Bases Loaded

On base:

A portion of Section 6.09 of the Official Baseball Rules states that

The batter becomes a runner when—

(b) The third strike called by the umpire is not caught, providing (1) first base is unoccupied, or (2) first base is occupied with two out;

Rule 6.09(b) Comment: A batter who does not realize his situation on a third strike not caught, and who is not in the process of running to first base, shall be declared out once he leaves the dirt circle surrounding home plate.

This means that the batter may swing and miss at three pitches – striking out – yet remain in the game as the result of an anomalous situation after the third strike. More on this later.

Off base:

“With a Puerto Rican mom and a Japanese dad, of course she’d be a shoo-in.”

Baseless:

In what’s been a rite of spring for us and many parents in our community, we had again put in an application this year for Olivia for the lab school. While she’d not been selected for their preschool program for the past two years, we were keeping our fingers crossed that she might land one of their few open slots for kindergarten. Much to our chagrin, we received the all-too-familiar consolatory letter in April, the one that attempts to assuage our pain by explaining the realities of high demand/low supply. The rational mind is able to accept this at face value, but the curious (irrational?) one prods further: Why was my child not selected? Why were others picked over her?

The conventional wisdom is that the child’s race is the overwhelming factor for admission. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a parent say that his or her child had no chance because they were white, or that our children were ideal candidates because of their racial panoply, I’d be a rich man (rich enough to buy whatever it is I need to buy to counter this overly reductive explanation of the admission process). While it is true that race plays a factor – as it often does with schools seeking diverse student populations – it’s just one of eight factors – the others being class size, district of residence, program availability, sibling ties, gender of child, academic ability, and socioeconomic levels – that is weighed by school administrators when they make their decisions.

The school is mandated to reflect the racial makeup of the community at large: in that our county is predominately white, the school is still majority white (nearly 70% by last report). Most important to this discussion, prospective students are competing for spots with only those who are of the same racial background; in other words, white kids are not being squeezed to make room for non-white kids. I think the perception of it being so diverse is due to, no doubt, the optical illusion created from seeing a rainbow of faces in each and every classroom.

First base/first days:

Last Wednesday, we got a call from the principal of the lab school offering Olivia a last-minute spot in their kindergarten. We gladly and elatedly accepted. And so we stand here now, on first base and engaged in the game, even though we’ve technically struck out, having swung and missed on the first three pitches. To think that we almost didn’t apply this year – this has all been a proper lesson on perseverance. Here are some pictures from her first days: