Georgetown Professor Bill McDonald attaches the follow letters to and from Sumer, as well as words spoken at her memorial.

Dear All,

...Also attached is a copy of my remarks at the memorial service for Sumer here at Georgetown.

And, finally, I have attached a copy of Sumer's email from India to her family, friends and professors; and my response to that email. I love her email. It is a wonderful piece of writing. It is Sumer at her most spontaneous and at her best. It captures her great exuburance for life. ...

Bill McDonald
Professor


Correspondence with Sumer Alvarez

SUBJECT: RE: India!!!!

FROM: Sumer Nicole Alvarez

DATE: July 2005

Sumer Nicole Alvarez wrote:

Preface: I am sending one mass email out due to the slow and expensive internet connection in my village. I apologize for this and hope I can make up for it when I get back to the main city and find a faster and cheaper connection. Please feel free to forward this message...or parts of it...to anyone I have left out, which is a bajillion people. I must first address my professors, so everyone else please just ignore the first bit. Cheers.

Professor McDonald,

Thank you for sending the letter of recommendation. I greatly appreciate it. Please let me know how your vacation went, when you have the chance. Also, read below if you would like to know how mine is doing. Thanks again!

Best,

Sumer



Dean Cloke,

Thank you also for the letter of recommendation. I actually have heard a lot about the Corcoran's art program from the people here(a lot of them are from Georgetown)and am very excited about the prospect of being a part of it. Also, please send any thoughts you have on my (very) rough draft. I have a lot of time on my hands now that this first week has died down and would like the chance to work on improving what I have so far. Thanks!

Take care,

Sumer



ok, now for the good stuff

Hello All,

I am sorry for those who are worried about me that this email is arriving so late in my trip. I would have sent an email yesterday, but after the flooding of the town, the one internet connection here broke and no one knew where internet was in the next village over (or at least it seemed they did not know---my Hindi is only slowly improving).

So, how is India, you might ask? I might reply that there are bugs everywhere...and big ones at that... I might say that the small town I'm in is rampant with cows, boars, goats, lizards, and monkeys...that people live in absolute poverty, that the ground is covered with water and dirt and sewage....that is impossible to escape the smell of the sewage...that children do not go to school...that they follow me around and ask for rupees wherever I go...that I have been bitten by mosquitoes 32 times...that I have sweated through all of my clothes already...that I shower by candlelight...that there are no sit down toilets and no toilet paper ...that we can only drink bottled water...that people drive in the middle of the street or wherever they want...that the word seatbelt does not exist in hindi...that I was told that 9 out of 10 odds, I would get lice...that I have already gone through two bottles of sanitizer...that I have not eaten meat since I got here...that I was told by 6 men so far to pull down my skirt past my knees...that no one in my host family understands me except the host father...a little...that we get three power outages a day......that I stepped ankle deep in elephant poo...that I had my glasses stolen...

but, I would rather tell you that

India is fricking amazing!!!!!! I would use my whole bag of expletives to describe this place if this was not a mass email....Oh my sweet Jesus, it is absolutely beautiful...the people are beautiful....the places are beautiful....everything is fantastic. It has made me exhausted to see anything here because it is plain and simple stimulus overload. I can't even begin to describe everything....Well, I guess I started off by naming all the bad bits, but mostly so I could get to all the wonderment...that sounds ridiculously cheesy, but I can't help it. India is beyond words. Whoever told me it was something that I would never be ready for was right. Dead on.

Ok...let me try to get some organization here. I hate writing by the clock. First, I am fine. I have not been sick or had any type of stomach thing yet. This is only my third day in the village, Samode, and I already feel like I am welcome here. My host family actually consists of three brothers and their wives, children, a nd parents. Half of them sleep outside. THere is a temple in the house to krishna...they bang cymbols every time there is a time for worship...which is like four times a day. There are five small kids who live in the house...they are all adorable...my photographer's eye wants to shoot them all the time...the walls are all light blue and purple...the woman all wear traditional Saris and have their hair covered at all times. There is a shower head in the house, which is a luxury here. All meals are served on metal trays and consist of chubati (bread), rice, and some sauce/food. We had four days of training in Jaipur in the confines of a engineering college. This is where we ate our meals and stayed. All of us who are teaching were paired with a member of the college (all boys) and were assigned schools.

While in Jaipur, we went to see the amber fort/palace and many other temples, palaces, forts, markets----AMAZING!!!! I keep on saying the word beautiful in this country that by the time I get home I'll be sick of it. There is no order in India...at least in the places I've been....It has all been complete and utter chaos...which is really cool....

so different...everyone stares at the weird foreigners...most of them smile while they stare...everyone is so friendly...completely different mindset. I think it is only because we look so different, but it's really refreshing. Even in the more westernized places---bars---dance clubs---everyone is very friendly.

I have felt the most content here and now than I have at any other point in my life...well, I can't really say that being amongst all this abject povert...but everything feels very pure.

