My mom sent me this piece from the New York Times about Helene Hegemann, a 17-year-old German novelist who lifted portions of someone else's work, and defended the practice by saying that young people mix -- or mash together -- music, so why not words, too?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/europe/12germany.html?emc=eta1

I was, at first, horrified. But after reading the piece, a tiny part of me felt that maybe this girl had a point -- not a point about it being okay to lift someone else's...