First Collection 2009: Sarah Willie-LeBreton
Associate Professor of Sociology Sarah Willie-LeBreton entreated the Class of 2013 to "submit to the tutelage of of your professors, the contrary ideas of your peers, the wisdom of the men and women who cook and clean and hand out aspirin and advise and shepherd you." In turn, she promised them that "we must submit to your tutelage, your ideas, your experiences, your creativity, your stories."
September 10th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Oh dear Sarah. First, how wonderful to hear your voice, your intonation, your deep feeling, your spirit. Your words are wise, thoughtful, compassionate and inspiring. Your 'gift' narrative evoked a visual so real that it stays with me, yet reaches out to encompass all that I believe with regard to education and our world. Your stating so strongly the contributions of 'everyman', not just teachers and deans, but cooks and house-cleaners, is a concept essential to the open-mindedness and compassion of us all. I am inspired to continue to study, to continue to learn the benefits of opening my mind and embracing the differences between seemingly foreign subjects: poetry with biology, choreography with math, gouache with cognition. This ability to open-mindedly cross-reference is essential in our world. Please let me be a more current recipient of your kind and wise words as I would like to know from time to time of the facets of your teaching and your life. How is your beautiful son?
With love and admiration as always.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Dear Jane!!
How wonderful to hear from you. Thank you for all you said!! We are all well. How good of you to write. Give me your news. How are your beautiful grown up children? (swillie1@swarthmore.edu)
Fondly,
Sarah
September 14th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Dear Professor,
I am the mom of a Swarthmore student named Mike. He embraced your speech and shared it with me. As I listened , I too could recall a very special lesson I had learned from him while he was trusting me to help guide him through a new experience. I watched him step out of his comfort zone and approach his challenge. It was a last minute decision for him to step up to this plate he had not yet prepared for. He was anxious and brave. He was aware that his chances of yielding a high rate of return were slim to none. He created his own readiness and he tried. I told him i felt proud of him regardless of outcome. Ultimately he was disappointed, but he tried. As his mom one could say that he was under my tutelage because I was helping him through the last minute steps that would lead up to this new experience. What I realized was that I was under his tutelage. I admired his spirit and courage. His effort was greater than his fear of failure. He inspired me. Fear should never interfere with effort, challenge or difficult decisions. For me, the sum of this experience equals wisdom and i feel honored to have learned it from my son . Swarthmore has so much to offer my son and he has much to offer Swarthmore . As this is true for every student, it is encouraging to know that Swarthmore recognizes and values a student's contribution , whatever it may be, in the here, now and future.
Sincerely,
Toni Fleischmann
September 14th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Dear Ms Fleischmann:
How fortunate you and your son are to have each other! And how lucky we are to have Mike join us! Thank you for those wonderful words.
Warmly,
Sarah Willie-LeBreton