Nonsense, Drivel, and Balderdash

Everyone can think of a teacher that they had in middle school that still looms huge in your memory. Who is yours? I can think of several. Many of them are still vivid in my mind because they were so bad: Maribí, "la Champiñon," or "el Locuras" (Spaniards have a penchant for nicknames). Others are remembered fondly, like Miss Ohler or Miss Stenoien. But in some ways, the idiosyncratic teachers are the ones that stand in the forefront of my brain.  Those are the ones that I look back on and laugh about, sometimes with a smile and other times with a shake of the head. You guys know what kind of teachers I mean: the kind with catchphrases, quirks, outdated views and mannerisms, oblivious of reality, and often a love for their subject matter.As I think about my own teachers and my memories of school, I can't help but look across my teacher's desk and wonder what kinds of memories my students are making right now. Sometimes it's pretty obvious which teacher...

Diligence is the name of the game if you are to work on a ship. Shipping, like all transportation, relies on punctuality and hard work so I arrive at the dockyard early. I just got here, but I'm already wet with the constant drizzle that hangs in the air. There is no way to keep dry against the tiny droplets, which I seemed to simply walk into rather than be rained on by. My umbrella, useless, dangles limply from my wrist. The the sky has begun to lighten, but you would hardly know it through the mist. I nod to the harbormaster and he nods back who seems surprised to see me here, though evidently not surprised enough to come out of the dry booth that oversees the waterfront and serves as his office. He flips through his charts and schedules and then looks up at me, surprise changed to amusement and grins grotesquely. My attempt at a smile back looks more like an awkward grimace than grin. The dock is empty. I look at my watch. I'm early, but the ship must be cutting it close. ...

Overheard in the school hallway: ( In awe at his sudden realization) 5th Grade Boy :   "Don't you realize? We are the kings of elementary school!"