a private message that said, “I think I was the person who first taught you that poem.” And she was. These teachers saw the potential in my life, pushed me to pay attention, to dig deeper, to go beyond the surface and find the supporting concepts and ideas that mattered. They showed me how to set audacious goals and pursue them. They didn’t care if I failed, only if before—stagecraft was electrifying for me! It was the
I didn’t try. They insisted that I think about where
beginning of a lifelong hobby and passion.
ideas would take me—and they used examples
When she saw how much I liked theater, she
from literature and Scripture of people who have
encouraged me to organize and direct a play on our
succeeded, failed, or gone in totally different
campus—my first turn as a director/producer, which
directions because they were either faithful to their
is what I’ve spent most of my life doing.
ideas or had allowed them to be compromised.
Joyce Connor thought in poetic terms, and she
I would not be the person I am today—nor would
was just as likely to quote Emily Dickinson or Robert
I have enjoyed a decades-long career as a writer
Frost to you as a Bible text to make a moral point.
and communicator—had they not been my personal
She encouraged me to see the world as a mystery
composition of teachers. I wouldn’t be writing this
unfolding, a poem being written, a drama played out
tribute. And I am grateful.
on a grand stage. I was reminded of how important that was to her a few years ago when I posted the Langston Hughes poem, “Dreams,” on my Facebook page. It says: Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow. Mrs. Connor, who I interacted with frequently on social media until her death in 2021, send me
8 Pacific Union Recorder
_____________________________ Ray Tetz is the director of communication and community engagement for the Pacific Union Conference and the publisher of the Recorder.