Opinion

Letters to the Editor

BY
PUBLISHED: 09/09/2008

I found out a good friend of mine — whom I regretfully had not seen or talked to in a few years — died Saturday of lung cancer. He was 61.

Leroy Gardner Jr. was

one of my professors at the University my freshman year. He taught a class called Multicultural Relations in the General College. That class, and that man, had a bigger part of making me the person I am today than anything or anyone I experienced at the University.

The class was all about learning about people’s differences. We covered it all —whether it was skin color, religion, sexual orientation, class or ability. I entered Leroy’s classroom ashamed and embarrassed of who I was, because of how I

had been treated because of my differences. I left his classroom 15 weeks later with my head held a little higher. I was more open to sharing my experiences and listening to others. Through the courage and self-confidence

I learned from him I was able to become a guest speaker in his class for the next two years. I told a group of my peers,

sometimes numbering close to 40 people, issues I did not even like discussing with my own parents.

Leroy was not just a professor to me and I don’t think he was just a professor to a large number of his students. His guidance and friendship did

not end when the clock hit 12:30 when his class ended. After his class ended I and many other students would engage him

in conversation. More often than not, however, he would engage us. I was no exception. I took full advantage. That first semester I had more than an hour of free time after his class and before my next class. I started going to his office every day just to talk.

If I had a question about the course material we rarely kept on topic for very long. The variety of topics we talked about was endless. I can say this for sure: Some of the things we talked about, I have never talked about with a teacher or professor before or since.

It was strange when I think about it, and no doubt strange when people saw us together, and we were together a lot during our free time. I was this

little white kid, who, depending on my facial hair, looked anywhere from 14 to 19 years old, and he was this “giant black man,” as I and a few others

occasionally called him. We were opposites in a lot of ways. But that is one thing I learned from him. You can find someone you never would have thought

you would connect with, and find out you have a lot in common, if you’re just willing to open your eyes and your heart.

One thing we had in common was sports. He was a former athlete, he was the first local African American to receive a full basketball scholarship to the University, and I

was, and am, a fanatic about sports and sports history. I was in heaven listening to him talk about playing basketball against Elgin Baylor as a kid.

He got a kick out of the fact that he could talk about sports from when he was my age with someone that was 35 years younger.

No matter what I said to him, he had an uncanny ability to know exactly what I was talking about, and how I felt — a trait I would like to think I picked up a little bit from him. He may be gone, way too soon, but I am certain, as long as I am walking around, he will not be forgotten.

Adam Carrier

University student

Editor’s note: Leroy Gardner Jr. played for the Gophers basketball team from 1967 through 1969 and worked at the University throughout his life as an adviser and professor. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in early February and died Saturday in St. Paul.

Comments

The Minnesota Daily wants to host a forum for discussion regarding issues and stories regarding the University of Minnesota and surrounding communities. However, the online comments should not be used to threaten or defame. This is a place for people to be heard, and want to contribute to discussion. Those who persist to use expletives, inappropriate, racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post.

Tue, 09/09/2008 - 11:09am — Heather (not verified)

New Format Clock

May I suggest that the Daily add a running clock on the front page tracking just how long this new format has been sucking?

Tue, 09/09/2008 - 4:25pm — Anonymous (not verified)

Make sure the clock is big

Make sure the clock is big enough so that we can see it from across the room as we watch the daily website evolve over the next few months, too. Please and thank you.

