The stupidest thing I ever did was attend a school of the arts. It made the most beautiful, primal emotions that are so essential to art seem like a calculated attempt at making the grade. You're subjected to criticism from people who don't exactly deserve to criticize your work. Because of my bad experience in a film class, it was difficult to watch a movie without wondering if they had a group of headstrong idiots as the people in charge, unyielding to anyone's ideas but their own. My writing is no longer encased in a red pen cage. And I couldn't be any more thankful.