Shoulders

In his excellent book, Steal Like an Artist, writer/artist Austin Kleon quotes Jonathan Lethem as saying that when people call something "original," nine times out of ten they just don't know the references or the original sources involved. See what I did there? I borrowed the quote from Austin Kleon, who was quoting Jonathan Lethem, on how nothing is original. My first in-the-flesh teaching mentor (Nanci Atwell was actually my first mentor, but I only know her through her books), Lori Conrad, regularly quotes either John of Salisbury (1159), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1828) or perhaps Sir Isaac Newton, if you believe the British £2 coin, when she says, "We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us," or alternately, "We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants.  We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours."

For obvious reasons, I can't continue attributing like this; it makes for clunky reading. Instead, consider this a blanket disclaimer, I make no claim of originality.  If you read something here and think to yourself, "I swear I read that in a book by RonRitchhartKatieWoodRayDonalynMiller KellyGallagherAimeeBucknerJeffAndersonKyleneBeers, you are undoubtably right. Swear away. I will attribute everywhere I am capable. Meanwhile, as Gary Paulsen said, "I owe everything I am and everything I will ever be to books." I would add, "...and to the brilliant colleagues, mentors, and administrators who have nurtured me over the years."