Loves Hanging with Former Students Who are Now Friends :)

So, I didn't go over to the house today. I had the best intentions, but I had a lunch date with a former student which turned into an afternoon of catching up. Totally worth the time away from packing/cleaning/painting. Yes, this means I'll need to be highly productive tomorrow and in the coming days to catch up, but whatever. It will all get done.

At any rate, my lunch date was with my student who, before BES, was my One True Awesome Student. She had gone on to a great MA program after graduating with her BA, and she did very well and then, smart cookie that she is, she chose not to go on for the PhD immediately but rather to get a good job doing Other Thing about Which She is Passionate, and she is doing so incredibly well. In the time since I last saw her - which is like 4 years now, I think - she's totally come into her own. She's come out to her parents, she's thriving at her job, she's just... awesome. And it was so totally great to get to catch up and to learn about her life and who she's become. You know, one of the things that I love about my job is that my students stop being my students. At a certain point, a transition happens where they just are these awesome people I know, and who I really like and enjoy hanging out with. That transition takes some time, and it's always a little weird at first, and obviously it doesn't happen with every student, but when it happens, it's totally great. And you know, the fact that such transitions are possible is really wonderful - and it shows me that even teaching at a large regional university I really do develop strong connections with students that I teach. I know that's not true for every student, or every instructor, at my institution, but it's so awesome to know that it's possible.

In other awesome news, the panel that I proposed for MLA was accepted! It was proposed as one of the allied organization non-guaranteed panels, and I have to say, I'm really stoked that we didn't get rejected.

I've actually got a substantive post brewing about an actual topic, but I wanted to bask for a moment in the awesomeness of today before embarking on that enterprise. Not sure when that actual topic will turn into a post, but soon. I'm mulling.