Back in the old days, when I was just a Graduate School Sensation, I was a teaching assistant for English 101, the freshman composition class. I shared an office with several other TAs, and we often shared the wisdom penned by the budding writers in our classes. Early in the semester, one of my officemates asked her class to write a few paragraphs describing their experience with writing. Apparently intending to highlight her talent for composing short stories, one young woman wrote, "My strengths in writing are fictional." Subsequent assignments proved her correct.