Sat, 11/08/2008 - 12:04am — Anonymous (not verified)

werwer

wedding dresses
wedding dress
bridal dresses
designer wedding dresses
wholesale wedding dresses
bridesmaid dresses
flower girl dresses
prom dresses
quinceanera dresses
婚纱
 礼服
 婚纱礼服

Fri, 11/14/2008 - 11:41pm — Anonymous (not verified)

since it’s Mr Han’s

since it’s Mr Han’s suggestion. They doubt about my ability. All the feeling mixed with grievance, sadness and wrath flooded into my heart. I couldn't hold back my tears in my eyes. I ran out of the room, with tears rolling along my cheeks. The colleagues called me, but I didn’t answer them.Since spring is coming, it’s always a wow power leveling depressing and sloppy day. The power leveling sullen sky, the damp floor, and wow powerleveling the dull air make everyone downhearted. The wow gold spring mizzle keeps falling as tears fallingwholesale furniture in my heart. I wow gold felt depressed, rage and dysthymic. There were lots of terrible things powerleveling happening, which made me exhausted, both physically and mentally. cheap wow power leveling Wholesale handbagsThe other night two students fought in the class when I was cheap wow powerleveling on duty, though there was nothing serious power leveling aftereffect because Furniture Wholesaleof disposal in time, the head teacher Mr Han thought it was all my fault. He blamed me for wholesale clothingnot taking good charge of the class. He even complained about me in front of thepowerleveling leaders of the school. Therefore, the Wholesale jewelryleaders always keptpowerleveling wow an eye on me, trying to find my fault, and then accusing me of my careless teaching Ceramic powerleveling wowtilemanner and unsatisfactory teaching result. What’s more, one afternoon Mr Han satirized me with sharp and vitriolic words. He saidpower leveling wow I Micro sd cardswas inability of being a good teacher. I wow powerlevel felt very wronged. In fact, I have tried my best. Every day I work day and night, preparing forwow powerlevel the lesson. I spend all of my free time to tutor the backward students, helping them to improve theirConsumer Electronics wow power level levels and abilities. As a teacher, Iwow power level am kind and friendly to all the students. When they are in blue mood, I try my best to wow power level comfort and encourage them, although it costs me a lot of personal time. I throw all my heart and soul, my time and my energy into my job, however, I get no recognition and acceptance from others. Even the Wholesale clothingnaughty students often make mischief on me, since I was not a fearful teacher but with a good temper. Therefore, from the bottom of my heart, I hate everything here. Things went worse when yesterday we had dinner together, Mr Zhaowow power level told us that they discussed in their administration meeting whether I would not on duty of Wholesale Jewelryevening study any more,

Mon, 12/01/2008 - 8:02pm — wer (not verified)

When she awakened Sayvil was

When she awakened Sayvil was already hard at work. wowgold directing her other assistants. baladeur MP3 rather than healing the. wowgold soldiers herself. baladeurs MP3 her own strength exhausted. cheapest wow gold from the night before. digital mp3 player Alireana, good you are awake. gold für wow Come here a moment. gold in wow I have a task for you. gold wow Your gifts are with healing minds. mp3 mp4 rather than bodies as mine is. mp3 player I have told you the story. mp3 players of the things done to Niyara. mp4 player I would like you to find her and Messira. or wow and see what you can do for her. serveur wow I leave her care in your hands. world of warcraft gold you will know what. world of wow is best for her. wow geld when the time comes. wow gold 1000 They currently live on Theramore Island. wow gold 5000 withing the Dustwallow Marsh. wow gold billig Alireana nodded once. wow gold günstig I will do my best for her. wow mein gold de If I can find her. wow or She turned to leave. wow po turning back to smile at Sayvil. wow powerlevel I will not fail you. she walked out of the. makeshift hospital heading.

Mon, 12/01/2008 - 8:02pm — wer (not verified)

其实我真的非常羡慕战士. 免费网络游戏作为一名布衣.

其实我真的非常羡慕战士. 免费网络游戏作为一名布衣. 免费游戏注定我永远也无法战斗在第一线. 免费游戏下载为战友扛下所有的伤害. 魔兽但是现在. 网络游戏当大批的怪冲过来的时候. 网游我看到远方的战士发出愤怒而绝望的怒吼. 游戏我看到猎人发疯一般的一箭接一箭做着徒劳的抵抗，我也看到身旁牧师恐惧绝望的目光. 游戏下载于是我突然感到很高兴. 在线游戏因为此刻我终于可以从一名被保护者变成一名保护者. 战神不败手中凝聚起残留的魔法能量. 最新免费网络游戏下一刻，爆发，犹如一朵灿烂的烟花. 最新网络游戏吸引住所有怪物的目光，脆弱的身躯. 最新网游在所有怪物的疯狂攻击下显得如此的单薄. 最新游戏但我明白我不能现在就倒下. 我还要再撑久一点. 再久一点. 直到战士赶来. 直到牧师脱离危险.

