You've come a long way from the "angry, confused self" you describe post-Katrina! Finding a mentor and teacher is indeed a great blessing. Your experience parallels millions of children oppressed by institutionalized education -forcing children to sit still and stay quiet all day in a hard chair is not my idea of how to teach life skills and prepare our little ones for adulthood. Most kids SEEM to turn out ok with this system, but I'm haunted by photos of Native American children in matching school uniforms sent to boarding schools. Their childhoods were stolen, they were punished for speaking in their native tongue... ok, I stop now. This is too depressing to recall. Back to MEMORY LOSS... story prompt....