1. Who won and what was the score?
2. How many years has it been since Cleveland won a championship?
3. How many years has it been for the Warriors?
4. For each team, which player had the most points? The most assists?
5. How many points did the Dubs trail at the end of the third quarter?
6. How did Curry help to make that up?
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2015
Dear You,
The Ohlone believed that their dreams were important. A dream about a kindly hunting friend wishing them well before a dangerous hunting trip was a good sign.
Last night, I dreamed about Steph Curry. He said, “Go for it!” which was what Mr. Chen said to me, too.
So I did wake up this morning feeling better than I had last night.
Mama and Sammy were in the school auditorium, in the very first row. So were Mele Lorraine and Mele Grace. Uncle Ziggy videotaped the whole thing.
Everyone’s presentation was very interesting. I wish I had time to describe them all.
Gabby showed slides of her grandparents’ sugar-cane farm in Jamaica. She held up some sugarcane samples that her mother bought in an Oakland market.
I really liked Amir’s talk about Calcutta and his very special visual aid—his mom! She modeled her exquisite sari from the stage.
Mia’s parents didn’t move from very far away (L.A.), but we all enjoyed her cool photos of Universal Studios and her grandfather surfing in the ocean when he was a teenager.
Hazel talked about the royal family in London and also showed a photo of the Russian samovar, now a lamp, which once belonged to a czar’s cousin.
Kenny’s parents came to California from New York. He mentioned his dad’s favorite basketball team, the Knicks. Some kids in the audience booed their heads off. Mr. Chen jumped up from his seat and held up his hand for silence. I’ve actually NEVER seen Mr. Chen look that angry!
Then Kenny told everyone that he had visited his dad in the city of Camarillo to interview him. He said his dad was in the penitentiary there, but he is coming home pretty soon. It has been hard for everyone, he said.
I admit that Kenny showed brave maturity for telling that story.
When it was my turn to tell my own story, I wasn’t as brave. My hands were clammy, especially because Mrs. Solomon, the principal, and some office staff trooped into the auditorium just before my talk.
Sammy had helped me set up her laptop for a slide presentation.
Mama had helped me figure out what to say. She advised me to have an opening statement and a big finish. I used index cards like she does in all of her talks.
As soon as I started to speak, I wasn’t nervous anymore. (Mama had told me this would happen.)
MY OPENING STATEMENT:
“My biological heritage is from my parents Rebecca and William, who came to Oakland from Wyoming. But my dad died when I was very little. Sammy is my mom’s domestic partner. She is part Ohlone. She adopted me. She is not a relative by DNA, as I once told my class. But she is a relative by LOVE. Love is just as important as DNA. Actually, more.”
My voice wobbled a little when I said that last part. I had to stop and take a big breath. Sammy winked at me.
Then I showed slides of the state of Wyoming, its shape an almost perfect rectangle. I showed photos of the Rocky Mountains, the High Plains, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone. I got most of my information from the Internet. I showed a slide of Belle, Al Wolney’s horse, and another of my mom and dad on that motorcycle. I compared my parents to the long-ago explorers the fifth-graders are studying, bravely venturing to new vistas.
But a lot of my talk was about the Ohlone, how they built their houses, what food they ate, how they used their senses, and how they patiently took care of one another and everything on earth. And I talked about how they were forced to live in the California missions from the eighteenth century, and, sadly, made to forget the Ohlone ways.
Those were facts we had already learned in third grade and reviewed in other grades, but everyone was listening intently.
I also described how the Ohlone made woven baskets and how these baskets were both works of art and useful. Then I showed a slide of the Oakland Museum of California’s replica of an Ohlone basket.
I told the audience that although Hazel Pepper’s drawing was excellent, they should go to the museum to see the basket in real life. No drawing or even a thousand words can describe how beautiful it is, I said.
