Apr 01
When your teacher asks you to compare cats, dogs, birds, and fish, don’t even think of comparing them in terms of which makes the best pet. That’s way too obvious. Instead, compare them in terms of which makes the best food for humans when roasted, which would provide the most help to a firefighter, or which has the most interesting body-structure for an artist to represent in an oil painting.
— From “A bit of essay advice,” Dorothy Stephens via email to class, April 14, 2004.
