Our Spanish teacher was Mrs. Wilson

I remember too little about the project. It was our sophomore year, and in hindsight I wish I'd kept studying the language beyond the state-mandated two years. Mrs. Wilson was younger than most of our faculty, and this particular sophomore found her delightfully lovely. This post isn't about her, though; despite what I suppose is a MacGuffin of a lead-in, this memory lies in another direction.

One way in which the class requirements were more advanced in the second year was a mandatory Spanish project. We had an incredible amount of leeway into what it could be, and since several of us were at least somewhat Trekkies, we decided to do a Star Trek skit. Our friend Joe took the lead on the project, and portrayed Spock. I guess, based on a comment he left on my FB share this afternoon, that our friend Randy was Kirk; I was McCoy. I can't remember who portrayed any of the other roles. I'm sure our friend Ken was in it, and perhaps Ed and Jack, and I'm thinking that a classmate named Gary joined us, too, which sticks with me because he was one of the few black guys in the school and my social circle didn't otherwise overlap with his. I can't recall who anyone else played, how many total were involved in the project, or anything about the plot except that there was some falling around the set and maybe a staged fight. I barely learned my lines, let alone contributed much else to the translation. I think I may have helped more with the props and staging? (Geez, I hope so.) For Joe and I, our semi-antagonistic roles became a running gag throughout high school and even into college, with me pulling out the "I'm a doctor, not a.. . ." line (in English; always thereafter in English!) whenever the occasion remotely warranted it.  Joe and I both attended Maryland for freshman year, but I think because of his grades he was gone after that - maybe even after just a semester.

We completely lost touch, as I did with pretty much everyone else when I joined the service; there were no e-mail and Facebook then. To my great sadness, unlike many of the others whom I'm blessed to be in touch with again, I won't be reconnecting with Joe in this life.

A hilarious Audi commercial that I saw and shared on FB has had me remembering him this afternoon.