First Day

I always wonder what my students are doing/thinking/feeling as we get ready for the new semester. I haven't met any of you yet, though I've seen the class roster. As of today, we have 18 students registered. Someone will add, someone will disappear to another class. I try not to take it personally.  The chemistry of a class is so important--we are this one organism made up of individual parts, and everyone brings something different, which means no class is the same. There will be a few students who are eager to talk, and those who sit in the back and hide (that's the kind of student I was in college).  I forget that it's scary too for students because they don't know what to expect of me, or the assignments, or of their fellow classmates.  My hope each semester is that students realize they are better writers and creators than they first believed, and that they leave the class with a wider understanding that the world is a diverse, complicated, and interesting place and that each and every one of us has a voice and a story to tell.