"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

~Henry Brooks Adams

As a former student who has not seen you in years, were I to run into you I would give you a firm handshake. There are many lessons of yours that served me well through my career as a student, and still now afterwards. Thank you.

Dear Dark Wraith,

I have submitted to the requirement that I be a registered user in order to leave you a comment. And, this is what I have to say:
I am proud to know you. I can only imagine how you have changed the course of history with your choice to spend your life teaching. Those who have been your students have been most fortunate.

Deborah

Dark Wraith,

I have never known you, and yet you are still one of my teachers. You can't get away from it that easily. If you are ever in London (England) drop me an e-mail and I'll give you the firm handshake you deserve.

Good evening, Dark Wraith.

Nice article. Teachers do have the highest responsibility. They mold unmolded brain cells of the students. Most of my teachers (school & college) were fantastic. When I think of my thought processes before college and after, I realize how valuable their teachings are.

I've watched some of your teaching videos you've linked to...no, I've watched them all, I think. They were marvelous. I would hope you'd have no problem getting placement, should you decide to leave your current position. I also think that you could probably get a position in several other industries, such as the computer industry. You would have many chances of being a teacher, even in that type of situation.

The hour is late Dark Wraith, so let me just say this;

To me, being a teacher is also being a leader.

They mold unmolded brain cells

What do they do to the moldy ones?

Pardon me for not firmly shaking your hand. That sounds too much like the student moving on to other, maybe better things. I plan on remaining your student for as long as it takes!

I will of course, curtsy for you, on demand! Just say the word, big boy!

Hello Professor,

I made a resolution this past New Years to not be sappy, sorry, or negative in my thinking--to keep a brighter mindset and to avoid complaints--but this post has me feeling down. It is quite possibly due to your writing and repetitiveness of the "whatever" attitude. It is this word that so well represents the current mindset of the students you teach, and yet, to see you using it makes me distraught. It is my generation that can be coined the whatever-generation. Us and our lackluster lives that from the outside looks as though we're going through the motion of life, rather than truly living it, and to see you using this word to show indifference to life bothers me. A quote from Elie Wiesel, “The opposite of love is not hate, its indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, its indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, its indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, its indifference.” is why the usage of this word bothers me so.

The professor I know is one who is not indifferent to anything, but rather, opinionated and well educated on most all things that matter. The professor I know is the professor of the year, a man who I recommend to every student in your school that I come in contact with, regardless of their program of study. The professor I know is fiery, passionate, and ambitious to make this world better; not a man who will sit by the way side and watch as opportunity passes before him. The professor I know is a man to whom I owe gratitude for my attitude, courage, confidence, inspirations, goals, mindset, and mental standard for what a professor should be. Thanks to you I may not be well liked on my campus but I am well respected. I may not be invited to parties, but surely to debates. I may not fit in with my generation, but I know where I’m going and I like the looks of it. Thanks professor for setting a fire under me so that when I ignite the whole world will watch me burn.

Thank you, and to say something that’s not said enough man to man until one of them dies, I love you. If the school lets you go I’ll be sad. I’ll be sad for the school, for the students who will miss you, and for the students who will never get the chance to take one of your courses. But for you, old friend, I won’t be sad, but rather excited. Excited that you get another opportunity in life to move on, start anew, and touch the lives of more people. To end, I’ll leave you with a Churchill, these are not dark days--these are great days--the greatest days you’ve ever lived.

Good morning, Dark Wraith.

Twenty-seven years, maybe two dozen institutions, literally thousands and thousands of students: that's my claim to a worthwhile life.

Having moved on to a different job or 20 in my time, I agree that there's a certain thrill to facing the unknown, once you know where you're going/doing; The whole loadin' up here, and moving it and me to there, and unloading, even with not too much in the way of material things, is not part of the thrill. Not in the least. There's also plenty of students right there where you're at, DW, that would be extremely lucky, were the PTB decide to offer further employment...and a substantial raise, or we call a boycott!

They mold unmolded brain cells

What do they do to the moldy ones?

