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Comment by Audrey Jones Moon on February 18, 2009 at 8:46pm

Well my gosh Mason Myatt, what happened on February 4th that required you to post such an apology? Are you ill? I do recall a couple of less than favorable comments that you made about me and/or my brothers, but to be honest, we probably deserved it, and you were at least somewhat accurate...and I/we knew it...after all, we were gifted, weren't we? In fact, at least one of the less-than-tasteful remarks you made sparked a fire in me that in the long run made a difference in who I turned out to be. I wanted to be successful (whatever that is) just to show that you were wrong.

I don't think that the apology you delivered on February 4th means that you (post 3 decades) are hoping for validation, but you deserve to know that I have never once picked up a Newsweek nor a U.S. News and World Report without thinking of you. And, while I still pretty much despise the content of those periodicals (I hate it when Newsweek is the ONLY magazine at the dentist's office), you did force me to THINK about national and world news, and to realize that I live in a world that is much bigger than me. You really did, and for that I am grateful.

And one more thing, somehow (maybe it's only in my psyche) I associate my graduation honor cords with you. I think it's because I knew that my graduating with honors demonstrated a measure of fraud. I wore the honor cords, but I didn't deserve them. I never applied myself in high school, so I felt guilty wearing honor cords alongside students who represented high standards and real effort, and alongside faculty who knew I had potential but didn't build on it.

Mason, no matter how idyllic our lives, we all suffer our own issues, and we all deliver our own measure of suffering to others (usually as a result of those issues). So let's get over it... I won't hold a grudge against you, if you won't hold one against me...okay?

Comment by Tammy Collins Brand on February 18, 2009 at 4:43pm

I have so many fond memories of RLC and the teachers and students. I know that my high school experience was made richer by the people I got to know. Being in RLC made my college time so much easier. I still remember how Mason made us think and I will be ever grateful for that. Martha made college english a breeze. Les helped me get my first teaching job in Jefferson County. I was sorry to hear about Rodney, I really liked him and he was a great teacher. I'm sorry I missed the 30 year reunion, but money was tight and you know. My 17 year old daughter is so much like me, quiet, shy and studious. I think I finally came out of the shadows my senior year, but did take off in college. I still work harder than I should and take on more than I need to. I would love to see everyone maybe we could have a reunion of our own sometime. Just tell me when and where.

Comment by Jamie Bullard Holmes on February 16, 2009 at 10:57pm

Well I'm so "average" I can't even come up with anything original to write,,,,hadn't been on here too much lately. I have had you on my mind a bit, knowing you've had alot on your plate caring for your ill friend and wondering how you were doing. I would like to echo what Jill said below. I was definitely one of those who was on the barely average end. I will say that you, Rodney, and Martha greatly enriched my life. (Even if I probably will never vote the same way as you!!!!....but hey, I don't vote on who is the cutest candidate anymore either!!)
I am truly sorry for the torture you experienced growing up. Living in a small rural area where I still see people treated different because of the color of their skin/preference of the sex of their partner is part of WHY I homeschooled my kids for awhile. Some think that all people who homeschool want to shelter their kids from the "unsavory" things/people in life.....well I did too, but it wasn't the children of different race, color or sexual preference. It was the mean, hateful people who treated these people as if they were not people themselves. And yes, I do believe in an Almighty Being, but the God I worship loves ALL of his children.
Thank you again for being a positive influence in my life.

Comment by Jill (Wallace) Shelton on February 9, 2009 at 8:46pm

Mr. Myatt,

I think I said this before, but it never hurts to repeat the truth. You were without question the best teacher I had throughout high school or college. More than teaching me subject matter, you taught me how to think. And, while I don't share many of your beliefs today, the critical thinking skills I began to develop as your student have served me well throughout my life and career.

Although I thought myself quite "smart" in those days, I have come to realize that I might have been only slightly better than average at best. I certainly did not qualify as a kid with a super verbal IQ as you mentioned you related to best. I am far from a math whiz and nowhere close to being an artist. So, I think it is safe to say that you had a positive influence on those kids who were good but not great.....like me......those kids who were just willing to try. Some of us....and I would venture to say that most if not all of us, turned out just fine....even successful, well rounded, and happy (even if we have become Republicans or worse yet...even non-political). And, you can't ask for more. So quit beating yourself up. I would not be the person I am today without my RLC experience and would not give anything for those years or for you as my teacher....even a mentor for a time. Maybe you won't appreciate that, but I do. So thanks for being who you were.

P.S. I still have the graduation gift you gave me some 31 years ago, and I still remember being honored that you cared enough to give it....and any teacher that cared that much can't be all bad. I am sure you don't remember, but it is a pair of brass owls that are proudly displayed on bookcases in my den along with the volumes of novels and reading materials that I would not have collected if it had not been for the love of reading that I developed during my time with you. Some of these, of course,are great works of literature that you would be proud that I have read and kept, and others are the trashy beach read that you might be ashamed of....but hey....I am still reading and I am still thinking!

Comment by David Jones on February 9, 2009 at 12:07pm

Mason, I don't know where your labeling had me in the Myatt scheme of things. I don't really care. That holds true for all that might label though, not just you. Like you, I am what I am. You had a role in my development. Whether I (or any others) turned out like you envisioned as you became a teacher doesn't really matter does it? You had a part. That's all any of us has. A small slice. Take it any way you want....I enjoyed my time in RLC and you were a large part of that time.

Comment by Mason Myatt on February 4, 2009 at 9:17pm

I do not know if anyone is still reading and posting here or not but I will assume that some may find these late comments.

