1. What three teachers did you have in grade school or high school who had the greatest impact on you, either for good or bad? My fourth grade teacher was probably the most influential person in my life other than my maternal grandmother. She made me understand that education could get you out of the cotton fields. My 11th grade math teacher had finished one year of college and was teaching on an "emergency" certificate. Tom really understood what a HS student needed to learn in math to succeed in college. He returned to school after one year and was a mentor when I arrived at Jacksonville State helping me get campus jobs to pay my way. My HS science teacher was pretty much a disaster although a good guy. I don't think he had ever taken a physics or chemistry course himself and gave true and false test in those subjects.
2. Which teacher do you wish you could go back and apologize to for your terrible misbehavior? I was pretty much the perfect student. I don't recall ever giving a teacher a hard time. No, really. I think I learned early the value of protective coloration namely don't be unfavorable noticed.
3. What do you think is the best thing to happen to grade school since when you were there? Central heat! We had a coal burning stove in one corner of the room and I got to build the fire starting when I was in the second grade primarily because my Mom worked and dropped my brother and me off on her way early enough to get a roaring fire going.
posted by Larry at 9:36 AM
All my life I have been basically healthy with few physical problems other than bad knees and allergies, but several years ago, I started having pre-mature ventrical contractions. This is a malady that affects over 80% of all adults but a few of us are privileged to know when they occur. I am one of the blessed and the past few weeks have been rough because the PVCs are worse when I am lying down which I usually do when I sleep. There's nothing like the feeling of a cattle prod every few seconds to bring on insomnia. It would be easier if the PVCs didn't continue all day and I could get some sleep at work.
posted by Larry at 12:32 PM