Pardon me for not firmly shaking your hand. That sounds too much like the student moving on to other, maybe better things. I plan on remaining your student for as long as it takes!

I will of course, curtsy for you, on demand! Just say the word, big boy!

with their skirts a plume.

Oh my goodness...I think I'm blushing!

Nevermind...I just forgot to exhale. Silly me.

congrats on the 27 years. and thanks for the free instruction here.

i suspect, no, i'm sure, that the very qualities that make you an excellent teacher make you a less than excellent go-along get-along employee.

unless you were a really late late-entry student you still have years of brain molding left in you.

I can smell my brain molding, as I type. Kinda like pork rinds and root beer.

Good aftermoon, DW.

(Edited to include update)

You may have already seen this; I'm neither surprised, nor amused. From Raw Story:

Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in 'God's standards'

Seems all that talk about keeping God out of politics was just that, talk. Glad this came out now, though.

Now I see the DKos site has the video up. They also say that he was referring to Marriage amendment and abortion, here: Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Whew. For a second there, I was kinda askairt.

"A legislative battle could be brewing at the Iowa Statehouse over same-sex marriage.
"At issue is whether the Iowa Constitution should be amended to prohibit it."
KCRG.com news.

Considering the extensive agrarian areas of the state of Iowa, I would hope that the amendment would also include affirmation of same-species marriage.

The Dark Wraith thinks that would stop the amendment drive dead in its tracks.

LMFAO! Hope that PoLT doesn't live in Iowa if that is the case!

Congress is working to cut corporate taxes by 25% in order to help the middle class.

http://tinyurl.com/2yu477

They aren't going to offset this tax cut, because it is irresponsible to practice responsible fiscal policy during a recession.

Weaseldog:

My only response to your post...

AAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!

That's quite an homage from student lakesta. Even if that were the only one you received, you should be proud. Our world is enriched due to you those like you who refuse to toe the party line.

We sometimes call them "visionaries" after the fact.

This just in at the Onion News Network:

Giuliani wastes two days campaigning in Winnepeg.

From The Hill:

Reid helped convince the Democratic National Committee to sanction Nevada as an early primary contest site, while Nevada Republicans had to contend with the threat that they might be penalized for advancing their caucus so early in the process. Reid also has some measure of influence over the two leading Democratic contenders, who are members of the Senate Democratic caucus.

I promise, if Reid is able to push through the Telecom Immunity provision of the FISA continuing rape of our rights, I will do all I can to see him dethroned. Promise.

Wild Clover yeah, and it seems to be getting worse. They are piling on the gravy train. It looks like the bill is going to have a lot of corporate giveaways in it, to stimulate the economy.

And it looks like the new oil subsidy bill is going to be a success. From what I can tell from the news this morning, the new taxpayer funded giveaways will help the oil corporations make record profits while lowering the price of gasoline.

Congress needs the price of gasoline to come down, so that they can impose a fifty cent per gallon tax increase on gasoline, to fund the subsidy, err I mean transportation initiatives.

But of course Weseldog! Corporate Welfare is fine and expected..human welfare is wrong on every level..its the Rethuglican way! ;p

Please note my snark button is on full-throttle

Online Journal:
The planned collapse of America By Peter Chamberlin

Interesting article Peter.

The plan makes an assumption, that resources are infinitely consumable.

All the signs are in order to indicate that we are at Peak Oil now. Here in Texas, the industry is drilling in posh suburbs to get the last of the natural gas.

Coal shortages are starting to become a problem.

Now many optimists continue to explain that in the future we solve today's problems. Though that sort of homily sounds good, whenever I've tried it with my landlord, he was never impressed. Unless that technology comes with time travel, we're stuck with our problems of today.

Past civilizations and military states have often reacted brutally to having their resource run out. But they soon enough are forced to appease the population or flee. You can't burn down every city to gain control. Eventually you'll find yourself burning down your own house.

And how long can the US Gov keep control if it can't keep the masses fed?

Sadly, it looks we're going to finding out.