At the amber fort especially----oh man, the pictures I have taken are precious to me---I have seen so much only in the past couple of days---all the people and the wildlife (elephants, camels, monkeys) and it's so common here!!

the Indian students working with us in the villages are really cool too. Their English is pretty good and we've been having a lot of fun together. We actually had our first lesson today after visiting all the schools in Samode yesterday. The primary schools----alll these little kids---no shoes----lessons in the dirt----branches over them as protention----all their hair is cut short to prevent lice, which the majority fo them already have, skinny, tattered clothing...some of them haven't seen pens in their entire lives....kids start school as early as 2 and a half----so you have these crying kids that the older children are trying to maintain...some of the private schools have their children wear uniforms, which are adorable....private schools aren't that much better...my class is a secondary school so I have 10-14 year olds....300 of them. They know some vocab words, but we really need to work on structure, which is something I did not prepare...but it will be good. None of the faculty members speaks any english, though, so I have to have everything translated pretty much...a few english phrases here and there....but that's probably the toughest part right now---sorting out when and where and who we are going to teach...

ok...There's been another customer waiting to use the internet for a while. I should go. I am sorry this email is so scatterbrained----just think of it in the spirit of India. Wow, India.

Mom, I will call you today, if possible. I will send individual emails when I get the chance.

Again, I apologize for the lack of organization---I just hope it gives you all an idea of what india has been like...now, I should go before these two centipedes by my feet crawl up on me. hahahah India!!!

All my love,

Sumer

_______________________________________________________

SUBJECT: RE: India!!!! FROM: William F. McDonald DATE: July 2005

Dear Sumer:

Thank you for the truly exciting and fascinating email from India! You've captured the contradictions that are India; the beauty despite poverty; the hope despite the hopelessness; the power of the human spirit to overcome and even thrive in such squalor. Also I am glad to hear that you have taken plenty of pictures. You should plan an little show for the American studies people. I suppose you have already thought of writing your senior thesis about your experience. I am already thinking of possible titles, Another Passage to India; The Jewel, The Crown and The People; Moby Raj; Puritan Boston and Hindi India! :-)

Keep me on your mailing list.

As for my vacation, it pales next to your account of life in India. But we did get to see some fascinating places that you should plan to see before you leave the Washington area: the new American Indian museum; the new Smithsonian airplane museum out at Dulles; the Meriweather Post house and gardens, Hillwood; Red, "White and Tuna"- a two-man comedy act at the Kennedy Center, each guy plays about 10 characters from a small town (Tuna) in Texas and does quick changes -- very funny and no bugs; Camden Yards, Baltimore, for an Orioles vs Yankees game.

Good luck. WF McDonald



_______________________________________________________



Professor Bill McDonald Remarks at the Memorial Service for Sumer Alvarez



William F. McDonald Professor Department of American Studies & Department of Sociology and Anthropology Georgetown University

Oct. 25, 2005



Greetings. I am Professor Bill McDonald. I teach in the American Studies Program and in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

Sumer was in my American Studies course last spring, American Culture and Social Structure. We read books like Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America , and a book entitled Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia by E. Digby Baltzell and some other books.

I teach about 200 students a year. At 200 students a year I have a hard time remembering names. When I look at old class lists, I see names of many students about whom I cannot remember anything. But, some I remember, sometimes very vividly but for different reasons.

For example, I remember the well known basketball star who played for the Miami Heat, Alonzo Mourning. He took my Research Methods course. I taught him everything he knows about Chi square. It doesn't seem to have helped his game.

I don't remember him for anything he did or said in the course. I remember him because the first year after he graduated from Georgetown and began playing for the NBA, he made more money in that one year than I had made in my entire life.

My memories of Sumer Alvarez are different. Probably the most vivid memory is about her method of transportation for getting to class. I have been teaching for 35 years. Sumer is the only student who ever rolled into class everyday on a skateboard.

And Sumer 's skateboard was no modest affair. It was huge, not something you could fold up and stick in a bag while you were in class. I believe her skateboard must belong to the Mack Truck family of skateboards. The first time I saw it I thought it was a surf board with wheels.

On the way to my first class I saw this girl slaloming down the hallway in ICC. I thought to myself: "Who is this nut cake? I'll bet she's from California; and, I pity the poor professor who gets this one." At that point she took a right turn into 117 ICC, my classroom. I figured it was going to be a crazy semester.

Well, I was half right. Sumer was from California; but the more I got to know her the more I realized she was definitely not a nut. She was just a free-spirit, grabbing as much out of life as she could.

She made me think back to the days when I thought of myself as being a free-spirit. Skateboards had not been invented in those days. But if they had been, I might have cruised around on one myself.

Towards the end of the semester Sumer asked me to write two letters of recommendation for her, one for the India Volunteer Program of The Learning Foundation; the other for an internship in the Education Programs at The Corcoran Gallery of Art.

