[SakSquash]

Who has changed your life in a positive way or has help you in ways unrepayable?

For me, it would have to be professor Howard Good here in New Paltz. He's one of the best teachers and people I have every met in my entire life. Never before has a person blown my mind and made me think more than he has, and he has shown my new ways of thinking that I never knew existed. I'd love to go into more detail, but the way he has changed me for the better could fill a book.

So, how about you?

[Sage]

Shane Bergeron, who taught me just how much you can tell about a guy by how they wear their facial hair.

Tyrone Williams, who was the best boss I ever had and after whom I have patterned my own style of management.

Em-deecee, who made me get over my fear of computers.

[UPtimist]

Originally Posted by Thrift Store Scott

Tyrone Williams, who was the best boss I ever had and after whom I have patterned my own style of management.

Tyrone Biggums...

Spoiler:

You know, from Chappelle's Show?

[Glenn Epic]

As strange as this may sound, Trep has had such an impact on me. Reading his words of wisdom have helped me grow in so many ways.

[Sage]

Originally Posted by UPtimist

Tyrone Biggums...

Spoiler:

You know, from Chappelle's Show?

Actually, Tyrone always reminded me of the character on the left in the above photo. I've seen him give that exact look countless times.

[Starflux]

I don't know if I really ever had a mentor, but a person who has made a great impression on me is Wolfgang Kierdorf during my time in Germany. His way of living, so uncompromising and taking everything that's great out of life, seizing it... definitely an example I'd like to follow.

Now stop laughing

[pinkgothic]

My french teacher in South Africa, the german school of Cape Town. She taught me how to love what is given - the moment. I will never forget her saying, "My god, look at the moon... isn't she beautiful?" when we were out on a class trip.

My one art teacher, also in South Africa, who taught me that spirituality and the rational mind can and must coexist, and cannot overlap (much). She was very strange, but nice, yet at the same time strongwilled. In that, she was much like my french teacher. But she was hard where former was soft. Still, a lovely person.

Both of the above also were priceless in teaching me that a hierarchy has nothing to do with distance. The school I was in was very strict compared to just about anything in germany that I went to later (and which appalled me in parts) and teachers had authority and asserted it. Even though I was at the receiving end of that sometimes and had my fair share of detention (or attempted detention, but that's a long story), I grew to appreciate the lot so much! And you could always talk to the teachers like you would to a peer. So much so I ended up preferring that to my real peers very quickly.

Then, there would be Noko 440, who would probably hang himself knowing I hold him in such terribly high regard. He's responsible for me being how I am today - had it not been for him and the music of Apollo 440, I would never have made the radical change to philosophical egoism. I'm very much his creation, so the fact I jokingly call him my deity is true on an abstract level of things. I've never met him, though - even though there was a brief eMail discussion in 2001. This, by the way, was another one of those events cementing my beliefs that "political" structures can be completely different to "social" structures.

Then, there's James Maker (who worked together with Noko 440 for a while), who strengthened me in me being myself - a good amount of eMails to and fro, containing much playful darkness. He's one person I'd entrust my life to - yet equally without knowing what he would do with it Just that it would never be a bad thing. Sadly, he's no longer got internet or phone access (he moved to a far off place (*knows where, is just not saying*) when he got sick of the social structures surrounding him back in London, and literally isolated himself from the world), so we can't talk anymore.

There has been a lot of magic in my life. Those are the four most prominent magicians that were in it. If I forgot anyone, then I'd like to abstractly apologise beforehand - and I'll definitely catch up on posting about them. Ah, fuzzy warm glowy feeling.

[lumi]

One mentor is Zhi Lin, whom I've had as a prof for a couple painting classes. There's a video of him and his work here, the second one down.

He's very serious about what he does, and pushes his students to improve.

[Toefur]

I'm still waiting to meet he/she who will be my mentor...

[nihil]

My mentors are 99% of the people I see every day. They teach me how I never want to be :-)

[Marek]

My teacher in 5th and 8th grade of primary school. Oh man. Master Joosten. He was hardcore. Always wore a grey wool sweater and sandals. A real storyteller. He would do the usual stuff from the course books, but he'd also always have some kind of story or anecdote or fact of the day.

