The sibyl of Annapolis Middle

Ms Speed is that, speedy, yet never in a rush. To sub for her this morning, then for some of the other teachers in and out, is to see the salient needs of the the school today. How the spanish teacher was already there downstairs in the auditorium helping with rehearsal for the Alice in Wonderland show, wearing the same orange t-shirt as all the kids performing. Then she came and told me all the parts of the class, but had nothing written down. Then getting the walkie talkie and hanging out a couple hours, first watching the open rehearsal, then in the principals' office overhearing snatches of their meetings and official radio correspondence.

  And this is when Ms Speed, there in the hall, was back, saying something about books and art and Christ, and was it Herman Hesse the person she was talking to had said? Then there she was, going on about ring things, for her 11th grade godson had is ceremony that morning--what it means that fewer people are getting them, and to turn it in or out, this way or that, 12 people together and the 13th the other way which locks it somehow--did she say that?--but everything she says or doesn't passes across her face like clouds flying, and scraps of windy day, her glance over here, over there, always vaguely upward, her hair and face shining, her eyes laughing, thinking.

As I was reading the Ethics, she shared what she was reading--the book on teaching with poverty in mind all the teachers have, her notes on epigenetics--what gets ingrained by generations of circumstances, what thus can indeed be changed the same way; and the importance of being there with a teacher dealing with some tough kid, so they know they're not going crazy, or something--not even doing anything sometimes, intervention with a time-out, but just being present in the room, supporting in that way. And her steps for the next few months, to know a couple things about each teacher and staff member in the building--with that she brought out her cards, which she's used with kids and grown-ups for years, and they looked it, like all the cards from Granny's board games, and I picked one on family, muttering something about marriage not applying to me yet. Tell about a happy family that you know, ok, the first thing that comes to mind: the family by the park, a big one, and all the kids like the parents going to St John's, how I first heard about this place, and why I'm here, and traveling maybe my dream, as she was talking about that.

Teaching being a calling for her, as at the church, where for some it might only be a job--still, she has one of those, too, at Pennie's, but she'll quit once her social security kicks in in this her 66th year, and have time for more, and more to give to church and school. What kind of thing is school, then, a job or a calling, a paycheck or a life? And the best teachers, are they the ambitious educated young, or the elders who know the realities of their students' lives, and bawling them out and kicking them out into the hall, or talking to them and giving them words of advice, shouting them into line or building them into all kinds of truth for which discipline is only a structure? Her gestures for talking about different possible lives she tries to inspire or connect to the kids with--the people who go to Hawaii because they love to surf, and every day after work they go surfing, or move to Utah to live, so they can ride mountain and dirt bikes (at first I thought her pose looked more like skiing, but then I saw it--her, they were all her, in a helmet and visor, zooming down the dirt hill and through the woods, and in a bathing suit surfing the clearest ocean wave).

What a wonderful woman, at least as cool as Mr Eppeldauer back home. And to talk about dreams in those terms, as they both do, at once realistic and deeply personally imagined, a kind of retirement active through as much of a lifetime as possible, and physical activities emblematic of properly soul-felt happinesses--this seems in line with the best American thinking, and as such is apt to capture the attention of young Americans across all bounds with sneaky philosophy--not detached from but fulfilling life.