Part of what is so upsetting about Dale Hart's death is that he's the last of my 5 formative teachers from Sioux Falls. It's so long since I've lived there that still being a part of that world is unlikely, yet there I am & it hit me hard. Mr. Fialkowski (orchestra), Miss Kleinsasser (English), Miss Norman (journalism), & Miss Skaff (Latin). They believed in me, pushed me, were proud of me, trusted me. Taught me.
Hard too because there are fewer & fewer people left from the generation one up from me - my parents & their peers, my teachers, my friends' parents.
Another stab of mortality.