When I was a kid, my favorite part of school wasn’t class — even though I loved studying, and liked showing off what I knew. It wasn’t the uniforms, though my boarding school’s dresses and blazers, and shoes for indoor and outdoor games, were a puzzle that came together differently every time. And it certainly wasn’t the food: School dinner in England was a mystery of boiled sprouts and stewed rhubarb, even if the Texas high school lunches that came after taught me how to make Frito pie.

What I loved most about school, with a fierceness that bordered on devotion, were school supplies. The incense of a just-sharpened pencil. The order in a fresh box of pen cartridges. And more than anything, the promise in a new notebook, and the anticipation of filling