Action Trivia #2 had this prompt:
Get the mom of one of your team members to explain how special you are in an email. You will get more points the more we are convinced that it is actually your mom and the more special she makes you seem. She should send an email to citationneededteam@gmail.com. When you do this, submit the phrase "YOUR MOM" to the submission page so we can get you points.So here are the responses:
From: Monica Desai
Date: Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 11:49 PM
Subject: Amazing Deven Desai
Re my son Deven Desai, team coup croup:
Deven Desai is amazing. He is self-motivated, thoughtful, and caring. He is not afraid to try new things - whether rock climbing, learning Ancient Greek, or a new game like Settlers of Cataan. He is sharp and strategic - great at poker, other card games and games of strategy. He is insightful, and very ethical. In fact he won a headmasters award in high school for his ethics.
From: Tim Fieldes
Date: Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 11:51 PM
Subject: Message from my mother
As she is unable to email, here is her message to you.
From: Lynne Kagan
Date: Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 11:53 PM
Subject: Arielle
Arielle, my daughter is a super person. She was a great kid, smart as a whip and super funny. She has a terrific imagination is artistic and is caring and resourceful. No one is more tenacious than she is when it comes to problem solving. I'm alive as she saved me at the ocean when I was flipped off a raft by a rogue wave and swallowed tons of water. Always wanting to please, she apologized for not saving the raft too.
From: Lesya Melishkevich
Date: Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 11:54 PM
Subject: MY DAUGHTER
To whom it may concern,
You’ve had the pleasure of working with my daughter (Lexi Guditais) for a couple of hours now, so you hardly need me to praise her, but I will anyways . she has been talking about your trivia contest all week and i’m so excited for her to show off her smarts! I’ve never been prouder of her than when she told me she was continuing on our Williams trivia legacy (from back in the old days—guess it runs in the family!). She graduated last June with honors and wrote a whole history thesis! and I read every word of it! Every day she astounds me more with her new accomplishments. Even the small things! She’s graciously hosting this trivia event with her friends right now—what a sweet person to do that! Her kindness and her generosity are boundless. As her proud mother, I can say without a doubt that she makes me a better person and she makes everyone she encounters happier. Where would the world be without her! Lexi, darling, if you get to read this, ? ???? ?????! She said this didn’t need to be too long, but I hope you understand how much she means to me and how incredible she is!
Please, if you want any more information on my daughter, let me know and I’ll happily supply!
Best,
Marina
From: Mary Jo Wagner
Date: Sat, Jan 25, 2020 at 12:06 AM
Subject: Action #2 for Trivia for Left-Handed Disney Villians
My son, John Bihn, (Williams 2016) is so special that I am stepping away from caring for emergency department patients this Friday night to write you this email about him. He is my favorite son because he asks me to help him with this trivia contest every year, including at 4am one year when there was a medical trivia that he needed help with. He travels with me whenever I need a companion overseas for one of my medical conferences. John helps his sister long distance (while he was at Williams) with any math problem since his Dad and I didn’t understand this new math she was learning. He always remembers to call or send a birthday card to his Grandparents for all the special holidays and their birthdays. The only thing not so wonderful about John is that his old bedroom at home is still full of all his high school papers, that he has never cleaned up. So if he does win this trivia bonus from my wonderful letter about him, please ask him to clean his room next year when he comes home to visit.
Mary Jo Wagner
From: Kathleen Pawul
Date: Sat, Jan 25, 2020 at 12:08 AM
Subject: Your mom
I have but one child, but what a child she is! When my daughter Cassidy was born, I received all of the usual accolades and compliments you’d expect: “what a beautiful child!”, “look at that head of hair!”, “she’s a smart one, I can tell!”, “she looks just like you!” All of these were true, and then some!
This child of mine turned out to be special in so many ways... and let me count (some of) them:
From: Nicole Kitchen
Date: Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 11:55 PM
Subject: Re: Ben, you are so special!
Dear Ben,
I want to let you know how special you are. It started when you were born, and you immediately peed on the nurse. From there, it could only get better. You are so special that your ACT scores were ideal, but your shoe-tying abilities and oral hygiene habits are not. How does that happen?
You're my favorite son, unless we count the dog. Please don't tell your sister how special you are; she might feel bad.
And I'm pretty special that I'm doing this for a trivia competition.
Love you,
Mom
PS - Ben is so special that he didn't even send me the directions before (just your email address) so I'm adding more to prove that this is really his mom (Nicole). First of all, it's a miracle that I'm awake because I've had one glass of wine...BUT I live in the mountain time zone so it's earlier here. And the women's ice skating competition is currently on NBC - I can pretty much guarantee Ben wouldn't actually know that (he's not that special, plus he's playing trivia).
Ben is pretty special because he's so smart that he's stupid. But he's really, really funny and wins a lot of bar trivia, so as parents we love him for the laughs and free beers.
Nicole Kitchen,
Special Ben's Special Mom :)
From: Jane Rech
Date: Sat, Jan 25, 2020 at 12:16 AM
Subject: Why My Son Is Special??
My son, Harrison, just texted me and asked me to reply for his trivia contest. He is always thoughtful and considerate and with the exception of not always cleaning up his room- he’s a pretty great kid.
I learn new things from him constantly, and he is my go to for technical issues ( I probably ask him for help too often!). He is always patient and doesn’t make fun of the stupid questions that I occasionally ask.
I could go on, but I’ve probably already bored you so I’ll stop if you give him extra points!!!
-Jane Toll
From: Allison Smith
Date: Sat, Jan 25, 2020 at 12:21 AM
Subject: YOUR MOM
Dearest Murmur and Schro,
You are the very best kitties that a momma could have. you have fluffy ears, beautiful green eyes, little kitty noses, fantastic little black beans on your little feets with adorable tufts of fur between them, extremely beautiful whiskers (some of which are color-changing-- how do you do that?). You are both very cuddly and are fantastic at cheering me up no matter how bad a mood I'm in. You are terrible at catching toys but your adorable flailing is hilarious, as is when you run around like goofs and slide into the walls because the tufts of fur between your paws keep you from having traction on the wood floors. You are so special to me and I am so proud of you for flying across the country with us (twice!) and being social tonight with all the strangers in the apartment for trivia. You are perfect and beautiful and I love you so much.
Your mother,
Allison
(a picture is attached of these good good boys because I am so proud of them)
From: Jeannette Duane-Shapiro
Date: Sat, Jan 25, 2020 at 12:26 AM
Subject: I am from the team "Too Early For Flapjacks" Mother of Ben
Well, it is very late, too late to call one’s mother for a favor of this minimal importance. However, as I told my first born son, Ben (Benjamin Max Duane Shapiro), “no mother comes through in a pinch better than Ben Shapiro’s mother, Jeannette”. So, have you met my so, Ben? He’s 26, charming, handsome, funny, a walking encyclopedia, chatty, friendly, kind to cats, has great taste in music, evolving politics, big heart, unfailing loyalty… should I go on? I hope this helps my son’s team win.
Jeannette Duane-Shapiro