pauline bonagura was the one public school teacher every kid dreams of. she was the english and journalism instructor at franklin k. lane high school in east new york, brooklyn. if you haven't been outside of new york city, you'd have never heard of east new york until the new show that just came out. young, charismatic, and relentless, she had a hopeless love affair with the english language and was determined all her students would master not only grammar and writing, but the art of reporting. the number of fine journalists she produced is remarkable. david vidal, who for years was a foreign correspondent from the new york times, steve handelman, who worked for decades for the toronto star, carole carmichael, who was an editor for years, managing editor at the seattle times, janet mcmillan, a sterling reporter at the philadelphia inquirer -- all of us were bonagura's students. she plucked me, a shy kid from a working-class puerto rican family in the cypress hills projects of east new york, and decided that i would be editor of the lane reporter, the pap