Op-Ed: She was my cheerleader and my mentor. Then she was hospitalized with COVID-19 (via latimesopinion)
When I was in eighth grade, my English teacher, Carol van Zalingen, whom everyone called Ms. V, passed out small mirrors to each student. “Shine light in the darkest of places,” she told us. Our friendship began.
One day after class, I bashfully asked Ms. V if she would read a book that I had started writing. She looked at me gravely and said, “I would be honored.” From then on, we met weekly, even over winter break, to talk about character development, plot, dialogue and life. She offered suggestions, reminding me to keep writing above all, that I had a voice that needed to be heard, a story to tell.
We talked about everything, even topics that I ordinarily refused to discuss, including my father, who died when I was in sixth grade. Ms. V, it turned out, had lost her father as well, and she seemed to understand what others couldn’t.She quickly became my go-to person on campus, even when she was no longer my teacher. Over time, our talks evolved. We discussed books that we read, funny YouTube videos that we had seen and which treats our dogs preferred.
When I decided to have a bat mitzvah as a high school senior, I invited her to come up with my mom , and bless the Torah. “I’m honored, but I can’t. I’m an orthodox eclectic. But I can read a poem,” she said. So she readWe do one thing or another; we stay the same, or we change.
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