letters to R and L

recently i've been corresponding a bit with two of my best students. they've (well, one of them has) said some interesting things, and i've had some responses that seem to shed a bigger light. it's like all of those crappy "letter to a young ______" books, except R and L aren't made up.

the currenct MTC intern Molly and I had a very good dinner tonight (she is AMAZING), and at some point in our conversation she mentioned a frustration with people at Duke (where she is an undergrad) who don't know how to take advantage of the resources available to them (re: students who don't know how to change a tire, who don't know how to balance a checkboook, etc). i agreed with her for the most point, but worried a little more about the attitude lying beneath these somewhat distasteful content blunders; it's more of a problem that people aren't willing to figure out how to change a tire or balance a checkbook, rather than the ostensible circumstances of their inexperience; it's that a fear of vulnerability will lock people into inexperience, rather than the conditions of these particular inexperiences. strangely, i find echoes of this contitioned reluctance in my most competent students. perhaps we are all a little afraid:

From: R
To: Mr. Molina

Hey Mr. Molina,

How are you doing? I am doing well. I hope you're having a good summer. Mine is okay. I went to that Utica Camp thing today. It was long. We have to sit in one classroom all day listening to the same person speak about leadership. I guess we will learn a lot from the program, but it hard just sitting in the same room form 9-3. They are giving $300 stipend at the end of the two weeks. I take a bus to Utica with a million others kids in high school. There is only one other boy from Jim Hill, but he is not in IB. He's nice though. I forget what you told me to e-mail you, but I think this is it.

From: Mr. Molina
To: R and L

hello R and L -

i'm forwarding my girlfriend M's e-mail address. she's an excellent resource for french: books you may want to read, or music to listen to, or any language-related question. she's also a great resource for english (she's also an english major and is much smarter than i am in many ways): again, she'd be happy to suggest books or even talk about books.

please take advantage of the resources around you and the people who want to help you. don't worry about imposing or asking too many questions, or whatever. people know what they're getting into when they say "please, let me help you if you need anything."

hope your summer is going well, and that you're keeping your brains stimulated rather than sitting around being bored.

take care,

mr. molina

From: Mr. Molina
To: R

hello R.

so glad you e-mailed me. sitting in a room from 9-3 is a drag. bring a book, or some sudoku, or your flashcards to pass the time. or draw me a picture. after a couple hours of listening your mind will probably have melted and you won't be retaining anything anymore.

do you have enough books to read? do you need more? how early in the morning do you have to wake up to be bussed everywhere? i have to wake up at 6am so i can catch the bus to holly springs for our summer school program. i'm not a big fan of waking up so early, and would like to be sleeping in a bit and running/reading more. hopefully the schedule will calm down. there's always july...

congrats again on the 1700+ SAT. you deserved that 400 point jump. you've still got farther to go, but your college opportunities now are drastically different than they were before. remember, it's about being impressively competent and convincing others that you are such. mr. roth and i believe it, of course, but we're not the one's dealing with thousands of admissions applications. however, we know what these applications need to look like in order to turn some heads. and i think you'll do just that.

take care

mr. molina


From: R
To: Mr. Molina

Hey,

i am glad you are doing well. I do bring sudoku to class, but i don't want to get caught showing disinterest in the class. They are paying us and they think we should work hard for the money. i draw a lot of pictures. well, i draw a lot of word. it's like taking notes. i do have some books to read i finished one of my summer reading books last week, so i wanting on the other one to be bought. i am still reading pride and prejudice. now i looking up the words i don't know because i have a lot of time.

I get up at 5:30am. it was 5 o'clock, but the bus driver decided that he didn't need to be there at 6:00. we have drive about 5 minutes away from my house to caught the bus. my mother believes we have 15 minutes to be there 15 minutes early so we won't caught traffic. traffic at 6:00 in the morning in northwest Jackson, i don't think so. i wish i could wake-up at 6 to catch a bus to utica, but i don't. July i won't even be here and i don't think imma get any sleep. why do you go to holly springs? is that even in Mississippi?

thank you. the SAT class was very helpful. i really liked beside all the people talking and stuff it was great. i know my college opportunities, but what kind of score i need to make to get to a great school where i don't have to pay. thank you for believing in me. soon you probably be helping me to do those admission applications.

i know who you remind me of. have you even seen Law and Order: Criminal Intent? well, if you haven't you need to see it. that's like my second favorite show ever. the main character with the gray, that's who you remind me of. It's like he know everything about everything and i just love that. he has an answer for just about everything. (except with Nicole, his rivals, she knows just as much as him so they're always neck to neck) he is so quiet about his knowledge. he does things like you too like walk around and move your arms and stuff. you should watch. the show.

R

p.s. I'm sorry it's so long.

From: Mr. Molina
To: R

learn how to do productive things without being caught showing disinterest. if they're not being productive, there's no reason you shouldn't be.

holly springs is in mississippi. it's in the northeastern part of the delta.

i've watched law and order svu a little bit. but i'll check out criminal intent when i get the chance. i'm rarely around a tv, however.

do not apologize for sending long e-mails R. i e-mailed you because i wanted you to write back, and i'm happy that you did. like i said in the e-mail to L and you: i know what i'm getting into when i tell you to write back.

i have the same problem with people going on runs, and it always bother me. it usually goes like this: people mention that they are going for a run sometime in the near future, or that they want to start running soon. so, i mention that i would like to run with them if they would like company. then - almost invariably - whomever i'm talking to says that they'd be too slow for me (remembering that i'm a track and cross country runner). this is where i get frustrated. it's exactly because i'm an experienced runner that i know exactly how slow and how fast people are, so i know exactly what i'm getting into when i suggest that i join them for a run (that is, if they want to). i know that they're probably not going to run as fast or as long as i can, and they may not even want to. in fact, if i was intending on a very hard, long, serious run, i probably wouldn't have offered to run with whomever i'm in a conversation with. but, that's not what i'm offering; i'm offering to join them on their run. it's nice to have company. that's all i'm offering, and there's no illusion in my mind that i'm intending they run at whatever capacity they think i run at. i'm asking to run with them, and i know exactly what that means.

so, R- when i send you an e-mail and i ask you questions - i know exactly what that means. don't apologize for the length of your response. it's something i wanted to happen.

yours,
mr. molina