Thomas H. Benton (the pseudonym of an assistant professor of English at a Midwestern liberal-arts college: is that you, JT Leroy?) at the Chronicle of Higher Ed meditates on the topic of mediocrity, and how teachers should aspire to goodness, not greatness. I thought this would be of interest to writers, because we all know the dizzying highs of "I'm a genius!" and the disturbing lows of "Why didn't I go to business school?" Personally, I wouldn't get rid of the highs, because if we didn't delude ourselves with that bit of ego, we wouldn't get anything done. But this is a good thought to keep in mind when you want to kill yourself because Zadie Smith published her first book at 24 and you're already 25, which is clearly ancient.