On the very first day the classroom was a zoo of screaming children but he just started telling a story about a man with a mysterious suitcase that he'd made up on the spot and it became totally 100% quiet and everyone was glued to his lips. He immediately got our respect. I still don't know what was in the suitcase, and we begged him to continue the story all year, but damn it was a great story.

Also occasionally he'd have that show-don't-tell stuff going on. Once we were having earth science lessons on the topic of rivers, and he took us outside, got the emergency fire hose from the hall, and shot it at the ground to demonstrate how a river finds its path.

He'd challenge us to stand up for ourselves. He had this crazy rule that no pencil sharpeners were allowed. Instead you had to go to the front of the class where he'd cut the tip of your pencil with a stanley knife. Sometimes he'd just pretend you weren't there when you were standing next to him with your pencil and after a while just teasingly say "oh, is there anything you want?" even though he made the rule in the first place. The next time you'd either find a way to sharpen the pencil yourself, or you'd get his attention somehow.

Master Joosten ruled. He learned me thousands of actual useful things, like ... skills, not knowledge. Best teacher ever.

In the 7th grade we had this posh substitute teacher who didn't know shit and had some weird fascist rule going on, and the contrast was unsettling. I was always spacking out and throwing sharp pens at her, and then I had to explain myself to the principal (who I'd then eventually got to excuse himself for my teacher's behavior... win). Good times.

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by nihil

My mentors are 99% of the people I see every day. They teach me how I never want to be :-)

You read that off of a tshirt didn't you.

[Ninja Dodo]

Well, my dad, mainly... but really everyone around me kicking so much ass at what they do, be it game design, art, animation or whatever else is a constant inspiration. A friend of mine from uni really taught me to not just seize opportunities, but to chase them down and pounce.

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

Well, my dad, mainly... but really everyone around me kicking so much ass at what they do, be it game design, art, animation or whatever else is a constant inspiration. A friend of mine from uni really taught me to not just seize opportunities, but to chase them down and pounce.

Yeah, my dad too. And my mom.

[Fairygdmther]

There really is something to be said for negative mentoring by example. My father was the most prejudiced human I've ever known - if you weren't an Irish Catholic (who didn't attend church), alcoholic (still drinking or not) male who did "bull work" as he called it, well, you were just plain scum. A few Italians, Greeks and Portugese got through to him and made friends, but whenever he spoke of them, he spoke of what an exception they were to "their kind". Near the end of his working career, a couple of black guys finally got through to him as well, but never could he see what a terrible injustice he was inflicting upon others. On the other hand, not one of the five of us grew up with any of those prejudices, so we learned the right things, I guess.

Lynsie

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by Fairygdmther

There really is something to be said for negative mentoring by example. My father was the most prejudiced human I've ever known - if you weren't an Irish Catholic (who didn't attend church), alcoholic (still drinking or not) male who did "bull work" as he called it, well, you were just plain scum. A few Italians, Greeks and Portugese got through to him and made friends, but whenever he spoke of them, he spoke of what an exception they were to "their kind". Near the end of his working career, a couple of black guys finally got through to him as well, but never could he see what a terrible injustice he was inflicting upon others. On the other hand, not one of the five of us grew up with any of those prejudices, so we learned the right things, I guess.

Lynsie

Try to remember that he grew up in a different time. Does't make it right, it just expalins things.

[Fairygdmther]

Temps, I understand what you're saying, but working in Nursing homes with older people, I can still honestly say, I've never come across anyone with the number of prejudices that he had. Many of the ones I work with are even older than he would be today, yet they have grown out of them. Even among his 8 sisters and brothers (he was the fifth of nine), none was as prejudiced as he. What bothers me most, was his absolute denial. He was a very intelligent and fairly well-read man. He always kept up with the news and things going on in the world, but his "take" on things would make me sick, and I'd have to leave the room, rather than start another war with him. If you could hear the venom that he put into his diatribes against others, you would perhaps understand why even his age and situation can't explain or excuse his stance.

I grew up in the hippie era and am probably affected by the times I lived in, yet in this way, I was mostly affected by him - by reverse conditioning.

Lynsie

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Glenn Epic

As strange as this may sound, Trep has had such an impact on me. Reading his words of wisdom have helped me grow in so many ways.

Don't say that! I'm the biggest hypocrite, I can barely follow my own wisdom and can give you an infinite laundry list of my screw-ups and what I could've done better in my life. Shit, I'm not supposed to be regretting things.





*sigh*.......thank you. I try.