Believe it or not, I sincerely wanted to be a good teacher and I honestly wanted to help folks. But the fact is that I was woefully inadequate as a teacher. It was always too easy for me to focus on the few kids for whom my teaching style worked to the exclusion of all those for whom it did not work. As you may recall, I am not what one would call an athlete---I am not handy---I am not talented in any important way EXCEPT that I have a very high verbal IQ. They tell me that I am in the top .5%. And with that verbal skill I was able to be very successful with similarly gifted students. There were times out there with you guys when a discussion would get going and I would be totally amazed at how incredibly smart many of you were and get such an extraordinary thrill as I rode that "intellectual" high. Episodes such as that made my life and gave me the closest thing to contentment and a meaningful existence than anything else in my life.

So, that was just great----for me and for the kids with the super verbal IQs.

What about the rest? What about those who were good but not great? What about those who were not especially good but who tried hard and who wanted to be in with the "in-crowd?" What about the artists who were able to see truths in the abstract that me and my words , words, words could not come close to grasping? What about the math people who would one day understand the Big Bang while I am still using a calculator to balance the checkbook? The horrible truth is that I did not have a clue what to do with those who did not think the way I did. (Note: I do not mean "think WHAT I thought; rather, the ways in which I analyzed things.) What were they supposed to do? They did not know what to do with what I was trying to explain to them I and I could not figure out how to reach them. I did try but those efforts were too often masked by my sarcasm and what passed for my "wit."

I made jokes about people who rode in on the "short bus." I got into verbal duels with kids ill-equipped to battle a teacher who had been studying and working on his "verbal skills" for as long as they had been in school. I made inside jokes that I knew the really smart kids would get---and then felt smug when they did. Sorry excuse for a teacher.

Not that it matters now and certainly not as an excuse but it is sadly true that my own insecurities were at the root of my assyness. I was always scared shitless. Literally, in fact. I was always in lower G.I. distress on the first day of school. I was so afraid that I would say or do something stupid or that all of you would find out that I am a fraud. I was so amazingly insecure. The truth is that I am very good at taking tests. They never frightened me and I had an intuitive skill at filling the circle in fully with no erasure marks anywhere on the answer sheet. My scores were always higher than my information, simply because I learned how to take those damned standardized tests. I never trusted my brain to be able to do it right. On my first day in grad school over at Emory in 1983, I went to my first class and then walked all around the quad and all over the campus crying my eyes out wondering what the hell I had done to myself. I had sold my house, quit my job and moved away from my little friends. I was in school with guys from Harvard and Yale and I felt dumb as shit every time I opened my mouth.

I believe that I was a positive force---a really great, at times, teacher for some of you. Being verbal, those kids are the ones most likely to weigh in on my behalf and to praise my efforts. Even at this late date, those who haven't the verbal talents but who know more about tons of other things than I ever will are the ones least represented in these discussions. Why would they throw themselves in front of the bus---with me as the driver!

I did not mean to hurt any of you. I am so sorry that I made many of my students feel small or embarassed by my tactless comments. You will not have to think very hard to imagine what kind of hell I went through in school in Boaz. I was terrified all the time, I was a real sissy and was tormented mercilessly----called a "queer" years before I had any idea whta a queer was. Daddy was one of the town drunks and my mother was notorious for her multiple suicide attempts. Kids were cruel and I suffered mightily. What kind of malevolent force inhabited me and made me do the same things to other young people when I became a teacher and had the opportunity to try to embrace and validate the kids who did not quite fit in. If you were among my victims, you have my sincere apology. If you have bothered to maintain your resentment of me and my unprofessional conduct, maybe you will find some pleasure in knowing that as I approach the middle of my 7th decade, I am racked by guilt and regret. No matter how many gifted kids I was good for, I will never feel like it is close to being a balance for the harm I did others.

Please do not mistake this commentary as some sort of backass way of trying to get the students for whom I was good to come online and reassure me that I was not as bad as the description above. You have already made those comments and I thank you for them. But, I WAS as bad as the comments indicate. I am just telling you the truth.

Too bad I cannot undo the harm. I am very sorry for the mistakes and the awful ways in which I tried to assert my "superiority" or whatever it was that I was doing. I did not wake up wanting to be a jerk.

Thanks for your time and --I hope-- your consideration.

Mason

Comment by Martha Hamby on October 11, 2008 at 1:00pm

Thank you, David, and thanks to all for the good will. I want to pass along--and highly, highly reccommend--Lakeside Hospice in Pell City: 1-800-427-3993.. They are one of only 5 non-profit hospices in the state, meaning they'll take anyone who needs help, regardless of their ability to pay. Daddy was fortunate to have Medicare. And may we never, ever, NEED hospice care: May we all drop dead on the dance floor, laughing at each other. But if you do, and you're under 65 and need loving care in the last six months of life, think of Lakeside. At the end, his hospice nurse would not leave Daddy's side. The hospice chaplain performed the funeral. Every single person we met was a source of comfort and assurance. Like everyone says...Angels on earth. It's true. Love to all!

Comment by David Jones on September 25, 2008 at 7:21am

I read in the paper this AM that Martha's father has passed away. Seems he was nearly 100 years old. Martha, I lost my Dad a couple of years ago and I know it's tough. Hang in there.

Comment by Tina Thompson Nance on July 30, 2008 at 9:55pm

I sent Willie an e-mail, but no response. I think his website said he's President of Jefferson County. We need you Willie!

Comment by Kevin Atkins on July 30, 2008 at 8:11pm

Has anyone had any luck with Willie?

I think my next gambit will be to send him an invitation to an RLC reunion, complete with a map... to his house.

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