A tribute.

To the man who read newspapers every day, magazines every week and books all summer long.

To the man who continued teaching government despite kids not caring about the class.

To the man who cared about what was happening in the world.

To the man who could tell me all I wanted to know about current events in five minutes.

To the man who thought I would pass my AP test.

To the man who said Joe Biden had the mind of a ferret.

To the man who let me out of class to work on the newspaper.

To the man who didn't bother me when I ended up falling asleep in his class.

To the man who ordered venti plain black coffee from Starbucks.

To the man who stopped and talked to me for ten minutes when I visited LVA in May, starting with, "How are you, dear?"

To the man who discussed Time Magazine for the last half hour of class.

To the man who wore a Hawaiian shirt to prom.

To the man who never counted me tardy.

To the man who gave the newspaper money to be published when we didn't have anything left in our account.

To the man who challenged me to form my own opinions about the political scope and not believe what I was told at face value.

To Mr. Jim Akins...

This one's for you.

I know that if there is something that comes after death, you're right there, asking the world what's going on, why it's going on and hoping people wake up and finally see reality.

Thanks for everything.