Remembering Terry Teachout

I was sad to learn recently of Terry Teachout's passing. He was kind to me always, but he was especially kind to me when it mattered most, when I was trying to change careers in my 30s from computer programmer to, of all things, writer. I'm one of the only people who'll be writing an encomium for Terry who is from the same little place. He was from Sikeston, Missouri and I am from Matthews, 6 miles south, and Charleston, 14 miles east. There are some careers you have to leave Small Town (as he called it) to find. He took the path before I did. When I needed guidance, Terry sat down with me at a little cafe in Sikeston and opened his heart, his memory and his address book. He made calls on my behalf so that I could travel to Washington, D.C., and meet a host of writers and editors who would help me on the next step.

"You're Teachout's friend? I won't hold it against you," said Andy Ferguson, only the greatest magazine writer of the last 40 years. He took me to lunch (with the great Matt Labash, who ties with Andy for best) and in the years after recommended me for work, said nice things, and took my calls. I can name another half-dozen folks who did the same for me not because I was some promising figure but because Terry was so kind and opened the door.

I followed his work and kept up with him on social media. I learned a lot about how to think about art by paying attention to what he valued in art, what he said, and what he didn't say. I didn't know him beyond acquaintance, but that's the point. He was kind and wise and exemplary and we are poorer without him, poorer in ways that have nothing to do with his erudition. He was so kind when he didn't have to be. If you're looking for a legacy that matters, there it is.

MICHAEL LONG, Burke, Virginia