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The secret architecture of great essays - by Michael Dean

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Professor Tootzi was a rude and abrasive genius, an architecture professor so dedicated to his craft—hand drafting 3 hours a day for 50 years on imaginary projects—that he evolved into a snarling creature, one who waddled, talked to himself, cursed in Italian, and rubbed his nipples when thinking. It worked. His own drawings had a mystic quality, so I decided to trust him. He turned me from a near drop-out to one of the top designers in the school. Hands down, the best teacher I ever had. I learned to find his insults endearing too. “Shut up, already! Are you an architect or a critic at…

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