Dear Kyle and Owen,
So, you’ve been loving Lehigh Basketball this winter. And this was a big year for Lehigh Basketball. Lehigh men’s basketball made it to the final round of the Patriot League Championship. And– get this— the final game was vs. Lafayette! It was tonight, at Lehigh. The two star senior players are two of my students. One of them (Zahir Cahrington) took Intro to Soc with me his first semester of his first year. He was an all-national basketball recruit from inner city Philly. In Intro he sat right in front of the auditorium (it was a huge class of 250 students). I noticed him right away because he was so tall and he was so obviously totally into Sociology. Ended up taking every single course I teach. And is now applying to our graduate program in sociology. I adore this guy. Over the four years we’ve become pretty close and he’s come to know you boys pretty well too. He is great with you two. He sincerely cares about you and is genuinely interested in you. He’s just a super gem all around. One in a million. All-star super duper basketball player too. MVP of all the games, MVP of the Patriot League, millions of awards for everything he does, etc., etc, etc. The other guy (Marquis Hall) has been taking classes with me this year. Took a class with me in the fall (Race & Ethnicity), and now again this spring semester (Race & Class in America). Incredible guy. From Oregon. Valedictorian of his high school senior class. Is a Finance major at Lehigh. Has a 3.9 GPA as he is about to graduate this spring. This kid will go places. It is written all over him. I’ve been having a great year with him in class — and he loves it that I bring you boys to his games. He adores you two, and vice-versa. So, anyway, the big game was tonight. You know, incredible rivalry (Lehigh vs. Lafayette). Huge, huge game. And, lucky for us, because of my relationship with these two star basketball players (they’ve written it up — my relationship with them — for Lehigh magazine, the LU website, alumni publications, etc.)… the Director of Athletics (big wig) gave me 5 tickets — prime seats —- for our family to go to the game. We felt like V.I.P.’s getting this special treatment. It was an $80 value for the seats. (of course we spent almost that on hot dogs and popcorn and soda and ice cream etc.!). But, seriously, it was one of the best athletic events I’ve ever been to in my whole life. Totally incredible game. Edge of our seats the entire time. You two were in HEAVEN… screaming your heads off, jumping out of your seats with every LU basket, chanting “defense! defense! defense!”… and –icing on the cake– getting to stay up way past your bedtime. Meera tolerated it (as she always does; THANK YOU MEERA!!!). It was such an awesome night. Anyway, Lehigh won! They got the huge Patriot League trophy, we got to watch them cut the net off, and you two ran onto the floor to celebrate their huge victory with the team. It was one of those nights where I felt so proud of my boys (you two) and my other boys (my students)… and most of all… I felt really glad to have the job I do— for your sake. I am glad to be able to give you two these experiences, these opportunities, and these really great role models to look up to. If I weren’t a professor at a place like Lehigh, our life would be a whole lot different. Anyway, when we got home you had warm milk with cinnamon (“sleep milk”) while Papi read you a book. And then you both fell asleep in about 2 seconds flat. It was — for you two — a perfect Friday night.
Love, Mommy
P.S. Link to the press release about the game —-
http://www.lehighsports.com/sports/mbball/release.asp?release_id=8842
Wow! I would love to take the classes that you mentioned that you taught! Way cool. Our school is doing a lot of work with the Pacific Educational Group. We are experiencing a lot of resistance, pushback and general disinterest. It is a work in progress.
D and I watched the game and cheered on Lehigh. Lucky you to have been there!