How Jane Speidel Changed My Life

I can point to only 3-5 people that completely changed my life. Jane Speidel was one of them.

‍

On a hot September morning in Florida, she said a few simple words to my classmates that would ultimately change the trajectory of my life.

‍

This is how I remember it, 2 decades later.

‍

My love for writing started as a joke. A troll.

Remember the line in "The Other Guys" where Will Ferrell says, "Wait, you learned to dance sarcastically?"

That was me in 11th grade, with the help of Miss Speidel.

‍

I joined yearbook class because I had a free elective. It was a nationally ranked yearbook program and we took it pretty seriously.

My advisor 's name was Jane Speidel. (For some reason they aren't called teachers in yearbook class)

‍

Our first assignment was to pull a location at the high school out of a hat. We'd go to that location for an hour, observe, and write down our thoughts and observations in essay form.

‍

I pulled the orchestra room. It was likely the only time before or since that I'd ever stepped foot in there.

I sat in on orchestra practice for an hour, bored, and wrote down some thoughts.

Miss Speidel was super dramatic, you see. That was her brand. So I wanted to take that same tone in my essay and amp it up a notch or ten.

‍

I remember writing something to the effect of,

The viola's reverberations bounce around the upper corners of the room, like a sparrow with a broken wing.

The melodic notes from the bass remind me that life is fleeting, yet somehow inescapable at the same time.

The horsehair bows stop on the strings, but the notes continue on in my heart. A subtle reminder that music is eternal.

‍

I was giggling as I wrote it. Half expecting to get an F, knowing she'd see through the BS.

‍

The next week she opened class by talking about how grading that assignment went.

"I was somewhat disappointed with your essays. Some were okay, many were disappointing, and only one truly moved me. I'd like to take a moment to read that one aloud"

‍

Everyone looked around the room, myself included, as we shifted in our seats, anticipating what she was about to read.

‍

"Who could it be?" we wondered aloud.

"Probably Sarah (the editor). Maybe Jennifer."

I thought it was Sarah.

‍

Miss Speidel started reading...

...MY ESSAY!

‍

She had her hand on her heart. She was choking up. Pausing. Continuing.

I was BEET RED. No one would ever believe it was me.

‍

My worst nightmare is being called out in a group setting, to this day. This was my nightmare.

‍

She ended the essay and jaws were dropped. I suppose no one got the joke? It was a joke, right? Was I joking?

She told the class it was me.

‍

Audible gasps all around. Laughter. Then wide eyes. More gasps. more laughter. ChRiS!?!?!

I was fire hot red.

‍

It turns out, the purpose of that assignment was to determine who the assistant executive editor would be.

It was me! Working alongside legendary Sarah, a senior.

‍

That year we put out an epic, high-ranking yearbook. It required many late nights editing, while eating $4.99 General Tso's chicken at school after wrestling practice.

I learned about hooks and headlines. In fact, as I write this I'm realizing that's where my love of puns come from. Headlines love puns.

I learned about trapped white space, serif fonts and the rule of thirds. We pulled inspiration from the latest magazines, littered all across the floor.

‍

An article was never, ever done. There was always something to edit. Something to iterate and improve.

There was always a typo left. As you'll read my long posts you'll agree. There's always a typo or four. I'm still working on that.

‍

We traveling to Columbia University in NYC to win an award in the spring.

We also went to dinner with the CEO of Herff Jones, the publishing company. I ate a rabbit in Little Italy.

‍

Then Sarah graduated and I became the editor for my senior year.

‍

Miss Speidel took another job and we got a new advisor. She was awesome, but she wasn't Miss Speidel.

That year's yearbook was great, but we didn't submit it to be ranked and graded for whatever reason.

‍

I'm writing this because I just learned that Miss Speidel passed away last year.

She was at my wedding and was an incredible person.

It's because of her that I now love writing, even if by accident, by sarcasm.

‍

For all I know, she knew I was being sarcastic, but also knew that she could work with that. And that she did.

I've since worked with hundreds of youth in my church and business roles. Thanks to Miss Speidel, I always try to see through the sarcasm, disrespect and vapor to see who they really are.

‍

I'm not always successful at this, but I try, thanks to her.

‍

I tried for an hour to source a picture of her to add to this post, but I came up short. She's not even in either yearbook.

‍

FYI, you'll rank poorly if you include too many pictures of the yearbook class students or advisor in the yearbook. That's probably why she's not in it.

‍

Thank you Jane Speidel!

If you like what I write, I'd love a follow @mhp_guy

‍

"Slightly Altered" was the theme of 2005 because of all the hurricanes we experienced that fall.