Another quickie

I'm trying to get a bunch of stuff marked to return to the lit electives tomorrow--but of course I ended up having a wonderful talk with Paul instead of just putting my head down, ignoring him, and cranking away. Still, I'm hopeful that I can get through a bunch of it in the morning--especially if I can get my fanny out of bed and here to campus without dawdling.

I had a brief moment of excitement when I walked into Advisement to find it empty--Oh, heavenly day, you mean I can get my own work done?--but by the time I sat down, there were students to be seen, and although it wasn't packed, there was a steady stream, so, well, there went that plan.

Class was fine. They're just churning through the process.

The main thing I want to record is that this weekend I got an e-mail from a former student from way back: she was in a section of Nature in Lit somewhere back between 2007 and 2009 (her years at NCC; I haven't been able to track down exactly when). She is about to graduate from Adelphi with a master's in social work, and she wanted to thank me for teaching her writing skills that she's used all the way through her academic career to this point. I wrote a rather babbling and incoherent reply, but it is hard to convey the combination of gratification, gratitude, honor, and humility one feels at receiving that kind of thanks, especially so long after the fact.

This is why I do what I do. This is why I fight the rear-guard action from the trenches. This.

And now I have to dash off--but I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow, not just because I'm hopeful about getting those assignments back to the students but also because I'm looking forward to talking with them about the end of the readings for both classes. It should be grand.