Josh Rubin

Last night I sent out the Bump notice. Registration is now officially open. On the bright side, the whole thing will be over in less than two months. Some time today I’ll tap the Sailors emeritus and my few other hole cards for judging, and the game will be afoot. (Which makes me wonder: if there were two games, would they be afeet? Or am I just being effete? Whatever.)

One thing I’ve been putting off talking about, I was nudged on yesterday when I went through the mail that had been collecting at the school since last season. To those who say that after they graduate the Hen Hud team goes straight to perdition, if they weren’t there already, I can point to our illustrious Josh Rubin, who was named this year as a Merrill Presidential Scholar at Cornell. This is a serious honor that comes with an incredible legacy: thanks to Josh’s hard work and dedication, Hen Hud now has as a very tangible benefit, an annual Cornell scholarship to award. (I think Josh also got a tee shirt, but I haven’t seen him to verify it; I trust that the Bump team reunion dinner will remedy this—my seeing him, that is, not whether or not he got a tee shirt. If he didn’t get a tee shirt, if I were him, I’d write a letter to somebody to complain.) The reason I didn’t report on this immediately is because the honorees get to name a high school teacher who has inspired them, and Josh named me. I’m a little embarrassed, but more than that, incredibly honored (especially considering all those times I stopped at that ridiculous stop sign in the middle of nowhere at Glenbrooks, not to mention the fact that I was a little leery about the barbecue eating contest against LWF, and more than once I threatened to take his TV away from him). And when the scholarship is awarded at HHHS, it will be in my name; Platon Dickey took it in 2006. That is amazingly cool, but of course Josh did all the work. I am seriously impressed.

Now if I could only figure out some way to use this to make Bump disappear completely…