Poetic Obituaries: Each year, he [Michael Occhi] threw a party

for [Emily] Dickinson on her birthday of Dec. 10. Occhi, a vegetarian, and his students festooned the classroom and ate vegan cake in her honor. His own birthday was Dec. 17 and some say he and she were kindred spirits.

Each year, he took students to Dickinson's birthplace in Amherst, Mass., sometimes paying for the transportation himself, when students or the school did not have the money. His students recited Dickinson's poetry at her grave.

from The Providence Journal: Teacher showed his students the poetry in life

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