"I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people." (Macbeth)

I'm really getting tired of August. I hate August. I really don't understand the purpose of this month. It wouldn't bother me if we just dropped August from the calendar and went from July to September. August is just named for some old Roman emperor who, when living, was a pain in the butt. It seems that every August either Rhoda gets sick or I get sick, or we both get sick. The month just crawls by like a crab at the bottom of the sea. In Florida, August is simply filled with daily rain, or temperatures in the 90s...or we get hurricanes and tornadoes. I keep remembering Henry Higgins' suggestion to Eliza that in "Hartford hurricanes hardly happen." Of course, I don't know that August is any better in Hartford then it is here. Consequently, RH+ and I are going to get out of here on Tuesday and take a leisurely drive down to Key West. A "Mini" vacation. Perhaps while we are there a hurricane or a tidal wave will happen, and won't that be exciting. Its name will have to start with a "G" because we've already had a "Fay". Maybe George or Gertrude or Gary or Greco or Gallago??

I've been getting emails from my students who graduated in 1958 from high school and they are have a 50th Anniversary Reunion in September. Unfortunately I'll be unable to go, but I did write a letter which I hope they will read at this affair. I'm attaching a couple of the emails here for your reading pleasure

I got another email out of the blue today from Ellin Bliss, a student of mine in 1958. In the letter she said that I made a difference in her life. I keep getting these kinds of emails from former students. It's really hard to understand how or why I made a difference. At the time I was teaching them, it didn't seem as if they were listening. I also got an email from Wendy Martin who now is a Professor of English. I'm very proud of these people.

I've been reading your blog, and I'd like to think you remember me: Ellin BLISS Jaeger. You were the teacher who made a difference in my life. And I smile when I see your quotes from Shakespeare in your Blog. For the 5th year, my husband Klaus and I will be going to Canada to attend the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford (and the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake, not so fond of Shaw but they do many other plays as well, also not only Shakespeare at Stratford).
I am retired (almost) after working as a Social Worker in Home Nursing and Hospice for 29 years and a few years in mental health. I'd like to tell you my story of the 50 yrs since we've been in touch, but not today. Suffice it to say: I remember an awful incident where tapes you were using for your dissertation were vandalized and I remember your tattoo! I am not going to the reunion either but am finding it interesting learning about my classmates. My sadness is the one friend I kept in touch with over the years, Nancy Horton, (our class Salutatorian) died a few years after several years of a debilitating illness. Also you will be interested in knowing that Wendy Martin is a college prof and a published author and editor. Google her.
I'd like to read your Memoir. (I think you must have been 30 when you first taught us 54 years ago?)

Dear Norman Ross,
What a special pleasure it is to hear from you and to know that you are doing well and that you have written so many books! Of course, I am sure many of your former students have thanked you for the powerful background you gave us in literature; you have been an inspiration to generations -- certainly, to me.
I still remember your comments about the need to improve the punctuation in one of my papers: " it is like pouring vinegar into fine wine!" Trust me, my punctuation is much improved since then!
You will be much missed at the Reunion -- I do hope that our paths will cross before too very long. In the meantime, thank you for inspiring me to follow the path of literature!

Yrs. Wendy
Wendy Martin
Vice Provost
Transdisciplinary Studies
Chair
Department of English
Claremont Graduate University

I'm being overwhelmed by these 60+ year old people. I don't remember a single teacher of mine whom I can say inspired me or who made a difference in my life, and so these letters are a mystery to me but they are bringing me a lot of joy and satisfaction that my teaching years meant something. But it wasn’t I that was the source of their inspirations; it was Beowulf and Chaucer and Keats, Shelley, Byron, Wordsworth, Shakespeare, and on and on. All a teacher has to do with these great authors is to open their worlds to students by showing them your love for literature. Most of all, the teacher should feel just the kind of ardent, personal passion that inevitably drives an artist to work. And passion -- or, more specifically, intensity -- was the recurring motif of my career. Once when reading about the witches’ cauldron in Macbeth, I set fire to the paper in the wastebasket. Again when discussing “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the “torn shirt” school of acting, I ripped my shirt to shreds. Of course I had to answer to this when I got home. My wife was less than inspired.