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When I was a senior in high school I could take either a “writing” course (for seniors preparing for college) or a history course (enrolling mainly sophomore). The history teacher sent the three seniors off to write… we wrote three research papers in a semester. Greatest writing course ever!
@garyackerman The first thing I ever wrote, by which I mean read and cited multiple sources and thought deeply and worked hard to formulate complete ideas, was a paper for AP US History in 11th grade. "Mark Twain and the Gilded Age."
It would not be quite correct to say that the topic radicalized me, but it provided the context for me to be radicalized after I had read a lot more. And it was truly foundational for me as a writer. Ever since then, writing and history go together.