Frank McCourt

Brushes with fame remind me that people who wind up in the limelight often do have a special quality. It's more than just charisma. If I could see auras, perhaps it would be clear to me what the difference is.

I am lucky enough to be one of a small number who had Frank McCourt as a high school English teacher. It was so difficult to get into his classes. I didn't even know about him at first so I only got to do 2 or 3 semesters with him. Those classes were usually the highlight of my school day.

Recently, I attended a book fair where he spoke. When it came time for questions, I was there with my high school yearbook and the whole audience was impressed. I am not surprised; I had the same exact experience shortly after his first book came out. And, as before, people treated me as a celebrity-by-association after the talk. Mostly, people want to know how he was as a teacher.

He was, as it turns out, exactly like he was as a speaker. Charming, funny, entertaining, full of delightful stories, humble, real, accessible, lovable. I wish I could have more of him in my life!

I have some really awful audio from that talk. Even if you can't quite make out what he is saying, you can just feel the energy from all the laughter. Now if only I could find the time to figure out how to podcast it. I might have to make it into a psuedo-video so youtube will take the darned thing.

Oh and yeah. One more thing. He inspired the name of this blog.