Dream Co-Teacher/Some people have all the luck

Just a little story...

I have a friend from Lancaster who is independently wealthy (not a teacher, obviously) and who moves in different circles than I do. About ten years ago, Bill Moyers came to Columbus to film a TV program called "Children in Ohio's Schools." It was examining the school funding fiasco here. Bill is a hero figure for me, and one of the panelists involved in the program was an author, Jonathan Kozol, who wrote a book about education that knocked my socks off called Savage Inequalities. About a week after they taped the show, I saw my friend. She told me that she had been in the studio for the taping and how amazing it was to be around such committed educators. Suddenly, she got a weird look on her face. "Oh, my gosh," she said. "I had an extra ticket. I bet you would have enjoyed going, right?" Enjoyed going? How about would have given my right arm?

Anyway, ... later that year she came back from one of her many globetrotting trips. She told me that she had been on a Sierra Club cruise up the coastline of Alaska to view the scenery and the wildlife. Oh, my gosh, grizzly bears... My totem animal. Anyway, she then said, "Hey, there was this really interesting woman on the trip that I got to spend a lot of time with. She is an author. Maybe you have heard of her, since you like nature writing so much. Her name is Annie Dillard."
Maybe I have heard of her? She is just my total hero figure, and she wrote my favorite book of 20th century non-fiction, the Pulitzer Prize winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Two weeks on a small, luxurious cruise looking at some of the most gorgeous wilderness left on the planet with Annie Dillard, and "maybe I have heard of her"? Word fail me. (School appropriate words, that is).

Two people I would love to co teach with: Bill Moyers and Annie Dillard.

There is no justice. But thank goodness there is irony.