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I was fortunate enough to have an incredible history teacher in high school. In fact, I had a couple of really good history teachers in high school, but the one I am thinking of taught me about the world and everything contained within it.
I had just come into public high school from years of home schooling. As I would say constantly throughout my first year of high school, "it's all Greek to me." Quiet and withdrawn, Mr. Berg was exactly what I needed to give me a kick start.
First you must understand where I am coming from. The minute I got to high school I was terribly confused. Slang terms such as "gay" and "dog" were used. To me gay was still a sexual affiliation and dog was a pet. I felt like I was on a completely different planet, except for one place: Mr. Berg's classroom. His class made me feel enriched and empowered by the materials put before me. True, half of the class was there just so they could tell colleges that they had taken a honor's class, but the other half was there because we were truly interested in what was to be talked about. Everything from ballroom dancing, music, poetry, battles, and (my favorite) art, was discussed.
He expected us to talk up in class and express our opinions. He wanted us to discover the strength within ourselves. Unlike any other teacher I had known up to that point, he pushed me beyond my safe box and, though he probably never knew it, pushed me to see the inner confidence within myself.
In fact, one day I remember that it was extra credit day. The assignment was to memorize a Shakespearian sonnet and recite it in front of the class. I had been feeling incredibly lazy the night before and I just had quickly glanced at a sonnet before I decided to go to bed. Mr. Berg came up to me on extra credit day and said "What about you?" I told him that I didn't memorize it; I had been very tired the night before. He knew better. "I know you know it. Come on, push yourself. You do consider yourself an actress don't you? This should be easy for you." You want to know something? He was right. Deep down inside me I really did know it. It took a little while for me to recite it, but he was patient. Mr. Berg made things feel a little less Greek.
In fact, part of his curriculum was us being given a lecture on battles between the Romans and the Greeks. We were taught that Romans were trained for war and the Greeks were trained for the intellect. They were the delvers into knowledge. They cared about what was inside the human mind. Suddenly, I found myself not using the term "it's all Greek to me" anymore. I found out its literal meaning. With that in mind I would say that Mr. Berg's class was all Greek to me. It was a place in which we were trained to use our intellect.
Mr. Berg retired after that year. Although I never told him what he did for me that year, deep down I think he knew what he did for all of us. He gave us the tools we need to be explorers within ourselves and also out in the world. For that I am eternally grateful.
This Greek salad is dedicated to Mr. Berg. It's got all the ingredients a good teacher should: confidence, adventure, boldness, and packed full with a lot of flavors:
"It's All Greek To Me Salad"*
Ingredients: 1 sliced cucumber, 1/8 tsp pepper, 5 cups washed spinach leaves torn into bite-sized pieces, ¼ cup oil, 3 tomatoes cut into wedges, ¼ tsp salt, 4 cups Boston style lettuce torn into bite-sized pieces, 2 tbs lemon juice, 2 dozen pitted ripe olives, 1 cup feta cheese, 1 and ½ tsp Dijon mustard, ¼ tsp sugar, ¼ tsp Splenda, and ¼ cup sliced green onions.
Likely Page Break1) In tightly covered container, shake the oil, lemon juice, sugar, Splenda, mustard, salt, and pepper.
2) In a large mixing bowl, toss the lettuces, cheese onion, olives, tomatoes, and cucumber.
3) Put dressing mixture in salad mixture and toss again.
4) Enjoy with intellectual humility.
*Base of recipe from Betty Crocker and I molded it from there.
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