Reinhard Ulrich, RIP

I got a message yesterday from an old college friend (she's not old, but college was kind of a long time ago) about the death of one of my favorite professors. Reinhard Ulrich was 77 and died of cancer. He was a wonderful man, who had a lot to do with my becoming confident that I could actually handle college and subsequently, life.

Well, to tell the truth, when I first sat down in his class, my self-confidence took a beating. Then later I started to believe I could really handle college. You see, I didn't really know anyone who had attended college when I moved to campus. I wondered if I could really handle it and I was convinced that almost everyone was smarter than I was.

Second semester of my freshman year, I was chosen for my college's honors series, based on my first semester's grades. Reinie (as we called him behind his back) led that Freshman Honors class (I wonder if he was brave or if he got stuck with us). The first couple of classes, the class discussed Picasso and Great Books.

When I say the class, I mean most of other people in the room discussed those things and definitely not me, because I'd never heard the phrase Great Book in my life and although of course I knew Picasso was an artist, I couldn't have told you any particular piece of art that he sculpted or painted.

What turned the tide was when we got the syllabus for the class (by the way, I'm sure it's not a surprise that I had no idea what a syllabus was when I started college), I bought the books, and I started reading Plato. Even though I thought the whole allegory of the cave thing was pretty bizarre, I had some semi-intelligent things to say in class and I gained confidence every week. That was mostly due to Reinie, who someone managed to never make you feel like you had said something stupid even when you pretty much did.

I'll always remember him talking about his "beasties," his German accent (it was the first time in my life I'd spent any appreciable time with someone not born in America), and his kindness. He died much too soon, before he could make men and women out of even more raw freshmen. Lakeland won't be the same without his presence.