How Stevie helped me get an "A" in world history

[Macfan4life]

This is a funny but true story. Its a bit cheezy but I was 19 and under the spell of Stevie and TOSOTM. Only the people on this board could appreciate such a story. In 1989 I was finishing my first year of college when The Other Side of the Mirror came out. I was going to a community college in western PA and Stevie would come to Pittsburgh that fall to promote her album (Sept 1). The entire summer I was fascinated with TOSOTM. The cassette played in my car and in my Walkman. That summer I walked for miles in Daytona Beach at night playing the album over and over. It was such a magical album for me and I was particularly sensitive to it. Songs like Ghosts and Rooms on Fire were so connected to me that it felt like I wrote the songs (I know that sounds strange). Doing the Best that I can always got me through the really tough times. In 1989, I was going to school, working, and my mother had a stroke and was in the hospital. That fall I had my first of 2 world history classes at the college level. My professor transferred to my school from Penn State. He would lecture every class and the test was one question and the answer had to be in essay form. On test day, he would pass out composition books and then write one question on the board. You had one hour to write to answer it in composition form. You had to cite history authors and form some sort of theme of cultures, civilizations and countries. Quite the challenge to say the least. The professor always reminded people that he never or rarely gave any "A's." I remember taking my notes home and studying for the test. How was I going to create a theme from all these notes? I started practicing of some things I would write. Suddenly Stevie quotes started coming to my mind. I started merging song lines in between historical authors and boy I was on a roll. It all sounded so magical. For example, I would start one paragraph "Still the same old story, what price glory" and then start my world history theme under it. A little line here and another one there. It read like a masterpiece. I remember the professor actually circling one of the lines with a big question mark like ???????who said this, are you trying to quote Burke?????? It read like a magical historical theme with my perspective, the historical authors, and Stevie Nick's poetry thrown in for good measure. I got an A- and the professor was blown away. I felt so accomplished especially for only being 19. Could I have gotten the A without Stevie? I am not so sure. Her poetic lines here and there was the secret sauce ingredient to my masterpiece in Early World Civilization.