I checked my e-mail this afternoon and was saddened to learn that one of the best Professors I’ve had in my years at Northwestern had died. 
His name was Dick Schwarzlose, and he was known as the elder statesman of the journalism school. He’d had many years in the field, so he knew his stuff, but even better, he had a great sense of humor and understood how to keep us involved. We talked a lot about free speech issues in his class - so I was probably the most vocal guy there. Okay, most vocal STUDENT, there were only about 3 guys if memory serves.
The most classic stunt he pulled (he did this to many classes) was about obscenity. He would whip out a BadFrog baseball cap - it was a black cap with a drunk-looking frog flipping the bird. This being 2002 (when I took the course, anyway), we were not exactly shocked. We were quite amused by our sextugenarian professor wearing it, of course. But anticipating that we would take it in stride, he proceeded to give us ALL double-fingers as he flitted around the classroom. The sight of an overweight 65-year-old man flitting while doing this provoked rousing laughter and not a little applause. His class was one of the few I’ve had that I looked forward to every day. He was my advisor, too, though I didn’t see him often in that capacity. Makes me wish I had. But at least I had that one class. I know he liked me, and I know he knew I liked him. I guess that’s as much of a chance as I got. I could tell a lot of other stories, but that one’ll do for a start.
So chime in- what other great teachers have you had? Any level you please. I can think of at least one high school teacher I’ll add to this list later. Thanks, Dick.
