I actually took all my creative writing and English/American lit classes at Pratt Community College where Linda Kruckenberg was highly regarded. She had started out years earlier teaching at Oklahoma State University just prior to the start of the Viet Nam Conflict. She told us about going into the classroom and seeing empty desks as students were drafted. She also told us about a summer trip to Chicago just after completing her Doctorate as a volunteer and being exposed to life in the inner city where children would even eat sheet rock to fill their empty bellies and seniors eating food mixed with cat food in the 1980's. Mrs. Kruckenberg pushed the idea of keeping a notebook and 'showing, not telling' while also avoiding using too many adjectives. Through her I developed a desire to become a child and family advocate and to pursue Journalism as a vehicle to use my writing skills in a different format than just poetry, articles, short stories, etc. Sadly, she passed away about ten years ago still teaching at Pratt Community College.