Bill Cosby was in Lubbock this past Tuesday to talk to high school & college students about the importance of education. (Cosby has a doctorate in eduction from the University of MA.)

When I think of Bill Cosby, I’m flooded with memories & emotion:

1. He has the same birthday as Jordan Blake Watts. (I know this because Jordan reminded me of it. Often.)

2. He knows what it feels like to lose a son. (Cosby’s son, Ennis, was murdered in 1997.

3. He affected so much of my “childhood comedic training.” I used to go to sleep listening to Cosby records. (A “substitute family” of mine, the Davis’, lived down the street and, more than once, “endured” my 13 year old self reciting lengthy Cosby monologues for them. I remember them actually setting up chairs in their living room like a real “audience.”))

4. EVERY Sat. morning as a child, I watched “Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids.”

5. Finally, i always laugh when I think of Michael Scott (The Office) doing his “Bill Cosby doing Fat Albert” imitation, advertising “Jello Pudding Pops.”

Love this quote Cosby gave while speaking at Texas Tech this past Tuesday: “One of the most important things in college is not to decide whether or not the instructions the professors give are necessary, but to put your full mind and heart into everything given.” (In other words, “Learn how to THINK.”) He also warned students not to simply “glide along with C’s and refuse to try.” Illustrating this point, he said, “You don’t want to be [in surgery] and hear the surgeon say they only know 74% of what they’re doing.” (Quotes taken from TTU newspaper)

Here’s a pic of one of the albums I used to listen to over and over again when i was a kid. I still have it. I remember me, Michelle, and all three kids lying on the floor listening to this album together. (I could do that because Cosby’s ingenious humor is always clean.) They LOVED it – just like did when I was a kid.