Is it not fascinating that one can still feel what it was like to be that eight year old boy in a school play …fifty years gone…still filled with joy and awe in Mrs. Richie’s class…singing that delightful “Little Drummer Boy” on the gym floor, second to last Friday in December afternoon, in front of most of the town (picture an exact replica strait outta Hoosiers) celebrating the coming of our Lord…I mean schools out for two weeks for Winter Solstice as the Americans with no Civil Liberties Union bosses would now call it…as they proverbially burned the church and state…Oh well, you win some and you loss some cultural wars. We the people still live in the greatest country on Gods green Earth…and if I had hit that 1.7 billion dollar power ball I would have already bought that professional baseball team in Cleveland and returned it to its proper name…for calling them the Guardian’s is offensive as calling the Redskins a pejorative. The political world has flipped upside down, just as I could not imagine what 103 year old eyes has seen…unless I could feel what it is like to be my mother. Gotta run Onward and Upward (unfortunately not Squaw Peak…I mean Piestewa…for I am going to be on the D.L. for most of next year do to a near death experience in Yosemite…at least the counter cultural warriors haven’t name changed that national treasure yet). Peace on Earth, and may we the people have a happy new year bearing witness to the arrest and removal of The Don from the Bada Bing, I mean Oval Office. Thanks for taking my rant
What a wonderful story, and isn't it great that John Miller found that program? As I've gotten older, I find that I so appreciate little things from the past that nudge my memory along. And how appropriate that you were the announcer!
Sounds like an awesome lady and teacher, one of the ones you always remember. I had one in 6th grade and 9th grade that I have fond memories of...both were big on reading and literature, which encouraged me a lot. I got to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in 9th grade( verbally, we read the play, not acted it). She also introduced me to a lot of poetry, including lyrics from 60's songs...introduced me to Rod McKuen too...and ee cummings...One semester, we did mythology, and we had to do a project. I made a Medusa's head using a styroform wig mold and made the snakes out of yarn.,by braiding them...she liked it so much, she kept it to display in a cabinet she had. I was so tickled.
She was a big influence and helped me with confidence, and I did have abilities/skills. My sixth-grade teacher read us a chapter from a book every morning ( I specifically remember "Charlotte's Web" " and she had a bookcase with the classics that, if you got your work done, you could read...I remember Tale of Two Cities, Count of Monte Cristo, and Gulliver's Travels, for a few.
These two women changed my life, and I am forever grateful.
Teaching was one of the most satisfying jobs I ever had. I can only hope some of my former students remember me as fondly as you remember Mrs. Krins. I encountered one of my welding students in town a while back. After greeting me, he said, "Mr. Cater, everything you told me was true, unfortunately."
Simply lovely. I’m often envious of those whose memories are so vivid of times past. I frankly don’t remember the names of many of my elementary school teachers, and I am the poorer for that fact.
Based on a story I read in a collection of essays by a favorite writer, a friend from school days and I went down memory lane earlier this year. The starting point of the journey was examining who among our teachers from then sparked a love of learning. It was such a fun trip.
"Every life is a story," as the History Channel used to tell us. Being "only 57" and being "grandmotherly" are not contradictory: she might easily have been a grandmother to second-graders or even older children.
Also, two style points for, "She talked differently from the rest of us." One for the adverb, and one for the correct preposition.
What a wonderful tribute to Mrs. Krins!
Thank you, Brian!
Is it not fascinating that one can still feel what it was like to be that eight year old boy in a school play …fifty years gone…still filled with joy and awe in Mrs. Richie’s class…singing that delightful “Little Drummer Boy” on the gym floor, second to last Friday in December afternoon, in front of most of the town (picture an exact replica strait outta Hoosiers) celebrating the coming of our Lord…I mean schools out for two weeks for Winter Solstice as the Americans with no Civil Liberties Union bosses would now call it…as they proverbially burned the church and state…Oh well, you win some and you loss some cultural wars. We the people still live in the greatest country on Gods green Earth…and if I had hit that 1.7 billion dollar power ball I would have already bought that professional baseball team in Cleveland and returned it to its proper name…for calling them the Guardian’s is offensive as calling the Redskins a pejorative. The political world has flipped upside down, just as I could not imagine what 103 year old eyes has seen…unless I could feel what it is like to be my mother. Gotta run Onward and Upward (unfortunately not Squaw Peak…I mean Piestewa…for I am going to be on the D.L. for most of next year do to a near death experience in Yosemite…at least the counter cultural warriors haven’t name changed that national treasure yet). Peace on Earth, and may we the people have a happy new year bearing witness to the arrest and removal of The Don from the Bada Bing, I mean Oval Office. Thanks for taking my rant
What a wonderful story, and isn't it great that John Miller found that program? As I've gotten older, I find that I so appreciate little things from the past that nudge my memory along. And how appropriate that you were the announcer!
Thank you, Jay, for taking us "upward" in this Sacred Season.
👍
My 2nd grade teacher at Holland Elementary in Springfield Missouri was Mrs Hasty. Great name for an old woman
But then I had a small crush on her daughter when we were in high school together eight years later. So the elder Hasty could not have been THAT old.
Oddly, I notice Ralphie’s teacher grows younger each Christmas too
Always a day brightener. Thank you, Jay!
Thank you so much.
Sounds like an awesome lady and teacher, one of the ones you always remember. I had one in 6th grade and 9th grade that I have fond memories of...both were big on reading and literature, which encouraged me a lot. I got to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in 9th grade( verbally, we read the play, not acted it). She also introduced me to a lot of poetry, including lyrics from 60's songs...introduced me to Rod McKuen too...and ee cummings...One semester, we did mythology, and we had to do a project. I made a Medusa's head using a styroform wig mold and made the snakes out of yarn.,by braiding them...she liked it so much, she kept it to display in a cabinet she had. I was so tickled.
She was a big influence and helped me with confidence, and I did have abilities/skills. My sixth-grade teacher read us a chapter from a book every morning ( I specifically remember "Charlotte's Web" " and she had a bookcase with the classics that, if you got your work done, you could read...I remember Tale of Two Cities, Count of Monte Cristo, and Gulliver's Travels, for a few.
These two women changed my life, and I am forever grateful.
Wonderful, Angie. Thx.
You are welcome, thank you for bringing it all to mind again
Wonderful!
Thank you, Kevin!
“Sunday Mornings with Jay” are a gift. Too bad there aren’t musical introductions on Substack. I’d vote for Handel:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=j615j-OKQNg&si=XT5YBogNehuw4Rou
That's a good vote, Dave! Thx.
Teaching was one of the most satisfying jobs I ever had. I can only hope some of my former students remember me as fondly as you remember Mrs. Krins. I encountered one of my welding students in town a while back. After greeting me, he said, "Mr. Cater, everything you told me was true, unfortunately."
! Great.
Simply lovely. I’m often envious of those whose memories are so vivid of times past. I frankly don’t remember the names of many of my elementary school teachers, and I am the poorer for that fact.
Beautiful.
Based on a story I read in a collection of essays by a favorite writer, a friend from school days and I went down memory lane earlier this year. The starting point of the journey was examining who among our teachers from then sparked a love of learning. It was such a fun trip.
"Every life is a story," as the History Channel used to tell us. Being "only 57" and being "grandmotherly" are not contradictory: she might easily have been a grandmother to second-graders or even older children.
Also, two style points for, "She talked differently from the rest of us." One for the adverb, and one for the correct preposition.