Your post may have aged a bit by this time, but it is of great interest and importance to me for a very good reason. I could not help but notice the leading photo of you with Professor Ziyad. He was my roommate and one of my best friends at Mudd! I am happy for him having retired from his long tenure at our alma mater. A flood of memories come back to me as I think about what we endured together from day one until graduation. In fact, we came to know each other before day one, as we met at a math/physics class at CalTech when we were high school seniors (and neither of us understood one whit of what was being taught by a wild hair grad student during those Saturday morning sessions). In our junior year, we became roommates at West Dorm, and he taught me one of my most important lessons that I ever learned at Mudd, ever. I was the studious one, hardly ever missing a beat when it came to studying and doing homework. And what did Zee do for me? At least once a week if not more often, he would urge me to leave my desk (that's putting it mildly) and go outside with him to play catch with a baseball. We threw that hardball back and forth to each other on the lawn between West and South dorms until it was dinner time, and could he ever throw hard! The very worst thing would be if I missed catching the ball, then I had to think quickly about the ball bouncing off the cinderblock wall and threatening to nail me from behind. The lesson he taught me was that friendship is far more important than just about anything else, especially getting good grades at Harvey Mudd! I would have missed that lesson entirely had it not been for Ziyad.
Years later, after I had survived brain surgery in 2008 and was getting around using trains, public transit, and walking, I called ahead and made an appointment to see my old roommate while he was chair of the engineering department. When we finally met in his office, I presented him with something he wasn't quite expecting: me with a baseball and mitt, urging him to go outside and play catch. On that day, we went outside and played catch once more. And he could still throw that ball like a rocket!
Jim, thanks so much for sharing this wonderful story. What a beautiful picture of friendship over time. I’m so glad to know this about your connection with Zee.
And now I know what to expect when you show up at my office on your next visit to campus. I’ll get my mitt ready.
Your colleague sounds like an amazing person. Thanks for sharing these reflections. I may put this on my office wall: “It’s not wrong to appreciate marks of external validation, but make sure they are plaques on the wall and not bricks in the foundation.”
Your post may have aged a bit by this time, but it is of great interest and importance to me for a very good reason. I could not help but notice the leading photo of you with Professor Ziyad. He was my roommate and one of my best friends at Mudd! I am happy for him having retired from his long tenure at our alma mater. A flood of memories come back to me as I think about what we endured together from day one until graduation. In fact, we came to know each other before day one, as we met at a math/physics class at CalTech when we were high school seniors (and neither of us understood one whit of what was being taught by a wild hair grad student during those Saturday morning sessions). In our junior year, we became roommates at West Dorm, and he taught me one of my most important lessons that I ever learned at Mudd, ever. I was the studious one, hardly ever missing a beat when it came to studying and doing homework. And what did Zee do for me? At least once a week if not more often, he would urge me to leave my desk (that's putting it mildly) and go outside with him to play catch with a baseball. We threw that hardball back and forth to each other on the lawn between West and South dorms until it was dinner time, and could he ever throw hard! The very worst thing would be if I missed catching the ball, then I had to think quickly about the ball bouncing off the cinderblock wall and threatening to nail me from behind. The lesson he taught me was that friendship is far more important than just about anything else, especially getting good grades at Harvey Mudd! I would have missed that lesson entirely had it not been for Ziyad.
Years later, after I had survived brain surgery in 2008 and was getting around using trains, public transit, and walking, I called ahead and made an appointment to see my old roommate while he was chair of the engineering department. When we finally met in his office, I presented him with something he wasn't quite expecting: me with a baseball and mitt, urging him to go outside and play catch. On that day, we went outside and played catch once more. And he could still throw that ball like a rocket!
Jim, thanks so much for sharing this wonderful story. What a beautiful picture of friendship over time. I’m so glad to know this about your connection with Zee.
And now I know what to expect when you show up at my office on your next visit to campus. I’ll get my mitt ready.
Your colleague sounds like an amazing person. Thanks for sharing these reflections. I may put this on my office wall: “It’s not wrong to appreciate marks of external validation, but make sure they are plaques on the wall and not bricks in the foundation.”
Thanks Mary-Chris! Glad you enjoyed the reflections.