Mine was Mrs. Martha Harrison, my eighth grade English teacher. She made us write, and write, and write. She would put a sentence on the blackboard (I used to be the one to clean it..remember that), like "If A Pencil Sharpener Could Talk" and make us write a 200 word story about the subject.
She also made us create a poem book. Not only did we have to write the poems (they were famous poems like "Fog", "The Raggedy Man", "The Highwayman", and my favorite "If") but we also had to illustrate them. I had got a chemistry set for Christmas, so I mixed up some chemicals and made water colors for mine. My art work wasn't pretty but the colors were! I received a 95 for my efforts. What was funny that I have a sister, Linda, that is a year younger than me, so in the eighth grade, she had to do a poem book. Well, Linda wasn't into the academic part of school, just the social part. She got my poem book, changed the cover (not the contents written and illustrated by me) and turned it in as her work. Of course Mrs. harrison recognized my handwriting so Linda was in trouble.
Later, in 1987, I went by to see Mrs. Harrison. She was old and fragile then. I thanked her for being a positive influence on my writing and then prayed for her. She is gone on now, but will always live in my memories.