To the India Volunteer Program, this is what I wrote:

I have known Sumer Alvarez since January 2005 as a student in my course, American Culture and Social Structure. She is a faithful attendee at class and a useful participant in class discussions.

I have also gotten to know a little about her interest in India and in teaching. When she asked me to write this letter we had a talk about her extra curricular activities and interests. I was impressed to learn about the extent to which she gives her time and talent in tutoring activities in the Washington area. She has a good sense of social justice and a remarkable interest in India .

She has traveled abroad and to Mexico . But she says India is particularly intriguing to her.

I think she will make a good teacher/tutor in your program. She has a nice spirit about her and is easy to interact with. I think the people of India will like her and will learn from her.

- - - - - -

For the Corcoran I modified the letter a bit. This is how it read:

I am writing to send my enthusiastic support for Sumer Alvarez's application to the academic year internship program at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

I have known Sumer since January 2005 as a student in my course, American Culture and Social Structure. She is a faithful attendee at class and a useful participant in class discussions and a good student – albeit slightly off-beat, arriving at class on her skate board.

[Normally I wouldn't have included anything that might be considered a negative comment in a letter of recommendation. But it was for an internship to work with artists, not a law firm. So I figured they would read this comment favorably.]

My letter continued as follows:

I have also gotten to know a little about her interest in art, particularly photography. She included several photographs in her final term paper to enhance her argument. And, she let me select for my personal use one of her photos which she has taken during the year. I recognized in her the kind of enthusiasm for photography that I have always had. But in my earlier life I used to try to do the kind of artistic work with the camera that Sumer is attempting.

But Sumer has a considerably longer and more serious commitment to the art world than I ever had. Looking at her resume I see her interest in art was evident back in high school and has continued to grow. She is interested in performing arts and literature as well as photography. She has what I guess is an unusual combination of interests. She not only wants to produce her own work but also wants to support the advancement of the larger enterprise by organizing and managing activities of others devoted to art in its various forms.

Sumer has a nice spirit about her and is easy to interact with and has many interests. I think she would make an ideal intern. The internship's value would be a reciprocal one, a win-win situation. The internship would enhance her interest in the world of art and she would find ways to enhance her value as an intern to The Corcoran.

- - - - -

The photograph that Sumer gave me was given as a token of appreciation for writing the letters of recommendation. She brought several photos to my office and let me pick the one. They were black and white photos and she had mounted them, titled them and signed them.

There was one of a lamppost silhouetted against a mackerel sky. While the photo was rather artsy, the title was unpretentious and direct, "Lamppost." It was classic Sumer Alvarez. That's the one I chose.

Although it was already signed, I asked her to write something more on it. So she wrote the following:

Professor,

Thank you so much for such a rewarding year.

Yay! De Tocqueville!

Sumer



I have gotten only a few presents from students over the years. Usually it's a bottle of alcohol. I am not sure what that means.

In all my years I have never received a present that a student actually made herself. Sumer 's photograph was another first for me.

When Sumer arrived in India she sent an email to many of us. Most of you have probably already read it. It was wonderfully written, with great enthusiasm and humor and warmth. I am not going to read it here. I would like to read what I wrote back to her.

Dear Sumer:

Thank you for the truly exciting and fascinating email from India! You've captured the contradictions that are India ; the beauty despite the poverty; the hope despite the hopelessness; the power of the human spirit to overcome and even thrive in such squalor.

Also I am glad to hear that you have taken plenty of pictures. You should plan an little show for the American studies people.

I suppose you have already thought of writing your senior thesis about your experience. I am already thinking of possible titles for your thesis: Another Passage to India ; The Jewel, The Crown and The People; Moby Raj; Puritan Boston and Hindi India! :-)

Keep me on your mailing list.

- - - - - -

A couple of weeks later when I received that email from Sumer 's mother it went through me like a knife. I could not think of Sumer as a student any longer. I could only think of her as a daughter.

I have one child, a daughter, and at the time she was pregnant with what would be our first and possibly only grand child. They already knew the baby was a girl. I forwarded the email to them. A week later my wife and I were up in New York to visit my daughter and son in law. I hugged my daughter a little tighter than I usually do. We talked about what happened and we all came to the same conclusion. When her daughter arrives, we will never waste one moment of time with her.

Well, the blessed event has happened. Last Saturday morning we got a call from my daughter that things were happening. We hopped in the car and got up to hospital by 4:30 pm. We visited for a while and then went to their apartment to await the arrival. At six the next morning we got the call from our son in law.

The baby had just been born and if we hurried we could visit with her even before the nurses took the baby off to be weighed and all that. We sprinted the seven blocks to the hospital. We found the most beautiful baby girl waiting for us. We took turns holding her.

When it was my turn, I held that precious package in my arms, and listened to her cooing, and I thought to myself, "You know what, girl, when you are old enough, I am going to buy you a skateboard."

Labels: india, letters, memorial, the learning foundation india