Today, I got an email from one of my English professors accusing me of plagiarism. This has happened with almost every paper I've written. I pour myself into the papers I write for him, and he constantly mentions how I've forgotten to "cite my sources". The papers we write are short papers; they require no sources. I am genuinely just in love with poetry analysis and dissection. In a way, I take it as a compliment; my writing must be pretty good for him to question whether it originated from me. However, I am deeply offended that he constantly questions my integrity. If I'm not writing "too romantically" with "poor sentence structure" I am being accused of stealing the work of others.

He gave me the opportunity to correct this mistake by re-writing the paper. I politely declined his offer. I poured myself into that paper; I happen to adore the work of Matthew Arnold and if I am going to be faulted for how much I know about a topic I am passionate about-why continue going to school at all? I could make money off of my work right now, degree or no degree. If I am going to fail for being brilliant at what I love, I'll take the "F" and wear it like a badge of honor on my chest. I have more respect for my hard work, my writing and myself to write that paper over.

What a compliment it is for you to question my writing Doctor D.H.

That must mean I am actually going somewhere.