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