133917_01_11:features 20-27 12/14/10 7:44 AM Page 5
MY MENTOR Blair Torrey was my mentor, and I still quote and imitate him today; in fact, I DID so today, vis-à-vis “Tintern Abbey.” Some of it is subject matter and some our shared enthusiasm for, say, a passage in Huck Finn or Zorba the Greek. Other things pop up as happened today when seniors were reading from great papers. I told them, “I would have called Mr. Torrey and asked if he had a minute, and read part of your composition. That was always the catch phrase – ‘Hey, have you got a minute?’ – and I always did, because what followed was excellent prose read with great passion.”
THE REAL LEARNING As for writing, it IS the job. I told students recently, “Look, I could
stand on my head and teach Inherit the Wind – in fact, I might try that – but writing is my real job and your real job.” I give them a packet about writing, which centers on the whole process. In my office at home, I have a stack of corrections and revisions that I work on, and the rain and wind outside as fine companions as I plow through their deathless prose, and that is what it is all about. Writing is the real work, and I stress Writing beyond the Classroom. Also, when I hand back the first comps, I line up on the ledge of the whiteboard, the works of students I had in class, and flash on the screen pictures of them as Hotchkiss seniors. In about 10 seconds, students get it: one of them sitting here will join the ranks of published authors someday, of the line of artists that used to sit in these same seats, like Sam Lardner, who performed here last week, and Hank Kimmel, who will do classes in playwriting next spring.
COLOR PHOTOS BY JONATHAN DOSTER AND LEN RUBENSTEIN; BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL ARCHIVES
and to the library to grab the Symphony Fantastique. It happens in soccer and baseball, too …. Like what happened last year. One of the goalies I coached said, as it was his turn to play, in the second half, “Coach, he’s playing really well; let’s not make any change.” Break your heart!
WHY I TEACH AT HOTCHKISS It’s simple. This is where I started, and like Ernie Banks with the Cubs, I will finish my career where it began.”
TOP, ABOVE, LEFT: Geoff Marchant animates an English class in 2003, and 1978 photo shows Blair Torrey doing the same.
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