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Being Smart

I just came across an email I wrote to my favorite professor at Wheaton College many years ago. It was in response to a class conversation we'd had on Emily Dickinson and her manipulation of seclusion for the purpose of social control. It sounds a little fancy there, but let me tell you, the email I wrote was fancier. I don't think I was trying to be smart, either, because I used a very personal example - which I will not elaborate here - regarding my understanding of Dickinson's motivations and the manner in which her behavior would translate into the world of modern technology. I was not trying to be smart, but from my present perch, it sounded smart. I'm wondering what happened to that deep-thinking academic. Wondering all the more how it is possible that such thought processes actually diminished during my post-graduate education rather than flourished. Oh, academia. What a fickle beast you are.

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