This short essay describes how I moved from deep frustration in teaching freshman comp at the Berklee College of Music to real satisfaction and great student improvement. When I taught Freshman Comp the standard way, using the standard textbooks and making grammar notes in the margins of student papers, I became exhausted and students learned little. While at Berklee, through insight and accident, I stumbled on a novel way to teach college writing. This is a "readable writing" method based on t