Interesting Goularte Post-Addendum

The girl on the right, next to Grandpa, is the one who most closely resembles Goularte #3.

Goularte kid #3, who is two grades behind me but almost my age,  sent me an email - I have no clue how she got my address - asking me about the University of California system.  Cognitively speaking, she's probably a standard deviation or  two above her brothers. I told her based on what little I knew about her and her family, I doubt that her parents would want her at the campus I attend, but that there are a couple of others within the system that might meet her needs. She doesn't want UC-Merced because it's too close to home, and I don't blame her. UC Santa Cruz still has a bit of a loosy goosy  reputation.  UCLA is probably not realistic for her to expect to gain admission, plus I don't think her parents would be comfortable with her in LA.  Berkeley is too far to the left for her family. UC-Riverside might be a good enough school, but who in his or her right mind would live in Riverside by choice? In my opinion, her best bets would be UC-Irvine or UC-Davis, or maybe even UC- San Diego.   I also recommended a couple of campuses in the California State University system, including Cal State- Stanislaus, Cal State- Sacramento, Cal State Long Beach,  and Cal State - Channel Islands.  I still don't really know if she's a realistic fit for the UC system, but that's hardly my problem. If her parents can afford the application fees, there's little harm in applying.

It just seems weird that after talking about this family after not having given them any thought for several years, one of them would contact me out of the blue.

I'm curious as to why she would care about my opinion.

She may be the normal one of the pack. You know how some familiies are entirely normal, but then have one really weird kid, or are totally bizarre and  have all weird kids except for a single normal one? She's kind of the Marilyn Munster of her family.

I feel sorry for her  -- not so sorry for her that I'd want to room with her or anything like that, but I  have compassion just the same.  My concern in part is that her family hates me so much that if anything went wrong in her life, they'd blame it on the advice I gave her and say I was trying to sabotage her, or say I told everyone she had mastitis or chlamydia or worse. (My cousin Philip says there were local rumors last year that she had chlamydia, but it's unwise to place too much credence  in a rumor mill. ) I feel for her, but my plate is full enough without her nutcase family adding to the insanity that I face on a daily basis. I probably need to try to help her connect with a mutual acquaintance who can advise her.  My mom may know a few people in the guidance counseling business who can steer her in the right direction while keeping my family's name totally out of the picture for her own good as well as for ours.  It's still a Catholic version of a Hatfield/McCoy situation as far as I can tell.