One thing Blaine’s kindergarten students had learned rather early on was that Mr. Hummel-Anderson almost never showed up to school without a bowtie. On the first day he had a black one with brightly colored music notes, on the second day one with multi-colored balloons, when they learned about space, his bowtie of the day was a deep blue with various celestial bodies, when they read the story about cowboys and the west his bowtie featured cacti, cowboy boots and horseshoes. He had a bowtie for Halloween, one for Thanksgiving, a red one with white hearts for Valentine’s Day, and a green one with white shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day, that when asked about he said that a friend from high school that lived in Ireland gave to him.

Mr. Anderson was a wonderful teacher, but the bowties just made him better.