Catholic Schools Week and Old Teachers -- January 27, 2008

Today is the start of Catholic Schools Week. I'm grateful that my parents put me in Catholic schools for 12 years.

I don't usually read the Irish Sporting Green, but my mother pointed out that Thursday's obituaries listed two of my old teachers, in consecutive entries.

Anne Bagdonas was my Fifth Grade teacher at Saint Monicas. I will always be grateful because she was the first teacher who encouraged me to write stories and use my imagination. She also let me be the Wizard in a puppet production of The Wizard of Oz. I remember other teachers sending people over to have her make me rehearse more quietly.

Father John Becker, SJ, was my Junior year English teacher at Saint Ignatius. He encouraged me to write more analytically and to read more critically. It is because of Father Becker that I can still recite most of the prologue of The Canterbury Tales from memory. Sadly, I seem to have forgotten most of Richard III's oration before the Battle of Bosworth Field. "Amaze the welkin with your broken staves" has always stuck in my mind.

We drove by Sharp Park Golf Course today and saw that Laguna Salada has again returned. There was lots of rain overnight.