A LETTER TO MY STUDENT HATEM (RIP)

Dear Hatem,

Today, I had a dream that I was teaching in a classroom. The students were your classmates from 7th grade when I taught you all back in 2021. I asked a question and waited a few seconds. No one raised their hand. And then—I started to weep.

I wept because I realized you were no longer with us. I knew that if you were there, you would’ve raised your hand before I even finished the question, a smile on your face.

I asked your classmates if they knew what happened to you. They all said, “Yes.”

I’m writing this to you, Hatem, from Syracuse, in upstate New York—the same city where I lived when you used to call me in the fall of 2022, asking, “When are you coming back? Will you be my teacher again when you return?”