Today I graduated from The City College of New York with a Masters of Science in Education with a specialization in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (that takes a gigantic breath to say). As a New York City Teaching Fellow, I paid almost nothing for my degree, and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to have studied at City College.
City College (or just "City") is the nation's first institution of public higher education, and I'm proud to have participated in its 163rd commencement. This year, the valedictorian of its bachelors program is a woman born to Pakistani parents, who emigrated with her family from Saudi Arabia in 2002. Just seven years later, a math genius soon to be pursuing a doctorate, she received the college's highest honor today. Her story is City's (and New York City's) classic story.
Townsend Harris, the founder of City College, said, "Open the doors to all--Let the children of the rich and the poor take their seats together and know of no distinction save that of industry, good conduct, and intellect." To the extent that City College continues to honor these words today is hotly debated, but I know that for me, I had the opportunity to study with an incredibly diverse class of students that Columbia (my undergraduate alma mater twenty blocks south of City) could never claim. In my City College classes, sitting next to me were grandmothers, single parents, ex-servicemen, refugees, ex-engineers, artists, and numerous immigrants. In my classes, you were in the sore minority if you only spoke English.
In retrospect, my time at City sounds romantic (and it was not, by any means). But however much I complained about City and my program, I am lucky to have graduated from this historic institution, one that was built around a principle of not just service, but fairness.
Towards the end of commencement, we all took the Ephebic Oath (which I had never heard of until I googled it today). According to Wikipedia, the Ephebic Oath is the oath of citizenship that the young men of Ancient Athens took when inducted into the Ephebic College:
We men and women graduating from The City College of New York, do this day, after the manner of the Athenian youths of old about to enter public life take this oath of devotion to the City of New York:
we will never bring disgrace to our city by any act of dishonesty or cowardice nor ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks;
we will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city both along and with man;
we will revere and obey the city's laws, and do our best to incite a like respect and reverence in those about us who are prone to annul them and set them at naught;
we will strive unceasingly to quicken the public's sense of civic duty;
and thus, in all these ways, we will strive to transmit this city and not only not less but greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.
Having traveled out of town the past two weekends, I stayed put in Brooklyn over Memorial Day weekend. This made for a relaxing three days in beautiful weather (before getting sick on Monday). On Saturday, I biked down to Bay Ridge to visit my friend Kaity, whose family is in the midst of moving into the neighborhood. About 60 blocks south of me, Bay Ridge occupies the blocks between the 70s and 90s, west of 4th Ave.
It being my first time in Bay Ridge, I was shocked by how little the neighborhood resembled Brooklyn (the Brooklyn I know, at least) and how much it resembled a typical Jersey or Staten Island suburb. (Saturday Night Fever was filmed here.) Kaity gave me a Bay Ridge tour (Hollywood mansions style) and showed me some of the fancier houses (owned by ex-Yankees and the Key Foods and tri-state Lexus dealership moguls). Most of these homes are on Shore Rd., which is the scenic street that faces the East River. After lunch, we walked along the 69th Street Pier and the Shore Road Promenade. According to Kaity, this was a prime make out spot when she was in high school (that and we saw a lot of fishing).
I finally understand what Kaity means when she says Bay Ridge isn't really Brooklyn. The Promenade is a beautiful, well-kept secret. I'll be back!
The last house is affectionately called the "Gingerbread House" by locals and was built in 1917. I'm somewhat obsessed with it now.
It was only a matter of time.
Pete branded Chocolate! Now we have to keep our doggy groomed this way. I love it--imagine the key chain and T-shirt potential! Too cute.
I've been so busy that I haven't been able to fully process everything that's happened since the end of March. So instead, before I forget, here are some random memories in no particular order.
Happy Mother's Day! I went home this weekend, along with the entire family. Hadynn surprised her A-po with a card.
Viv and Geoff took Jordan and Devin to Disney World a few weeks earlier. After some initial, glorious shock, Jordan and Devin quickly recovered and had a wonderful time. Jordan also turned four last week!
We finally groomed Chocolate. A very loving, meticulous groomer named Esther made a house call to our apartment. Two hours later, no longer matted, was a brand new Chocolate. He kind of looks like a chicken.
Towards the end of March, a fellow teacher and I coached our school's first ever in-school Model United Nations conference. The kids replayed the April 22, 1994 U.N. Security Council meeting that debated the Rwandan Genocide. I was super proud. Plus, a picture of us teachers after a week's hard work.
I love Brooklyn in spring time.
The community garden on 15th St. and 6th Ave.
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