Weekend Assignment

I had to think about this a while, because I had several teachers that made my education more important.  I loved Mrs. Phillips, my second grade teacher, because she treated me like I was special.  But she's not the one that had the most influence on me.  It was my 9th grad English teacher that really made learning come alive for me.

In January, I was on retreat and met a girl who went to the same school as I and we talked about this teacher.  She even mentioned her name, which I have since place somewhere in the forgotten reaches of my memory bank.  I was always a reader, a writer, a poet, before I came into her class, but she brought something else to my love of the written word:  Shakespeare.  Iambic pentameter.  Wow!  She made it come alive.  We read A Midsummer Night's Dream.  We did something else, too - she had us memorize and play at least two parts from Romeo and Juliet.  She told us they always chose adults to play those parts because they didn't think young people could get the correct tempo for Shakespeare.  She said they were wrong, and spent nearly a year teaching us how to appreciate the true art form of Shakespeare's writing.  I still love it today.  I don't find it tedious or boring,  Just musical in the way it's written.  I'd love to give her better credit here, but the years have taken a toll on my memory and it seems too much has slipped out the gray hairs.

My second favorite subject when I was young?  MATH.  I loved math.  I loved how numbers worked together. It stayed that way until I hit college in my late 30's  - then I hated math!  Algebra was not my strong suit.  History, especially that of the United States and South America, became my second love.  Hated it when I was a kid - love it now.  Go figure.

Have a good weekend, all.  Stop by for a visit when you can.  The coffee pot's always on . . .