I remember writing a story for my 5th grade teacher, and the look he gave me when he read it.It was that special look I would later give to my own students when they surprised me by writing something above the ordinary.And yes, I too kept writing. The mostly left-brained, academic stuff, of course, that is expected of an English professor. And there was a good deal of translation kind of writing too, a unique challenge to a writer who likes languages too. But the imagination brain cells also insisted on being exercised. So I put them to work on poetry sometimes, stories sometimes, but especially on a column of an imaginary place occupied by imaginary characters in the pursuit of teaching a motley assortment of secondary school teenagers.At about the same time I started another column in another publication.The focus was again on pursuit, but this time by persons pursuing a search for meaning and significance through faith, in a world that can often grind faith down to a mere barren stump.That column, continued for some thirty years, at long last began to stir restively, until it found a more permanent home in the form of a book: "Talking to God...for God-seekers."Now, if I could only have my 5th grade teacher take a look at it....