Mon, 12/01/2008 - 8:03pm — wer (not verified)

In the aftermath . 2GB MP3

In the aftermath . 2GB MP3 PLAYER of the horrific conflict. 4GB MP3 PLAYER Malfurion and Tyrande helped their. buy wow gold people rebuild their shattered villages. buying gold world of warcraft Slowly the night. cell phones elves began. cheap cell phones to adjust to their mortal existence. cheap wow gold Such an adjustment was far from easy. cheap wow gold and there were many night elves. cheap wow gold who could not adjust to the prospects of aging. cheapest wow gold disease, and fraility. eve isk Seeking to regain their immortality. mp3 players a number of wayward druids. phones cell conspired to plant a special. portable mp3 player tree that would reestablish. portable mp3 players a link between their spirits. sell wow gold and the eternal world. world of warcraft gold When Malfurion heard about this plan. wow he warned that nature. wow gold would never bless such a selfish act. wow gold Shortly thereafter. wow gold Malfurion's spirit was. wow gold somehow lost within the depths. wow gold of the Emerald Dream. wow gold Though his fellow druids. wow gold kaufen attempted to find his wandering spirit. wow gold kaufen only his body remained sleeping within his Barrow Den.

Mon, 12/01/2008 - 8:03pm — wer (not verified)

For ten thousand years. 8GB

For ten thousand years. 8GB MP3 PLAYER the immortal night elves. apple ipod cultivated a druidic society . canon digital camera within the shadowed recesses of Ashenvale Forest. digital camera Then the catastrophic. digital cameras invasion of the Burning Legion. dvd player shattered the tranquility of. eve isk. their ancient civilization. free online games Led by the Arch. ipod Druid Malfurion. ipod nano Stormrage. ipod shuffle and the Priestess. ipod touch Tyrande Whisperwind. ipods the mighty night elves rose. mp3 to challenge the demonic onslaught. mp3 player Aided by the newly. mp3 player arrived orcs and humans. mp3 players the night elves succeeded. mp4 in halting the Legions. portable dvd players advance and defeating its master. wow the demonlord Archimonde. wow gold Though victorious. wow gold the night elves were forced. wow leveling to sacrifice their. wow powerleveling cherished immortality. zubehoer mp3 player and watch their beloved forests burn.

Mon, 12/01/2008 - 8:03pm — wer (not verified)

It was cold in Arathi. 1GB

It was cold in Arathi. 1GB MP3 PLAYER The weather was never. 1GB MP3 PLAYER agreeable to Captain Abel Marsh. 1gb mp3 players He was born to. 2GB MP3 PLAYER the nation Stromgarde . best mp3 player and had lived amidst the rolling hills. buy mp3 player and rocks of his homeland for nearly forty years. buy mp3 players Yet no matter how long he lived he would never. cheap mp3 player get used to the. cheap mp3 players frigid air that permeated. free online war games the countryside. gold wow during the winter. hdro gold Marsh clutched his. lecteurs mp3 cloak closer to his chest in. lotro gold a bid for additional warmth. lotro gold He sometimes fancied the idea of spiriting off to some land with. mp3 mp4 player a warmer more favorable climate. mp3 player But any plans. mp3 player wholesale he hatched to do. mp4 player just that never came. mp4 players to any fruition. online games When he was younger he might have traveled south to the nation of Stormwind, but that was also a failed plan. play war games Just as well he thought; better to be freezing up. wow gold north than a slave to the orcs. wow gold Marsh stepped out of his tent that. wow oro overlooked a small military camp.

