Why is it that the more I try to focus on college essays, the more I realize that what I am writing really is not me. I just got an English paper back from my teacher. I am very frustrated with the grade that he gave me, but what frustrates me even more is what he told me to do. He said to rewrite is, yes, that is the good part. But he said “you might want to take a look at some of my edits.” I mean, not to get him wrong, but he edited more than half of the words in my paper. Literally, he reworded things in a way that I would never say them, he added weird metaphors which I would never use, he added facts that aren’t true but make a better storyline. He changed what I said. This isn’t a college essay, but I’ve seen the same in the essays that I’ve asked my teachers to read over. They change my voice. They change things that aren’t necessarily wrong, but they change them to make them “sound better”. Sure they sound better to them. But that is their voice, not mine.

Now, how am I supposed to say that the rewrite that I will turn in tomorrow is mine?

I might just write the name of my English teacher in the upper-right corner.