for a few minutes. I had never looked at the idea of girl politics that way, maybe because I’d put so much value in my friendships with the women from Smith, much in the way an earnest puppy dog loves everybody that it meets, without judgment and without hostility.

“Lis, let’s change the subject.” Nicole had always said that in her classes, when she saw the discussion beginning to run off the rails. “Is there something that you want to do with your master’s degree?”

“I don’t know, Nicole. I needed to do something, and substitute teaching just wasn’t it. i just figured I’d apply for my master’s in writing because I liked to write, and I wanted to live in the city. And I have to write a manuscript in three years, or I d...

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