Round 2, The Defense

I have been smiling for days since our victory last week, in part because it was unexpected, but mostly because I was so impressed by my team's resolve, their respectfulness, and their performance in competition.

I expected far more from our competition, one of the most prestigious schools in the city whose alumni include senators, composers, NY Times editors, and many, many, lawyers. But what we got was a bunch of punks with real attitude problems.

They talked back to the judge, slouched disinterestedly in their seats, approached the stand and the witness box with theatrical smugness, and seemed absolutely immune to any possibility of humility. Believing himself to be deeply ironic I am sure, one of the lawyers would ceremoniously remove his jacket before approaching to ask questions. Boo. But their attitude and lack of preparedness on behalf of their lawyers spelled doom and my very earnest Stags calmly kicked their ass.

Like I said, I smile every time I recall it.

Our competition tomorrow was switched because of a snow day and we will meet an all girls team that I suspect should be pretty good. If memory serves they are the team that beat us in later rounds of competition 2 years ago. If we can win it we will automatically move on to Round 3. If we lose, it will depend on points. Only 48 schools of the 112 that start the competition move on.

Here is the team arguing for the Defense:

The Attorneys

Sarfraz--senior, 2nd year, tenacious. Sarfraz (shown above, 2nd from right, on a leadership retreat as a sophomore along with teammates Jonathan, Dimtri, and Rafael) is one of my strongest lawyers and he will do well. A Pakistani Muslim, Sarfraz refused to tell anyone where he was from his first few years at Agnes. By his junior year he and an utterly orthodox Catholic friend (who has since left us to return to Spain and enter a seminary), routinely made the type of anti-religious/terrorist/crusader remarks to each other in religion class that would have had the PC language police in righteous fits and accusing them of "hate speech". They, of course, thought it was hilarious; I, of course, encouraged it.

Mark--senior, 2nd year, target of our jokes. Every team needs someone to laugh at and Mark (shown above after a fall on Habitat), who is well-loved, graciously accepts his role. Whether it is his inordinate love of donuts, his lack of rhythm, his proneness towards falling (me too, Mark, me too) or the incident last year when he saw a picture of Andres's 8 year old sister and called her "hot"--and then tried to defend the remark--Mark keeps us well-stocked. (I for one have never let the 8 year old incident die). Mark is also very bright and has one of the best speaking voices on the team and will offer our closing arguments.

Dalin--sophomore, 2nd year, hot mess. Dalin is my other space cadet. He loses things, forgets things, is utterly disorganized, but when he turns it on he has a natural presence and can be very intuitive. Dalin understands how to moderate tone and speak clearly and is one smart cookie. If only we can get him buttoned up, tucked in, and there on time.

The Witnesses

Juan--senior, rookie, sweet as pie. Juan (shown above helping on retreat) immigrated from Mexico when he was ten, (and proudly calls himself the "tallest" Mexican you are bound to meet) had to learn the language and how to fit in. An honors student, he stayed off the radar until the very end of his junior year when, one afternoon, I realized he had been following me around as I went from one activities meeting to another. I approached him and he surreptitiously asked, "Miss, is there anything I can get involved in this year?" I quickly intuited that he had been listening to all his friends in rapture from the Habitat for Humanity trip we had returned from and he wanted in on the fun. It was late in the year so I offered him the only thing I had left, a position as a roadie for the Talent Show, i.e. sit around and laugh with the guys for a few weeks after school and plug in the amps the night of the show, and boom a rising star was born. Juan's joined everything he can since and will definitely be coming with us on Habitat. What a doll!

Dimitri--senior, 2nd year, one of the best people I know. I love this boy. Dimitri (posing to make me laugh on Field Day) is full of dignity of spirit and lacks that usually ever present self-consciousness that inhibits so many of us, he also has that most attractive and most uncommon of virtues--humility. Dimitri grew up without much materially--poor, single mom, truly bad neighborhood. But Dimitri's mom is strong and God-fearing and Dimitri grew up in his church and, as he put it one day smiling, "I was born into chores." Dimitri helped raise his young niece as a young boy, taking her food shopping, teaching her to eat properly, doing the laundry. But what I like most about Dimitri is that although he takes life seriously, he has an enthusiasm and interest in life. Life is hard but it is good! And far better to smile and create fun and cheer amongst friends than to brood. It is no surprise that the now traditional team huddles that I taped last time were of Dimitri's doing. My heart will hurt when he graduates, but boy will he be a good, good man. Also invited to my wedding.

Jaime--senior, rookie, the funny man. I taught Jaime (shown above on Habitat last spring) as a sophomore and freshmen and, while smart, he left little impression. What I surely didn't recognize was that Jaime is hysterical, with a penchant for deadpan humor and an infectious giggle-like laugh. Jaime and I take a similar route home and once in awhile bump into each other. We make a bit of an odd pair and I always wonder what the other subway riders make of the white lady and the brown boy laughing together. I will look for Jamie to get a smile out of the judge tomorrow.

Wish us luck!

Go Stags.