Cycling America, Virtually: Jackson, MS 40 Years Later

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220 miles from Shreveport, LA to Jackson, MS
August 11 to 21 On bike trails around Atlanta, I've totalled up enough miles on my virtual tour of the US to reach Jackson, Mississippi. I remember with gratitude the nurturing I received at Jackson's St. Andrew's Episcopal School where I started teaching fresh from college 40 years ago this month.

The image shows the art classes' mural of Erasmus, chosen by Headmaster David Hicks to exemplify the St. Andrew's ideal of "the Renaissance man," curious, well-read, hardy, and expressive. We moved to a new campus in the 1990s, but the going-away gift from my colleagues was this painting of the old campus that I'd loved, where I'd practically lived for fifteen years. [See a collection from the late artist Miriam Weems. Selfie added, altered by BeFunky.com]

My administrators helped me to find better ways to teach. Principals Dot Kitchings and Berkley Latimer taught me something that I later found echoed in an article about Einstein Not What's Taught, but the Teacher (04/2009). Elegant admissions director Bee Donley lives on in poetry that she published during the last decade of her life: Mostly Ghosts. I learned from colleague Julia Chadwick when we created a "world cultures" curriculum from scratch with her goal to involve the kids in something active every unit. Gebby Lawyer, who became principal in the 1990s, recommended Nancy Atwell's In the Middle, a book that shaped my approach to writing in the second half of my career.

I'm grateful for students who taught me. Adrian and Laura forgave me for mistakes by which I learned a lot: "First Do No Harm": Assessing Students' Writing. When my young student Chris went into the hospital with leukemia, he grew up fast. He and his loving parents helped me to grow up, too: Life After Deaths.

The last time I saw Chris, he knew that I was thinking about studying music with a local composer. He told me I had to do that. Composer James Sclater (11/2015) taught me music, and, as his student, I learned what feedback a student needs for creative work. Spoiler alert: Most of the time, Dr. Sclater gave me neither compliments nor corrections.

Joe and Linda conveyed Episcopal theology through hospitality. They welcomed me to their home and to St. James' Episcopal Church during the years when I taught their daughter Emily and for years after. See An Especially Good Friday (03/2016).

Colleague and friend Jean pushed me all the time -- to learn music, to play Scrabble, to explore Mississippi. She and her boys Ashley and Patrick involved me in their family while I was far from my own.

Steve and Kay, singers in St. James choir and parents to Brad, a great student, welcomed me to their family celebration every Christmas Eve between the services.

Former students of mine have made art from their experiences in Jackson during my time there. Musician Scott Albert Johnson's first album Umbrella Man (10/2007) includes songs about returning to Jackson from a career on the east coast. I appreciate writer Barrett Hathcock's interrelated stories about a young man who graduates from a school much like St. Andrew's, all collected in The Portable Son (07/2013).

Finally, I owe my enthusiasm for bike-riding to Jason, one of my students at St. Andrews. See Thanks to Jason.

←← | ← || → Use the arrows to follow the entire bike tour from the start.