About

Lesleykluchin
Florida

Bio: I am a teacher, writer, mother, grandmother, and recent cancer survivor. I have spent the last 36 years of my life as a teacher, enriching and motivating students to find the joy in learning and developing a love for the written word. As a newly retired educator I now volunteer my time writing curriculum for an after school spoken word poetry program. In my youth before teaching, I was an actress, played in an all girl's rock band in the late 60's, and protested for equality and peace while in college. I am still very involved in political issues that will help make this planet a better place in which to live, so that my precious grandchildren can stop and smell the roses and know that our world is a thing of beauty and the people in it can be filled with love, creative attributes, and artistic endeavors. I hope my efforts to fight for equality, freedom, truth and justice will survive in this brave new world of ours. We owe it to the children to continue to push forward, no matter what hardships and challenges we face. This last year I have been fighting ovarian cancer and haven’t been blogging much. However, as I heal and watch my hair slowly return, I expect that I will soon be back to expressing my opinions more frequently. Peace and love✌️❤️🎸

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21 thoughts on “About”

  1. Thank you Crystal Byers. I responded but it showed up in the wrong place so I’ll try again. So Forgive me if my responses is in a couple places.
    Lol . It was wonderful to go to college in the late 1960’s. I felt like my contemporaries and I made a huge difference in changing the world for the better . When I got divorced in 1974 and returned to South Florida, believe it or not public schools did not hire divorced women! So I was forced to teach in private school. However, one of those private schools refused to hire me because I was Jewish! Can you imagine that kind of discrimination? So our age difference made a big difference in the educational rules during the mid 1970’s! Back then a girl had to be adept at everything if she wanted to work!
    I absolutely loved teaching. I still have so many former students keep in touch with me. They send pictures of their children, discuss what’s going on in their lives etc. In fact just last week a former student who was in my gifted fourth grade in the 1990’s, found me and informed me how much I influenced her life. She came from a conservative Cuban family and I ran the chess club after school. (I entered my chess team in local competitions). Plus, we did Shakespeare musicals. Also I taught women’s history. This former student said I was the first person in her life who made her realize she could do anything and be anybody she wanted to be. She wanted me to know she was an attorney now and helped women in distress. But mostly she just wanted to thank me for making her a feminist. I don’t recall being a radical feminist , just encouraging girls that they could do anything boys could do. Now she’s got two sons and a law practice. Another former student took a photo in between Obama and Biden when he worked as in intern in the White House while attending law school. He told the former President and our current President, he had to take a picture because his former fourth grade teacher encouraged him to run for office one day after he got his law degree.. Lol at the time, I had no idea how much positive influence I had on so many kids. That gives me great satisfaction.
    Life is strange isn’t it? There’s no way I could have continued to teach while in chemo treatment. I’ve been way too sick. But, I personally thank you for your years of dedicated service in the classroom. You of course understand the hard work that’s required to enrich the lives of young people!

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  2. Ha! I guess so. Lol . It was wonderful to go to college in the late 1960’s. I felt like my contemporaries and I made a huge difference in changing the world for the better . When I got divorced in 1974 and returned to South Florida, believe it or not public schools did not hire divorced women! So I was forced to teach in private school. However, one of those private schools refused to hire me because I was Jewish! Can you imagine that kind of discrimination? So our age difference made a big difference in the educational rules during the mid 1970’s! Back then a girl had to be adept at everything if she wanted to work!
    I absolutely loved teaching. I still have so many former students keep in touch with me. They send pictures of their children, discuss what’s going on in their lives etc. In fact just last week a former student who was in my gifted fourth grade in the 1990’s, found me and informed me how much I influenced her life. She came from a conservative Cuban family and I ran the chess club after school. (I entered my chess team in local competitions). Plus, we did Shakespeare musicals. Also I taught women’s history. This former student said I was the first person in her life who made her realize she could do anything and be anybody she wanted to be. She wanted me to know she was an attorney now and helped women in distress. But mostly she just wanted to thank me for making her a feminist. I don’t recall being a radical feminist , just encouraging girls that they could do anything boys could do. Now she’s got two sons and a law practice. Another former student took a photo in between Obama and Biden when he worked as in intern in the White House while attending law school. He told the former President and our current President, he had to take a picture because his former fourth grade teacher encouraged him to run for office one day after he got his law degree.. Lol at the time, I had no idea how much positive influence I had on so many kids. That gives me great satisfaction.
    Life is strange isn’t it? There’s no way I could have continued to teach while in chemo treatment. I’ve been way too sick. But, I personally thank you for your years of dedicated service in the classroom. You of course understand the hard work that’s required to enrich the lives of young people!

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  3. Hey Leslie:

    It’s nice to see you are writing again on your blog. Bob Dylan words have intrigued me at times as you eg. “like a rolling stone”… but honestly I’ve never been a big fan of his music.

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  10. Thank you so much. I can’t seem to find a way to enable comments. When I updated my laptop the comment section disappeared. I very much appreciate your encouragement and I’m so happy that you beat cancer. You make me feel hopeful.

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  11. Hello my darling. Just wanted to let you know, there are no comments enabled on your posts.(We are not able to leave a comment) My heart goes out to you after reading, ‘Cancer!’ I was right where you are in 2016. My positive thoughts and prayers are with you! Much love. ❤

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  12. Lesley, I know that you have followed me for some time, and comment actively and thoughtfully on many posts and comments from other blogs (LA for instance).
    I’ve been realizing that I have followers who I interact with on other blogs but have not followed myself. Trying to fix that, and would like to follow you here if that’s possible. Don’t see any sort of follow button, and it’s certainly okay if you seek to remain private. I will simply continue to enjoy your interactions as we have been doing so far!
    Deb

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  13. You’re sincerely welcome, Lesley. And, much appreciation for your kind words. I wholeheartedly agree with you. What a marvelous wordsmith you are! We’re very fortunate to connect with a potpourri of writers from around the globe. So very glad to have met you as well, my friend. My pleasure. I’m looking forward to reading more of your work. It’s exceptional!

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  14. Thank you so very much, Lance. I also find your work incredibly inspiring. Yes, our past and the present do blend together well when we write. The more experiences we have, the richer our poetic voice seems to be.
    I love this quote by Mark Twain. “When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.” 😉
    I think a writer’s imagination is boundless. And the key to staying creative is constantly learning new things. How fortunate we are to be on WordPress and in an environment where we are exposed to exciting talent, innovative thoughts, and a plethora of writing styles. All at our fingertips! I’m delighted to have met you and been able to read your work and grateful you have stopped by to read my thoughts. Thank you.

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  15. Lesley, your past and present have clearly shaped who you are as a person, mom, grand-mom, writer, All significantly benefiting those around you and for those fortunate enough to read your work. I consider it a great pleasure in as far as inspiring me each time I visit your page, knowing I’ve learned something new. I thank you so sincerely for that!

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