Mr. Willason (who I recently connected with one Facebook) told me he thought I was an excellent storyteller and that I could write. He published one of my short stories in the middle school literary journal. His believing in me made a huge impact. We can never overstate the importance of letting our students know we have their backs and believe in them. Mr. Willason taught me that and I have paid it forward.

Doris Shoukri made me see connections in texts I had known for years. She shared both modern (ie Duras, Eliot, et al) and ancient (ie Homer, Sophocles, et al) with enthusiasm and curiosity. She was in her early nineties when I was in graduate school and was still on fire. She published a book on ontology long after I finished (we stayed in touch until her death in 2023) and we shared each other’s poetry, stories, ideas, like everything was new. Being able to find excitement in the things we teach is vital. For this, I have paid it forward, too.

William Melaney, poet philosopher, theorist, was a huge influence on my teaching. He published work in philosophy and literary criticism, as well as poetry and painting. He, like Doris, was eternally enthusiastic about material. He made connections with everything, mapping out philosophies with poetry, art and music with history. When I was reading Canterbury Tales to my kids, he pointed to William Blake’s painting and shared a vision of the stories that mapped out history, philosophy, and poetry that might interested younger thinkers. In the classroom, he enthusiastically introduced ideas shared by students and encouraged myriad theories and brought out overlapping ideas in what appeared to be disparate schools of thought. Being able to bring ideas and visions together inspired me tremendously. Also, listening and valuing the ideas of students makes for a much more engaged classroom. This, too, I have paid forward.