I am at the Conference of College Teachers of English and the Texas College English Association conference this weekend in Beaumont. It’s a small town about 90 minutes from my home. It’s also a small conference, with lots of quite nice folks.
Because of a funeral the grad students from my alma mater were here without anyone else from the university. Of course they’re adults (and they had a lot of fun hitting all the diners on the way down), but they were really planning on having Dr. W help them through the conference labyrinth. I enjoyed meeting them and I took them out to dinner.
I gotta tell you, if I had realized how good I had it at my alma mater, I might not have left. And if I had talked to these guys before I decided not to apply for the opening, I might have done it. They had stories that really made me miss folks.
One of them is writing her thesis on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I told her I want to read it when she is through. I teach that book in my freshman literature class and I would love to have some new material.
Overall it was a good evening. I miss grad students. And I miss being a grad student.