Way back when... when dinosaurs roamed these lands, I was in 7th grade. And during this time so long ago, I had a fabulously eccentric (think Liberace) English teacher named Mr. Lutz. He was your standard teacher. We studied the classics. Same ole same ole. That was until we began our unit devoted to Edgar Allan Poe. It was AWESOME!! Mr. Lutz came ALIVE! We read all of Poe's works. Mr. Lutz would come into class bedecked in cloaks and mystery. He personified Edgar Allan (or at least what my 7th grade mind imagined someone who wrote such dark tales would look/act like) soooo well. To this day, I can't help but to think of him whenever I hear a poem by Poe.
It was during that unit, that he read The Raven to us. I sat in rapt awe. I think we all did. It was so well worded; it was so
creepy!! I think that was one of the moments when I truly realized how much
fun "the classics" could be! They didn't have to be boring, stiff and proper stories. They could be stories about people buried alive, and walls that ticked, and cats that wouldn't die.
I don't know whatever became of Mr. Lutz, and I probably wouldn't recognize him even if I bumped into him on the street, and most assuredly, he wouldn't remember me; however, that man, that
teacher made a huge impact on me. Thank you Mr. Lutz, wherever you are...
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...
... Quoth the raven "Nevermore."
~Edgar Allan Poe
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