What you said about Baker’s writing in the first two sentences of this piece is what I’d say about your writing and why I love Prevail. But I’ve told you that in previous comments. What needs to be added here is that your writing about other great writers is filling a previously unfulfilled need in me for literary guidance. My wife fondl…
What you said about Baker’s writing in the first two sentences of this piece is what I’d say about your writing and why I love Prevail. But I’ve told you that in previous comments. What needs to be added here is that your writing about other great writers is filling a previously unfulfilled need in me for literary guidance. My wife fondly recalls a high school teacher who strode into the classroom quoting Shakespeare. Others recall that one outstanding teacher who inspired them. I never had a really great teacher! If I’d had someone in my life back then who got excited about great writing like you do, I’d probably have read Tom Sawyer rather than using my cleverness to get ‘A’s in Literature by psyching out the multiple choice test questions. I’m a published author and professional technical writer who’s functionally illiterate in great literature. I’m making a promise to myself here and now based on the inspiration I’m getting from you: I promise to find time—perhaps by commenting less on Facebook—to start reading some of the great writing I’ve missed. It’s all your fault, Greg Olear! You done went and inspired me!
I feel the same way, Earl. I recently lost my mentor from high school, a journalism teacher named Bob Burnham. He championed my writing, got me a gig at the local daily newspaper, and encouraged me to attend the same college he did. We remained friends these past 43 years. When he died, I wrote a long letter to his wife about my remembrances of Bob, which she shared with his best friend, who was my poetry teacher in high school ... and he reached out to me, which was wonderful. We exchanged recollections of each other, and he loaded me up with tons of poetry that he knew I'd like based on the things that have stayed with me all these years. Teachers are amazing, and so is my favorite teacher these days, Greg Olear. It's never too late to learn, to be moved, to connect with humanity.
Thanks, Jeffrey! I’m so glad you had a high school mentor. I’m not sure why I never had an amazing teacher, but I suspect it may have had at least a little to do with the apathy that had apparently been the national experience in taking US superiority for granted. I graduated in 1958. My sister, who was four years behind me, had to work much harder to get good grades, and I’m sure it’s because Sputnik, in 1957, jolted the US into taking a hard look at its educational system. I’m a product of the near-term post-WW2 mentality, I guess.
What you said about Baker’s writing in the first two sentences of this piece is what I’d say about your writing and why I love Prevail. But I’ve told you that in previous comments. What needs to be added here is that your writing about other great writers is filling a previously unfulfilled need in me for literary guidance. My wife fondly recalls a high school teacher who strode into the classroom quoting Shakespeare. Others recall that one outstanding teacher who inspired them. I never had a really great teacher! If I’d had someone in my life back then who got excited about great writing like you do, I’d probably have read Tom Sawyer rather than using my cleverness to get ‘A’s in Literature by psyching out the multiple choice test questions. I’m a published author and professional technical writer who’s functionally illiterate in great literature. I’m making a promise to myself here and now based on the inspiration I’m getting from you: I promise to find time—perhaps by commenting less on Facebook—to start reading some of the great writing I’ve missed. It’s all your fault, Greg Olear! You done went and inspired me!
I feel the same way, Earl. I recently lost my mentor from high school, a journalism teacher named Bob Burnham. He championed my writing, got me a gig at the local daily newspaper, and encouraged me to attend the same college he did. We remained friends these past 43 years. When he died, I wrote a long letter to his wife about my remembrances of Bob, which she shared with his best friend, who was my poetry teacher in high school ... and he reached out to me, which was wonderful. We exchanged recollections of each other, and he loaded me up with tons of poetry that he knew I'd like based on the things that have stayed with me all these years. Teachers are amazing, and so is my favorite teacher these days, Greg Olear. It's never too late to learn, to be moved, to connect with humanity.
Thanks, Jeffrey! I’m so glad you had a high school mentor. I’m not sure why I never had an amazing teacher, but I suspect it may have had at least a little to do with the apathy that had apparently been the national experience in taking US superiority for granted. I graduated in 1958. My sister, who was four years behind me, had to work much harder to get good grades, and I’m sure it’s because Sputnik, in 1957, jolted the US into taking a hard look at its educational system. I’m a product of the near-term post-WW2 mentality, I guess.
Lovely musings....thank you...words with thoughts are for lifetime remembrance.