Tue, 12/09/2008 - 8:09pm — cheap wow gold (not verified)

Once upon a time, there was

Once upon a time, there was an island called the 'Land of the Sun'. People of all world of warcraft goldshapes, sizes and appearances lived there. Everybody knew everybody buy wow goldand they were like one big happy family. But slowly, as time passed, the world of warcraft goldchildren grew bigger and had more children who grew bigger and had more children. Things reached a stage where there were so many wow power levelingpeople in the island that not everybody knew everybody else. People started doing their own things, talking in their own world of warcraft goldlanguages and writing their own scripts. So eq2 platthe elders of the island came together and decided to open a school where the cheap wow goldchildren could be taught about the history, geography, rules, rituals and languages of the people of the 'Land of the Sun'. However, when it came to deciding on the teacher, the group of world of warcraft goldelders was equally divided between two of the candidates - Ms. Know-it-all and Ms. Find-it-out. Since they couldn't decide on which wow powerlevelingcandidate to go with, and being an amicable group of people, the elders decided to have two schools, each being run by the twoworld of warcraft gold candidates. The islanders then sent their children to the wow power levelingschools of their choices. Misses Know-it-all and Find-it-out ran their schools very differently from each other. As a matter of fact, theyworld of warcraft gold were poles apart in theireq2 gold methods of teaching. Miss Know-it-all was a total disciplinarian who believed that children should be only seen and not heard. Unless, they were asked a question and cheap wow goldthey were replying to it. Her belief was simple. She was there to ask questions and the children were there to answer it, after she had taught them the lesson. And god forbid, if they were toworld of warcraft golddisagree with any of her teachings. You see, the children were not allowed to think. On the other hand, Ms. Find-it-out believed buy wow goldthat she did not have all the answers. So everybody was world of warcraft goldallowed to ask questions and everybody tried to find the answers, individually or together. Slowly, the islanders became aware of wow power levelingthis distinction and started taking sides. They broke up the island into eq2 plattwo different zones and built up a wall so that one set world of warcraft goldof people did not interact with the others. Time passed and the children grew bigger. They in turn had children who went to the wow gold kaufensame schools. People on one side of the island came to be called 'Know-it-all' and peopleeq2 goldon the other side of it 'Find-it-outs'. But as the population grew, the space available for the peopleworld of warcraft gold to live in got smaller and smaller. Till one day the people in the 'Know-it-all' land had no standing space. As they pushed and wow powerlevelingshoved each other, the wall dividing them from the dofus kamaspeople of the 'Find-it-out' just gave way. The wall broke down and the two divided people looked at each other for the first time in the century. And what did kamas dofusthey see? The people of the 'Find-it-out' land saw a whole lot of identical looking people staring at them with similar expressions on their faces. These were the 'Know-it-alls'.

Tue, 12/09/2008 - 8:10pm — dofus kamas (not verified)

