I was once told by a very wise gentleman I met that, "The secret in education lies in respecting the student" -- words that have left a lasting impression on my brain, one right next to the impression made on my brain when I fell down a flight of stairs. That gentleman introduced himself as Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson, which may tell you the type of company I keep, but please judge me kindly in this regard despite Mr. Emerson's wicked reputation as someone who uses his brain to think. We met one day in a library, a word which here means a facility where bound manuscripts are stored and accessed by people called readers. These are the sorts of places I frequent, which I do mostly for the odor of musty books, the cacophony of words colliding noiselessly across pages and pages of adventure, and the rather strange individuals who inhabit these pages. Teaching is something I enjoy, perhaps as a result of the falling down the stairs incident. Despite this handicap, I strive to help students use their brains to do stuff such as understand, inquire, solve problems, and remember where they lost their textbooks (which often don't smell musty, but seem to smell more like old gym socks).