E-RANTS AND INSIGHTS

The email:

J___,

Thanks ever so much for your Valentine Day card. I appreciate your
thinking of me. I hope that all is well with you. Let me know what you are
doing. Are you still with the TV? For the last few weeks the weather has not been
kind to us. We are still in the midst of a deep freeze. Our basketball
struggles somewhat against all those SOUTHERN teams. (I know how you feel about
jocks on campus!!) I wish you all the best. Keep in touch.

J___ Halpin 

This guy is a dean over at the business school during my undergrad tenure. Now, me and Dean Halpin were probably a lot cooler than we should've been. I can't remember how we first clicked but he was one of the first people I knew in the School of Management. He was also one of the first people to tell me to get out. Not in a "you're not good enough" way but in a "you don't need this" kind of way. Looking back, who knows what I told him. I was completely out of my mind during my freshman year. I realize this now. I don't remember the semester but I saw a beanie baby for sale that I fell in love with. At this time in my life, I was pretty certain that I wanted a chimpanzee as a pet after graduation. This certainty is also why I decided to see if I could fulfill my language requirement by taking sign language classes. I was so serious too. I had it all figured out. I could have a pet that I could talk to and get a totally different world perspective from. I was psyched.

Well, after a bit of research I learned that SOME PEOPLE made that isht look a lot easier than it really was. Chimps bite. They also have a liking for ear lobes and shiny objects. That means no earrings and no jewelry/cds/pots/pans/electronic devices. It just wasn't worth it.

But before I realized all of that, I would carry my monkey around campus with me...for practice. I named it "Professor Cornwallis" and he was my ride or die chimp.

*sigh* Yes, I'm serious. A Black girl walking around campus with a damn monkey on her shoulder. *cringe*

I always had that monkey, and Dean Halpin would always ask for him. Even as a senior (after some #*$& threw it away)! For a good while me, the Professor, and the Dean would kick it in between classes just talking about pretty much anything. It makes me nervous to think about what all I've told him, and even worse, what all he remembers. But the strangest thing about it is that I think Dean Halpin really got me. And I really appreciated his friendship and support during those times.