the end

 

 That's a wrap on fall 2011, the first at Large Southern Regional University. The grades have been calculated, tabulated, backed up to the spreadsheet, submitted. The flood of e-mails has ceased. The windows are open, because it is currently 71 degrees. 

Last night, a small band of us gathered at a friend's house in a part of town I forget exists. She had lined the enormous backyard with tea lights in brown paper sacks. There was a cyprus tree and old, old windows propped against a shed. The place was cozy, and there were Kir Royales and a few rounds of Trivial Pursuit Best Card, and we talked around mouthfuls of potato skins and Moroccan orange salad. It was cozy and warm, even for Georgia in December. It was a fitting end.

People have asked me if the students down here are different from the ones up north, and the answer is not really. There are some wardrobe differences, but otherwise they are students. They gripe about work, they send e-mails that indicate no awareness of rhetorical context, they show up late and try to leave early. But some are also sweet and try hard, learn to buckle down, and, at the end of the semester, these are the ones that stick around or send e-mails that say I just wanted you to know that I really learned a lot, that I enjoyed this class, that I enrolled in your section for next year, that I think I'm starting to get this writing stuff!, and this still quiets and humbles me every time.