Finally, I talked about the Ohlone modern-day protests and prayer vigils to honor their ancestors at the little memorial park near the Bay Street mall in Emeryville. I showed a slide of the mall. I told the audience it was built on top of the sacred Ohlone remains. I said it was our duty to make sure that doesn’t happen again, to anyone’s ancestors.
Most of the kids didn’t know those particular facts. I could tell by their shocked faces.
And then I gave MY BIG FINISH:
I am proud of it. Here are my last three index cards.
Then I said, “Now I’d like to introduce you to my mom, Sammy, my mele Lorraine, my mele Grace, and my uncle Ziggy, who are in the audience at this time. They are Ohlone. Mele means grandmother as well as great-grandmother in their native language, which is Chochenyo.”
Sammy, Mele Lorraine, Mele Grace, and Uncle Ziggy stood up and turned around to wave at everyone. The audience clapped.
I continued:
My presentation was longer than I’d expected. But I don’t think it was boring, because everyone clapped very loudly, especially my family and Gabby. I saw Hazel giving me her special version of a thumbs-up with her upside-down, double-jointed thumb.
Later, Mr. Chen said my presentation was excellent and worth waiting for. And I told him that every word of it was true.
At our class party, we tasted pho and spaghetti and samosas and fried rice and Persian rice and sushi and cornbread and enchiladas and veggie burgers and matzo ball soup and jerk chicken (Gabby’s) and börek and kebobs and kugel and flan and borsht (Hazel’s) and English trifle (also Hazel’s) and, well, MORE. And . . . Mele Grace’s salad with manzanita berry dressing.
Love,
Penelope
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015
Dear You,
Today was the last day of school. Off to middle school in the fall!
So much has happened this year.
Or does it just seem like a lot happened because I wrote it down?
Mr. Chen calls that a RHETORICAL QUESTION.
A question without an answer.
No, there is an answer.
A lot happened. And I wrote it down.
Love,
Penelope
PS. We all can’t wait until game four tonight!
QUIZ FOR MAMA AND SAMMY JUNE 11, 2015, GAME FOUR, NBA FINALS V CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
1. Who won and what was the score?
2. Why did the Dubs HAVE TO win this game?
3. Who was in the starting lineup for the first time this season?
4. What did he do that was so great?
SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015
Dear You,
Mama says she feels healthy and strong. She rests a lot. You are kicking and moving as if you were revving up to be born. Sammy is cooking and freezing meals for when you arrive because nobody will have much time to cook. Our house is quiet and peaceful. We don’t do too much, really, except watch TV, talk about basketball, play board games, and eat.
Mama says it’s the calm before the storm, and you are the storm. A good storm, like the rain we hoped for all year.
Here you are now:
Love,
Penelope
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
Dear You,
I can’t believe I just wrote that! Uncle Ziggy bought a bunch of tickets to celebrate my graduation!
Even though Mama and Sammy are Fans-in-Training, we agreed that Gabby and Hazel should go with me as fellow graduates and supremely loyal and longstanding Dub
s fans.
Uncle Ziggy picked us up early so we could watch Steph warming up. We were all wearing our yellow Warriors tees.
When we picked up Gabby, Angel ran out to the car, too, a homemade DUBS OR BUST sign pinned to her T-shirt, crying her head off. Her dad had to pick her up to calm her down. I had empathy for her. I will have empathy for you, too, You. It is hard to be little and miss out on so many things.
After we’d parked, we walked the long, long bridge to the stadium with hundreds of other excited people. The Oracle looks like a huge ship lighting up the night.
And inside! A sea of yellow shirts and blue shirts. Everyone talking and yelling! The smell of the fries. The taste of my hot dog. My very own ticket burning up my hand. Yesiree, all of my senses were working like crazy.
We found our seats, and soon the Cavs came onto the court, then the Dubs. Gabby and Hazel and I sat in frozen silence, watching them warm up. I couldn’t believe I was BREATHING THE SAME AIR in the same big arena as our team!
