Thursday Thirteen

Since it is National Women's History Month, I'm going to list 13 of my teachers/professors who influenced me. Most are still alive, but they are part of MY history. They were all influential in some way. Some of them are influencing me still.

In no particular order:

Tina Weiner

1. Tina Weiner. Tina was my high school math teacher for Algebra 1, II, and Trig and now she is my friend. I don't remember anything she taught me, even though I was a straight-A student, which is probably a crime, but I don't do (x+y)-(z-t)=Q very often. We are in touch frequently and I value our relationship more than she will ever know.

2. Jeanne Larsen. Jeanne has a new book coming out called What Penelope Chooses, a book of poems that won the 2017 Cider Press Book Award. (Go preorder the book at the link.) Jeanne was my professor at Hollins College (now Hollins University) and she taught me a great deal not only about writing, but about myself. She influenced me in ways still undetermined and even now influences me simply by continuing to write and be productive and with lively and interesting Facebook posts.



Dee Sheffer

3. Dee Sheffer. Dee was my English teacher in 10th grade in high school. I still see her occasionally when I am out and about, but not often. She greatly influenced my work and was very encouraging of my writing abilities at a time when I was pretty much one of those broken teenagers that need support. Hey, it happens. We're friends on Facebook and seem to share similar political philosophies.

4. Amanda Cockrell. Amanda is another of my Hollins professors who influenced me and my writing. I had Amanda for masters' courses - several of them. She taught me about the trickster stories and reminded me that children's literature has multiple layers and many levels of philosophy upon which to ponder if one is so inclined. Amanda's a Facebook friend now and I enjoy her posts, too.

5. Mrs. Mildred Wright. She was my second grade teacher. She was very stern but she taught me to read with inflection and recognized that I have the ability to be a leader long before I ever thought about such a thing. (She'd send me over to watch the 1st grade class, back when a teacher could leave an hour early and a second grader could be sent over to read a book about dinosaurs to the class until the bell rang.)

6. Mrs. Fairfax. She was my third grade teacher, and she taught me how to ignore race even though I don't think she intended to do that. One of my strongest memories involves an angry father who went to the parent-teachers meeting to find out I had a black teacher when I'd told him there were no black teachers in the school. I never saw her color; she was my teacher and a person. (My father said I lied to him, but to me it was not a lie.)

7 & 8. Nancy Dahlstrom. Nancy was another Hollins professor whom I held in high esteem. She taught art. I took two classes from her, a drawing course over the summer and a "creative imagination" class that she co-taught with Cathy Hankla, another Hollins professor and published writer whom I admire. (Sure wish I'd aged as well as Cathy has!) The class combined writing and art. Both women taught me to see beyond the norm, to see the space in between, and to believe in myself.

9. Jeanne Kiker. Mrs. Kiker taught 7th grade English and I thought the world of her. She ran the school newspaper at that time and made me editor of it, something that probably foretold my future except I wasn't paying attention then. She was always very kind.

10. Mrs. Lanning. Mrs. Lanning taught me in the fourth grade and while frankly I have a lot of bad memories about that year, the thing that stands out is that this is where I learned that hugs are okay. In fact, Mrs. Lanning asked specifically for my parents to come to a parent-teacher conference and it wasn't my grades they discussed, but the fact that I was withdrawn and it had taken her six months to be able to hug me. I don't suppose teachers hug their students today but I am forever grateful for her patience in drawing me out of my shell.

11. Dr. Connie Shotts. She was my senior English teacher in high school and nominated for the English award, which I won. She did not stay at Lord Botetourt long and insisted we call her "Dr. Shotts" because she had a Ph.D. However, she had us read all of the classics and this was an advanced placement course that also counted as a college level English class, so she gave me a solid background in multiple areas that has stood the test of time. Because of her, I can understand references to old books in new works, and that is of great value because one can miss out on a lot if those sorts of things slide by without a thought.

12. Miss All. Miss All taught geometry in high school, and while it was not my best subject (even though I still received mostly As), I did find Mrs. All to be a very wonderful teacher. She probably doesn't remember it, but she gave me a book that greatly influenced me called Alas Babylon, by Pat Frank. That book still ranks as one of my all-time favorites and its message is still valid today, if a little dated.

13. Marilyn Moriarty. Professor Moriarty taught me a semester at Hollins, and was the first professor ever (actually the only one, I think), who encouraged me to write sonnets. I don't write sonnets often now but she did give me a love of form poetry, such as villanelles and sestinas. They are hard to write but loads of fun, rather like working a poem puzzle. Every now and then I try my hand at one simply for fun.

There you go. Do you remember you teachers? Thank you to all of these women who have had such great influence over my life, both in personal and career growth. May you all be blessed.


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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 594th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.