An english professor in college, who most likely passed me with flying colors because of my Cher impression, always said, “Nothing was created in a vacuum.” At the time, he was encouraging us to read period appropriate texts in order to give context to what we were reading. Admittedly, I read just enough to get by in that class (if Spark Notes counts), and I wrote my final paper on the interaction of scenery and plot in the Harry Potter films, though I would have much preferred to write about The Sixth Sense. I was a design major, worlds away from becoming a writer (or reader for that matter). But what he said stayed with me. Read more
