Read another Conroy piece, this one a memoir about his year teaching students isolated from ‘cultured’ America–black and segregated students in the mid-twentieth century, just a boatride from Savannah, GA, who endured in a universe of illiteracy, superstition, racism from all sides, snakes, hogs, swamp, shrimp, oysters, and heart sufficient to touch all who will attend.

Again, Conroy pressed his finger into my heart, prodding me to labor to try and make a difference for good.