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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (45024)	7/11/1999 9:21:00 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 108807

I have seen Mr. Sawaya several times since highschool. I used to go over and have lunch with him when I was in college. I have written to him and called him many times since moving away. He was lucky- he knew he had a profound effect on all of us. His whole class- the year I was in it- made up t-shirts with his picture on them (except for me- because I was not a joiner and I hated what I considered empty emotional gestures- I would do it now. I wish I could go back and join.). I know he understood that about me. And I guess that is why he was such a good teacher- because he not only loved learning (and opera, - he took all of his classes to operas, and classical music- he played it for us in class), he loved life, and I think he loved us. He really tried to see us for who we were, and for who we might become. That is a rare gift in adults dealing with the young. It is easy to see young adults as merely superficial people, a larval stage waiting to turn "real", and get a job and get a life- but he saw something valuable in us. I think that is another reason why he had an impact. Because we respected him, and he respected us, we respected ourselves more.

To: Rambi who wrote (45024)	7/11/1999 9:30:00 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Penni, I really tried, and I can honestly say not one of my teachers had anywhere near that kind of an effect on me. I had to get out of school to find decent mentors and people to teach me what I consider things of value. Washington D.C. schools and teachers in that district stunk in the 70's. I could barely read and write after I graduated. Not that I'm all that hot at it now. Just ask jbe. :-) Michael

To: Rambi who wrote (45024)	7/11/1999 10:05:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 108807

My tenth grade English teacher was an old curmudgeon, extremely strict, and graded me harder than anyone ever had. She told me that one day I would come back and thank her. I didn't. My favorite school teacher was my 12th grade history teacher, and I don't remember her name, but she was what I now recognize was kind of a right-wing nut. I say nut because she believed that great men throughout history had red hair, and the greatest of them also had green eyes. She was really big on Aryanism. She pointed out that the Manchu dynasty, which came from the Northern Plains outside China, may have had red hair and green eyes, because the statues depicting them used jade for the eyes. So you can agree that she was pretty nutty. This was during the Viet Nam war, and I was extremely anti-war, and pro-civil rights, and refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance because I hated the government. I have always loved my country, but I thought that the government was killing innocent people, and was wrong. She was very conservative, but she appreciated my out-spokenness, and gave me A's. I loved the teachers that loved me. Some of them did. The religion teacher that asked me to lead the class one day on the topic of agnosticism (I was then an agnostic). The chemistry teacher that gave me the keys to the lab and let me be the lab custodian. The speech teacher that gave me the lead in the school play. The ones who agreed with me that I was special.