As soon as the game started, Gabby and Hazel and I weren’t frozen in silence anymore. We didn’t need to follow the instructions on the big sign flashing CHEER MAKE NOISE. We were already doing that, nonstop.
I will use two words to describe this game.
Steph. Curry.
He made seven three-pointers and scored thirty-seven points and got seven rebounds and four assists.
He did that move we love, losing the Cavs’ Matthew Dellavedova late in the fourth quarter, dribbling behind his back, crossing over, then shooting a three. So great to see his great moves in person!
But I am not being fair. Everyone was great.
Before Curry’s shot, LeBron James made a thirty-four-footer that cut the Warriors’ lead to only one point. We were scared for our team, but we couldn’t help being in AWE. I was surprised to find out that I didn’t hate him as much, seeing him in person, even though he’d been a traitor. After all, he is somebody’s father. I saw him and his kids on TV. And he made basketball look so beautiful. He was carrying the whole team on his back, Uncle Ziggy said.
But our Warriors just kept making those three-pointers! And Andre Iguodala shot a three and then made a trick shot. He grabbed the rebound and tossed it in with his left hand!
After that, Steph Curry’s three-pointers just kept coming. When Steph Curry had the ball, the basket seemed as wide as a swimming pool. He made every shot look easy.
And did I say we won the game? We did! 104–91.
WAIT! One more thing happened!
We looked up at the humongous jumbotron, and guess who was on it, singing War-ri-ors, War-ri-ors! and dancing to the music?
Love,
Penelope
PS. Proof that Mama and Sammy watched the game, even though I wasn’t with them: THEY SAW US ON THE JUMBOTRON! I decided their reward was no quiz for game five.
TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2015
Dear You,
Uncle Ziggy was wearing his stinky socks (and probably stinky underwear, too). Mama had slept in her Warriors hat the night before. Sammy kept her fingers crossed all through the game, even when she drank her iced tea. And I didn’t let go of my lucky plastic four-leaf clover.
I guess it all worked!
Love,
Penelope
QUIZ FOR MAMA AND SAMMY JUNE 16, 2015, GAME SIX, NBA FINALS V CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
1. Who won and what was the score?
2. Who are now the NBA CHAMPIONS?
3. Which Warriors made those three-pointers in the fourth quarter?
4. Who is the NBA Finals MVP?
5. Who are the NBA CHAMPIONS?!!!
6. WHO ARE THE NBA CHAMPIONS?!!!
FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015
Dear You,
I am staying up late to write this because I want to get it all down right away. Today was the Oakland victory parade for the Warriors!
It felt as if a million people were there. And guess what? There were MORE than a million people at the parade and the rally! We heard that fact later on TV.
Sammy and Uncle Ziggy and I were lined up near Oakland Cathedral on Harrison Street early, way before nine. Mama stayed home, of course, but she watched the parade on TV.
The sky was deep, deep blue. Everyone was cheering and crammed tightly together. Car horns were honking. Confetti was flying like blue-and-gold snowflakes. I saw a man with a cobra around his neck. I saw a lady walking with a Shetland pony. I saw Go Dubs painted everywhere—on cars, on signs, and on people’s faces.
Uncle Ziggy said some San Francisco big shots wanted to have the parade in that city. But Oakland said, NOSIREE—we want this parade! This is OUR beautiful day in OUR beautiful city and no one can take it away from us! WE are the Dub Nation! Oakland is THE city now! Take THAT, San Francisco!
I think every city should have a parade. A peaceful parade with no arguing or fighting. A happy parade where everybody’s family came from a different place in the world once upon a time, but here we all are in the same city, feeling proud. A fun parade with floats that make you stop thinking only about yourself and your problems and the things in the world that scare you.
And a parade that shows how good your city is deep down, even though some people in other cities may think their cities are better. Like the Warriors! Their loyal fans knew how great they could be for forty long years when they were losing. Look at them now!
