While I was sitting on the train the other day, I saw a young woman furiously underlining, with her yellow neon marker, the text of her book. Now, I don't know about you, but this act has always rendered me paralyzed. 

No, actually, taking notes in class rendered me paralyzed. Underlining caused major angst. Clearly, I have little, if any, ability to feel confident in deciding what is absolutely, without question, categorically, the most important sentences within the text I am reading. I feel similarly when sitting in a roomful of folks who, with pens poised, are furiously taking notes as the lecturer lectures. The others are writing now…did I miss something? Was that important? Are they doodling, like I am, so I look like I am note taking?