Julia Alvarez is an American author. Born in New York in 1950 she spent her childhood in the Dominican Republic until age 10. In this passage, Alvarez describes some of her earliest writing experiences. from Something to Declare 1 Away at school, I met American muses, who like my aunt Titi, were handmaidens of the written word Miss St. Pierre and Miss Stevenson, my English teachers, were both single, both young, both passionately in love with books. 2 They encouraged me, not just to receive the language passively, but to actively engage it. In other words, not just to read, but to write. I wrote essays, poems, stories. I kept a journal. For my senior project, I put together a handwritten manuscript of poems and drawings, and with Miss St. Pierre's blessing, I carried it to a New York publisher when I was home for vacation. The editor, Gene Young, was actually a friend of my aunt Titl's who had been to boarding school with her.Gene very nicely offered to read the manuscript and then took me on a tour of the Harper 8. Row building, introducing me to her coworkers as "a talented young poet."I glowed with pride-though it did occur to me that she had not, as yet -read any of my poems. Oh well, maybe editors could tell ahead of time that someone was going to be a good writer? The book, titled Thoughts, dealt with important, well, thoughts.Death, Loneliness, the Meaning of Life. Nowhere was there a trace of Belkis, Ada, Gladys or any of my Dominican tías -a good sign, I thought,that I sounded "So American."A few weeks after my visit to Harper &Row, my handwritten book was returned in the mail with a nice note from Gene advising me to "keep writing, you'll find your voice." How does the catalog of kitchen utensils in paragraph 7 help to illustrate what the author has learned about a writer's voice? ) 1. It suggests that a writer's voice is most influenced by current surroundings. 2.It shows that a writer's voice can arise from familiar settings and circumstances. 3. It contrasts with the topics and ideas that are typically discussed in the author's family. 4. It demonstrates the aũthor's frustration when she searches for inspiration in ordinary objects.