Even the police were like all the rest of us, just plain old fans who were happy and proud. Except they were wearing uniforms, of course. I looked for the cop who stopped Mike. I didn’t see him. Maybe he doesn’t care about the Warriors.
Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t see him.
When Steph Curry’s float rounded the corner, he was shouting at his fans and holding up the big Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. He almost fell off! As the Warriors floated by us, they read our minds and we read theirs.
Us: “Thank you!”
The Dubs: “It was our pleasure.”
Then we went home to watch the Warriors on TV like we usually do, even though we had just seen them in person. There was a giant rally outside the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center near the lake, waiting for the Warriors’ speeches.
Little Riley Curry, Steph Curry’s daughter, was up on the stage.
MVT. Most Valuable Toddler.
Sammy told us that Fairyland was renamed Riley-land for the day.
I bet every kid wondered what it is like to be Steph Curry’s child. Maybe even feeling a tiny bit jealous, and that’s only natural.
All the speeches were wonderful.
Our mayor, Libby Schaff, said, “This city has had a love affair with this team!”
Steph Curry: “We’re going to suit up in three months and try to do it again next year!”
Me and Uncle Ziggy and Mama and Sammy: “YES, WE CAN!”
Love,
Penelope
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
Dear You,
I was waiting for Gabby, making shots in her driveway. Mike came outside. He watched me make a bunch of baskets in a row, using his cookie-jar tip.
“You’re really good, Penny!” he said. “You should definitely play on a team.”
That is one of the best compliments I’ve ever received in my life. Because it came from Mike.
I wanted to tell Mike that he should coach us now. But I was too shy. And then, of course, I remembered that we didn’t even have a team.
Love,
Penelope
SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015
Dear You,
This morning Gabby phoned and said that Mike had a surprise for us and would be picking up Hazel and me in an hour.
Lee-Anne was in the front seat. She said she knew what the surprise was, but she wasn’t telling. We would find out when we got there, except she didn’t tell us where THERE was.
We picked up Hazel, and before I knew it, we were pulling up to the high school. We all got out and trooped into the high school gym.
Lee-Anne: “Gabby told
me about that list of names on the bulletin board at your school. I wish I’d known you were looking for a league to play in. You really didn’t have to wait this long! I know some girls’ leagues. I can help you get set up to play this summer.”
Gabby and Hazel and I hoorayed our heads off.
“And,” said Lee-Anne, “you are looking at your new coach.”
More hooraying!
Lee-Anne: “OK, listen up, gals. You are awesome, and it will be an awesome team, but I warn you—I’m tough.”
Lee-Anne sure doesn’t look tough, I thought. Tough doesn’t smell like peppermint and roses.
But I was wrong! First, we stretched. Then she made us sprint around the court at different speeds. Then we did dribbling drills. And layup drills. And we finished practice with a 3 v 2 scrimmage, kids against adults. It was all hard work but so much fun. We sweated A LOT.
After that, we went to Fentons for lunch and ice cream, Lee-Anne and Mike’s treat. Mike looked very happy. I realized I felt happy because Mike was happy. So I do feel true love for him after all, even though Lee-Anne is his girlfriend and not me.
Time has healed.
And there was one more surprise!
Mike drove us all to the Oakland Museum of California. Right off the entrance to the Gallery of California History was a small room totally filled with GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS STUFF!
There were autographed basketballs and a jersey signed by all the players and a 2015 championship ring. One wall had a life-size photo of the whole team.
But the best part was the basketball shoes, displayed in a big glass case. The actual shoes of Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Festus Ezeli! Those shoes were HUMONGOUS! It was hard to believe they were the real things and not fake.
Here is how they compared with my sneaker:
I kept thinking that in another room, right next door, people were peering at Linda Yamane’s Ohlone basket, hushed and respectful and awestruck. And here we were, also hushed and respectful and awestruck, looking at those giant shoes. That probably means something important. I will certainly try to figure it out later.
Love, Penelope Page 13