these young people in the lurch but would finish out the semester, which consisted, after all, of only three more class meetings.
