Melissa Harris-Perry (Wake Forest University professor, MSNBC host) is a wonderful, inspiring person. Prof. Harris-Perry is someone who encounters a frightening situation – a strange man coming too close to her and mumbling vaguely threatening comments – and turns it into a chance to write beautifully about the importance of good teacher – student relationships and education:
“Teaching is the great calling and privilege of my life. It has saved, redeemed, reset, and transformed me repeatedly through the decades. Looking for a path for a student, I have discovered new trails for myself. Hoping to stoke their enthusiasm, I have uncovered hidden joys. Students have challenged me because I was wrong and I have had to change. They have pushed me when I was exhausted and I have found new energy. They have been bored and I have had to innovate. They have succeeded beyond my imaginings; thus I share in the accomplishments of hundreds of lives and am not bound to the achievements of a single existence.”
You can read more about her experience (in Iowa, as a professor, and as a student of Maya Angelou) on the Anna Julia Cooper Center blog.
CLARITY AND CHAOS 