Back from the Mountain

a tribute to an influential teacher

Hello dear readers,

I wanted to share an article I just published in Teachers and Writers Magazine, about one of my most influential teachers, Willow, who is the person who mirrored to me that I was a writer. She said to me (someone who had always written), “You’re a writer,” and like that, I was.

Here’s a paragraph from my very enthusiastic rough draft that got cut from the final draft:

Willow's influence on my life is enormous yet slippery, because what she did was help me live as myself. When I sit down by a stream and watch the water striders, when I value beauty for its own sake, when I create the traditions and personal rituals I need and don't have, when I wonder what it's like to be a sparrow or a maple tree, when I splurge on sushi despite being broke and enjoy it with abandon, when I wear a dress in the woods, when I wear a dress anywhere (which is often these days), when I write, when I interpret my dreams, when I am brave about love, when I share communal meals, when I think about mermaids, when I laugh, when I dress up, when I listen to other people's stories, when I feel at home in the world, when I listen to that still soft voice: I am living what Willow encouraged in me.

Read the rest at Teachers and Writers Magazine.

And stick around there for LOTS of great writing about teaching writing.