If you need a break from Larry Craig news this afternoon, take a read of the syndicated column we ran on our pages today by Linda Campbell of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She writes about a teacher who changed young lives.

In her fashionable black dress with the pleated hem and very-high-heeled pumps, Maria Reyes might be an advertising account saleswoman. A litigator. A motivational speaker.
What she doesn't resemble is the gang member and insolent juvenile offender who showed up for her first day of high school English wearing an ankle monitor.
"This is probably worse than being in juvenile hall," Reyes recalled thinking about her first encounter with teacher Erin Gruwell more than a dozen years ago at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif.
With all the naiveté of an idealistic new teacher, Gruwell tried to cut through the rude resistance of her underachieving students by having them read about Anne Frank and other young people under siege, then write about their own damaged lives.

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Schools are opening this week for the new school year all through the Inland Northwest. So walk down memory lane and tell us what teachers opened up your world view?

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