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Jan 24, 2023Liked by Sarah Thyre

This is beautiful. Teachers are magic. My favorite was my art teacher, Mr. Larry Basky, my sophomore and junior year at Alamosa High School in Alamosa CO. I was ok at school, but it bored me. I had dabbled in art, but Mr Basky inspired me, critiqued me, encouraged me. He taught me screenprinting, his passion. My junior year I didn’t want to take any electives other than art. He supported me and convinced the school to let me take a three hour block of art. It was magical to go to school and concentrate on drawing, painting, sculpting. I’ll never forget it. I moved before my senior year, and without him, all but gave up art. I grew up, married, had kids. I started drawing napkins for my kids, people loved them, so I started drawing again. I donated art that raised money for LGBTQ causes in my area. I started thinking back to Mr Basky. A quick Google search found he died in early 2001. He had moved to Wisconsin, maintained a screenprinting studio. My wife surprised me last year with one of his prints. It sits in my living room and I love looking at it every day. Teachers are the best. Thanks for sharing this story.

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Popped back in to say how much I enjoyed reading this story. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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Great essay - whenever I see anyone enthusiastically support a specific teacher like this that made such an impact on students, I think of the great Twilight Zone episode "The Changing of the Guard". Teachers always need to know the difference they make! Thanks for the good reading.

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