by Rebecca S. Borah, PhD

Early this past quarter, I spent an afternoon replying to my composition students’ emails in which they pitched their ideas for a first-person research assignment involving a nonprofit social-service agency.  After sending affirmative replies to the first few, I paused before rejecting one email concerning a medical marijuana-advocacy group.  I saved my reply to this student for last and put off the likely thumbs down by asking some basic questions to determine how much thought the student had invested in the topic.  (You never can tell when they’re 100% serious at this point.)  Once finished, I took a few quiet moments to consider how long it had been since someone had wanted to write about marijuana.