He was a Korean War veteran, he taught expository writing. His first class I can never forget it.
He came in late, wrote three words on the board.
Revise. Revise. Revise.
Then he started up front, made every student stand say their name and read the board, all 25 of us. Then he MARCHED up and down the isles pointing to random students, shouting READ, and the response was Revise. Revise. Revise. This went on for maybe 20 minutes, then sat at his desk and stared at us, one by one. Glaring.
It was freaky, not a noise in the class. Right before the bell rang, he announced there would a quiz the next day on what we learned. We left and half started to laugh, others wobbled. It was surreal.
Sure enough, next day, we had a quiz, and put our name on a piece of paper and he asked us one question. What was written on the board yesterday.
So, some 30 years later I run into him at Chapel Hill Mall, and I approached and said, "Mr. Cosgarea, I was one of your golf students."
He looked at me said I was mistaken, he never played golf, and I said: Well every time I came off the 18th green I thought of you.
Looked at my score card.
Then Revise. Revise. Revise.
He gave a hearty laugh. Guess what our second lesson was?
This: In order to revise, revise, revise you must first WRITE, WRITE, WRITE.
One of the best dang teachers ever.
Gordon
PS. Well, but there is a different lesson, one which he also taught us, as soon as you learn something new, DO IT, PUT IT INTO PRACTICE.
In 1996-7? Melvin Powers introduced me to Charles Prosper, Charles told me to lock myself a way for a weekend and learn html, and I did.
Throughout my life, whenever I've learned something, I've tried to use it, to reinforce the lesson, by applying it. It was the foundation of TOTAL CONSCIOUS AWARENESS (in archives), it is important to bring the knowledge to the surface to make it available to USE, OTHERWISE, we just forget what it is.
Thomas Russell made me go out on the streets of San Francisco and apply the day's lesson, including finding a certain restaurant just by asking subconscious for directions. And the scariest thing was a half hour later I was eating lunch in the exact spot he talked about, all the way across town, two street car rides and a walk. No name. No address, just a description of how it looked and what it would be like.
Anyhow, I forgot what I was writing about, guess I'll have to back over and ______ ________ _______
Gordon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice
Gordon, you're a dang smart guy...
Sometimes, I think I've got it figured out... Then, kerplop, a missing piece - often which I learned from you years ago - falls into place. (I often learned it from you before, but it didn't quite "click" into place yet, then suddenly it does - I have that experience a lot!)
I'm never going to understand it all, or be able to do everything... But I love that I (believe I) keep making progress...
Thanks for all you share (and have shared)!
I was thinking the other day... the gold in those forum archives...
Best wishes,
Dien
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