They had the smug expressions

They had the smug expressions on their faces which suggested that if there were something to know, they knew of it and whatever they didn't know, was not dofus kamasworth knowing anyway. They were all similarly dressed, moved identically and dofus kamasgasped together, as though on cue. Also, they were cramped together like a pack of sardines in their part of the island. Except for Lord of the Rings Online Goldtheir ages reflected in their physical condition, they could all have been copies of each other! On the other hand, the people LOTRO Goldof the land of 'Know-it-all' discovered that the 'Find-it-outs' were very different. Not just from them but also from each fly for fun penyaother. They wore different coloured costumes, had different expressions on their faces, moved differently, talked differently and behaved in a manner that was not at all alike. What they flyff penyaalso saw was the difference in the physical lands. Whilst the land of 'Know-it-all' was full of nothing but human beings, the Final Fantasy XI gilland of 'Find-it-out' had its entire ugg bootsspace planned out. There were areas for playing, schooling, working ugg bootsand housing. They were not cramped. And they did not seem to be too ugg boots
many people! The peopleeq2 plat from the land of 'Know-it-all' wondered how things had turnedffxi gil out so differently in their two lands. Their elders came forward and enquired of the elders of the land of the 'Find-it-out' as to how they had managed to be so diverse and still be apparentlyLord of the Rings Online Gold happy and prosperous. The friendly elders of the LOTRO Goldland of 'Find-it-out' called on their aging teacher and requested her to share flyff penyathe secret of their prosperity. The teacher smiled and said, 'Oh! We have aeq2 goldsimple way of living and teaching .' And this isbuy flyff gold how she described it. 'If you don't know ask a question seek an answer and you'll find one. WHO will tell you of ffxi gilthe people WHY will give you a reason HOW will tell of the manner And WHEN of the duration. WHAT describes, well, what happened! WHERE describes destination. So we learn and so we progress buy ffxi gilAnd the whole life's an education.' She said that her pupilsLord of the Rings Online gold had gone all over the world with their questions and come back withLOTRO gold answers that helped them in better living. The 'Know-it-alls' realised that there was a lot more in the world that they did not know fly for fun penyaof. And it helped to share knowledge and ask questions. It was not a sign of ignorance but an indication of a desire to know flyff penyamore! They promised never to build a wall again Final Fantasy XI gilbetween the two lands and decided to share their knowledge. Today, the 'Know-it-alls' and the 'Find-it-outs' look very similar to each other, and ffxi gilare very different from one another. If you don't know what that means, ask a question!

Wed, 12/10/2008 - 2:41am — yangkee (not verified)

You've got an interesting

You've got an interesting convergence between wow goldthe circumstances that we find wow goldourselves in and the agenda that wow gold have set. Because we need

Wed, 12/10/2008 - 2:41am — yangkee (not verified)

to jump-start the economy,

to jump-start the economy, all the proWarhammer goldproposals that I put forward warhammer online goldearlier are ones that are directly Final fantasy xi gilto put people to work ffxi giland get the economy cheap ffxi gilmoving: a tax cut for 95Final fantasy xi gilof working families -- I think thffxi gilthat's needed more than buy ffxi gil ever -- a serious investment kamas dofuscosts and error; that dofus kamasis needed more than everkamas dofus dofus kamasSo what you're seeing Ugg Bootsessentially, an effort Ugg Bootson the part of my transition Ugg Bootsdevelop an economic

Wed, 12/10/2008 - 2:42am — yangkee (not verified)

Well look, my economic wow

Well look, my economic wow power levelingteam is reviewing wow powerlevelingthese issues. You knowwow levelingI've consistently wow power levelingsaid on trade issues wow powerlevelingthat I want environmental tales of pirates goldand labor provisions silkroad goldthat are enforceable silk road gold those trade agreementsage of conan gold But I also have said age conan goldthat I believe in age of conan power levelingfree trade and don't aoc goldthink that we can draw aoc power leveling moat around the American aoc levelingeconomy. I think mmporpgthat would beonline gamesmistake. When diablo 2 cd keycomes to unionsdiablo 2 cd key have consistently daoc goldsaid that I want to strengthendaoc plat

Fri, 12/19/2008 - 7:23am — massachusetts water damage (not verified)

I am 46 now and was little

I am 46 now and was little white girl in a jr high class. I too had a black male teacher who was memorable for me. He was very confident and intelligent, it was a math class, and he gave me confidence because math was not my best subject, ever! It is nice to recall certain teachers who influenced you in some way more than others and it is a shame that some of them never get the recognition they deserve. Molding young people in education is one of the most important jobs a person can have and I give much praise to those who do it well. It also goes to show that you should not go too long staying in touch with anyone in your life who is important to you because you never know when that last opportunity for talking with them once more will pass you by. Touching story.http://www.massachucetts-water-damage-restoration.info/

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 2:30am — Anonymous (not verified)