Feld 1

Dylan Feld

Ms. Crowell

AP Language and Composition

31 March 2022

A Powerful Reimbursement of Inspiration

A significant moment that changed my development as a writer was in Political Science

in my freshman year. At times, I felt the class was a strain, but in others I realized the rigor that

the class seemed to miss; the class lacked an acute numbness, a sharp nothingness that ate at me

as I sat in the chair that would squeak when I leaned back. Presented to us one day was an

assignment that I had heard whispers of complaints about from the third-period class, a reading

assignment, an assignment that unbeknownst to me would literally daze me in my squeaky seat

as I began it. Our task was to read James Madison’s Federalist 51, a document that prior to

reading it, I had thought would be a basic regurgitation of biased principles. I was half right; the

document was full of biased principles on Madison’s part but rich with colorfully woven

vocabulary that painted a world of these biases as I read. I was moved not just by the oil canvas

that had just sprung from my head, but by the application of the Founding Father’s words to a

concept. Federalist 51 had reimbursed a dormant passion to write I had not known was there,

and in that moment I decided I wanted to be able to write like James Madison, who would be a

role model of sorts, a muse even, to my ventures in literacy.