To all my teachers.

Gratitude from Kinder to grad school.

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! And the older I get the more I realize how much of what I know and how I work and how I move came from a classroom. Here are some memories I still carry:

My Kindergarten teacher who calmly walked me off the ledge when I thought I heard a 5th grader say “there’s a bomb on the roof” but they really said “there’s a ball on the roof.”

My elementary school librarian who let me renew D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths for like, a year straight. That book truly hated to see me coming, like omg again?? Can she even read???

My 3rd grade art teacher who told me to never pluck my eyebrows because they have a great arch. 30+ years later: never plucked, tweezed, or threaded.

My 5th grade teacher who let me create a new station for our Colonial Day celebration. Everyone wanted to be a baker, so I proposed being a pie maker. Because it's different.

My elementary school custodian who always had extra red bouncy balls for us to play wall ball with.

My 6th grade English teacher who overlooked me writing "Viagra doesn't work" in a creative writing essay. I had mistaken it for Aleve.

My 6th grade Latin + 7th grade Spanish teacher who remembers me TO THIS DAY.

My 7th grade P.E. teacher who said "sure, why the hell not" when I asked if I could do the Harlem Shake in front of the class while we were stuck inside during rain.

My 7th grade science teacher who let us use her room to practice our dance routine and was brave enough to not only suggest BUT DEMONSTRATE choreography to five 13-year-old girls. The mental fortitude she had!!!

My 7th grade history teacher who very calmly took me to the school nurse when I got an aura migraine for the first time in his class. I literally told him “I’m dying.” Which, I don’t think was dramatic at all.

My 8th grade Spanish teacher who told us almost every other week that embarazada does not mean embarrassed in Spanish. It means pregnant. I often wonder if this was her way of addressing teen pregnancies.

My 8th grade Industrial Tech (incredible class) teacher who spent 30 seconds on the first day of class to understand how to pronounce my name.

My 9th grade P.E. teacher who called me by my last name and let me talk to her about the NBA after class.

My 9th grade Journalism teacher who let me publish a controversial op-ed in the school newspaper about freshmen making the Varsity basketball team. I was team freshmen for the record.

My 10th grade Chem teacher who gave us a very generous B+ on our CSI: re-enactment that had almost nothing to do with chemistry and all to do with pipe dreams of acting.

My 10th grade World History teacher, who was also the football coach (apparently a common combo?), who called me out at the start of class to announce I was the only one to ace the pop quiz on country capitals. I never aced another quiz again :).

My 11th grade Mythology teacher who started every period with time to share a current event, just to get us in the habit of speaking up.

My 11th grade Auto teacher who taught me how to change my oil!

My 12th grade film literature teacher who taught me about creative direction and shooting techniques that I still reference today.

My undergrad art professor who told me I need to tighten up if I want to get an MFA (I did not get an MFA).

My undergrad art professor who greenlit our idea to host the first-ever undergrad thesis art show.

My grad school professor who made us do a Pecha Kucha every day for a month and and made me realize there are so many things in this world that I hate.

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Cheers to the teachers who made a lasting impact on eyebrows across the world!