My Story
Farmer, Anne (2010-11-19)

>>ANNE FARMER: Hello, my name is Anne Farmer and I'm with the Greater Kansas City Writing Project, and I have three distinct stories from my past that have shaped the literature loving person that I am today.  When I was in third grade, I had a teacher who loved reading, and I remember being in her class and we would read underneath the desks. And she also had a bathtub full of pillows, and if you got to read in the bathtub that day, it was a really cool experience,  and I have not stopped reading since third grade.  I also remember in fifth grade I had a teacher, Mrs. Wilcox, who looped with us, so in our fifth grade year she had us perform A Midsummer Night's Dream.  I was Peasebottom the fairy, and Mrs. Wilcox would have us act it out, we'd push the desks aside and every day we would act out a scene from Shakespeare.  And we had our parents come and it was a huge deal.  And to this day I love Shakespeare, and I still don't understand why my seniors have trouble was Shakespeare.  And I really think it was because Mrs. Wilcox in fifth grade made us read it and made us understand it, so I really thank her for that.  And finally, my name is actually Angela Farmer, but I go by Anne, and when I went to college I decided to add the "e" specifically because of the Anne of Green Gables.  And so I don't think I was ever the same after reading that book and her love of literature and her love of words.