On Nov. 17, 1964, poet and professor James Wright wrote to Robert Mezey: "The main trouble is that my students, marveling at what they can only interpret as the quick recovery of an essentially strong man, conclude that my most effective lectures are expressions of serenity and happiness; whereas, in almost inexpressible fact, I have lectured most clearly and even movingly at those very times when I felt I absolutely had to do something inventive in order to escape the unspeakable demons of agony and despair which I constantly (even at this moment, insane as it may seem) bear in the very pit of my breast like a snagged bit of old shrapnel too twisted to be removed and too close to my heart and lungs to be relieved by sedation in any noticeable way."
That's something to keep in mind as I prepare myself to read my course evaluations from this agonizingly difficult semester...hope there's no shrapnel waiting in there.
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