Ms. B, (yes she has a full name. we never ever used it. in my mind she is always Ms. B) my 6th/8th grade
history teacher,
stage crew boss,
loafing instructor, "bad
joke of the day club" victim,
new-age guide, and
friend.
Interesting, because when i first met Ms. B i was terrified of her... absolutely scared to death. She's a slight woman, an ex-nun with a severe haircut and a fiery temper and a reputation that far preceded her. My first encounter was the first rehearsal for "alice in Wonderland" that the 4-6th grade choirs were doing. I was the 2 of hearts, had one line. On the spur of the moment, as we were running away from the queen who had just said "off with their heads", as i got to "safety" i decided it was *brilliant* acting to stick out my tongue at the guards because i was "safe" then. She *blew up* at me, saying "you're *deathly afraid of the queen. you would NEVER do that!!". I was terrified of the woman for years, and when i heard i had her for history i was about to die...
But without a doubt she turned out to be the most amazing teacher i ever had. Her classes were unusual, and *interesting*. She taught us how to meditate, when studying world religions. She had us take a fiction novel (i did the Silmarillion) and pretend it was a historical document we had, as archeologists, unearthed at a dig site, and analyze and evaluate the culture from the "document". She had us write poetry for homework, and learn basic japanese characters for use in class assignments. *weird* stuff--but i remember these things, and i could not tell you to save my life what i did in 8th grade, say, math. (Most of those years called middle school are a blur...)
Then there was the bad joke of the week club. Two of my closest friends, in typical 6th grade fashion decided we were just too funny for words. So, after overcoming our initial fear of Ms. B, when we realized she actually had a *great* sense of humor and stayed after class every day to tell her truly awful jokes. This stopped when we graduated 6th grade, resumed immediately in 8th, and even to this day, when i see her, she expects a joke from me, and always acts as pained as ever to hear it when i finally deliver the punch line.
Probably my best memories of Ms. B, though, come from my favorite activity period (we had 'activity' periods with things like choir, loom weaving, handbells, and... *loafing*!!) It was the only truly *free* time i got, all of middle school. For forty minutes each week, i was allowed to just let *everything* go and just *be*. One day she had us go outside, lie on our backs and look at clouds the entire time. Another week we played paper football all period. One week she had us lie in the dark while she played soothing music. She would not allow us to read, except in special circumstances, we were supposed to relax, mostly in silence, and just *be*. This "loafing" period, assumed by many to be just a joke, was some of the most quality peaceful time i have had in my life....