“One day, in my intro to creative writing class, after I had my students spend a few minutes free-writing in response to a Frida Kahlo painting, one of them raised her hand.
“Do you mind if I ask a question that’s not related to this exercise?”
I said sure. Then she pointed at the painting projected on the screen.
“I’m looking at this painting . . .” she hesitated a moment, trying to articulate what she was feeling, “and I can’t help but think to myself that all of these artists had so much money, and all of the writers we read are so famous, and it just feels like . . .” she shook her head. “Can I start over?”
