Why did I ever say Mrs. Plante was cool? Because she isn’t. Instead, she’s a disapproving critic who won’t cut me any slack. I’ve rewritten that article on Cheech and Chong five times and she still says, “I’m not feeling it. Something is missing, Joy.” Meanwhile, she has accepted all of Janice’s essays. And one was about adopting kittens. Kittens! Really? I mean, are we like in second grade here?
I don’t get why Mrs. Plante loves everything Janice writes. She’s always praising that New Yorker’s ‘organization’, ‘ability to cite sources’, and friggin’ ‘voice’. Voice? I have a voice, too. But she says I am hiding it somewhere.
organization’, ‘ability to cite sources’, ‘voice’. She set my essay on my desk, red pen markings all over it and said, “Your writing seems detached, Joy. As if you
