“Fifteen years ago, I registered for Dr. Torrey, who was Mr. Torrey aka. Tor Dawg, in the year 2005 for an English class on one of literature’s most salient topics, Revenge. The selection of books is to this day the best I have ever read in any course. Sherman Alexie’s Flight, William Shakespeare’s wildly underrated Measure for Measure, and Stephen Fry’s Revenge or as it is known in the UK, The Stars’ Tennis Balls. In fact, Revenge was such a great novel, I still have my well-worn copy, full of text-markings on my nightstand.

I cannot say the same for my geometry textbook from fifteen years ago. Some may ponder if I took revenge on my geometry textbook for the year of torture it put me through. However, as the protagonists of the novels we read in your class, I decided to demonstrate mercy and simply banished it to my parents’ basement.

Dr. Torrey, you have contributed positively to my life’s work. There are several paragraphs of lively class discussions on finely curated novels and classroom theater performances. Thank you for sharing your passion for the written word.”

-John Negro '09