Shooting Pool with DaD (January 2004)

Into the Mouth of the Iris

Me (left) with Mrs. Harrison's Students at Michigan Youth Arts Festival

Mr. James Cooper of Kaufmann Elementary School in Bridgeport, Michigan was my favorite teacher.  He taught my 5th grade class in 1987-1988,  and I adored him.  He was an amazing teacher.  Mr. Cooper didn’t take any shit from anybody.  He explained things so we could understand them.  He guided us through our lessons with charisma and excitement.  He made me want to learn!  I read books for him.  I did math for him.  I acted in a commercial for the school play because he asked me to.  I just wanted to be a better person because of him.  He just had that incredible quality that makes a truly stellar teacher rise above the rest.  Mr. Cooper later moved to Bridgeport Junior High to teach 8th grade Science after I graduated and went to college.  Mr. Cooper made me want to be an educator when I grew up.

Mrs. Louise Harrison of Heritage High School in Saginaw, Michigan was also an incredible teacher.  She taught my senior year Poetry class in 1994-1995, and had similar charisma and a love for her professional that Mr. Cooper displayed.  Mrs. Harrison didn’t just teach us about poetry.  She helped us to experience it in her classroom.  Through writing exercises, workshops and critiques, she showed us how to become better writers on our own – not just because she said so.  Mrs. Harrison loved teaching, and I loved learning from her.

Powered by Twitter Tools

Andrew shooting Hibiscus in Hawaii

The Hibiscus Andrew was shooting (2004)

Ass whoopin’.

That was the punishment for getting in trouble at my house, and I got them a lot.  My Mom even called it that!  “Come ‘ere, I’ll whip yer ass!”  Then DaD would get the belt out and I would run like hell for my bedroom. I was always in trouble for something!

One time I was messing around in the living room and I broke my mother’s glass bowling trophy that was sitting on top of the television.  If I remember correctly, I tried to tell her that I didn’t do it.  A bold faced lie, I’m certain of it – and she didn’t buy it for a second.

Another infamous time of trouble was when my cousin Shannon Roe and I – may she rest in peace – used sidewalk chalks to confess our love for the hot neighbor guy next door down in Indiana.  We drew everywhere, in every color, all over the driveway and sidewalks and the deck and everything.  Big giant hearts, our first name with his last name, and lots of scripty scrolly fonts.  My Uncle Bret was super pissed!  He made us erase it all with the hose.  We were cold and water logged after a few hours of trying to undo our deed.

My lunch was terrible. #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Oh boy.  It’s much easier to list what I would eat instead of what I wouldn’t.  If it wasn’t pizza, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese or ham, I wasn’t going to eat it.

My mother Diane forced me to eat a hamburger for the privilege to call David B during 3rd grade.  He hung up on me.  I still hate hamburgers.

My grandmother Florence Cole forced me to eat a New York Strip steak on that trip Out West while we were camping somewhere in the American Frontier.  I was so angry at her!  She was the only person ever to literally let me starve if I didn’t eat what was given to me on my plate.

My palette has expanded thousands of times over, even since I was in college.  Most restaurants I go to, I can usually find several things on the menu to choose from nowadays.  It’s a nice feeling to have that freedom finally after years of suppressed taste buds.

I waited and waited to receive JJ's court record from 1934, and there's not even one single useful piece of info in it. #

Powered by Twitter Tools