Three Tales Eventually Involving Students

1. Yesteday I did a little bit of half-hearted shopping towards a possible Halloween costume. I was looking for a long sleeved, black-and-white striped t-shirt. My half-formed plan is to wear black-and-white stripey tights, a black-and-white long sleeved t-shirt (or, if I can find them, something akin to black-and-white striped armwarmers), and a brown dress. Possibly, if I can find them without much effort, brown animal ears on a headband. I would be an okapi. Not thinking too seriously about my costume, though, as I have only been invited to one party so far. By undergraduates (not in my class!). So far one of the people who has RSVP'd is a former student who I consider to be a sociopath.


2. I've had a house guest since Thursday: A lama from Kagyu Thubten Chöling monastery who is giving teachings this weekend at the local sangha. Thus, last night I ended up at Buddhist potluck. In addition to all of the other characters in attendance (quite amusing to watch all of the assorted yoga teachers, qigong masters, and other New Age types do their various blessings of their food before starting to eat), one of the students who sits in the front row of the Calculus Circus was there. The more semesters in a row I teach the giant calculus class, the fewer places I can go without running into students.


3. Yesterday I got the saddest email from one of the students in my 15-student honors seminar. First off, Stu begins the email with a self-description in case I don't know who Stu is. Then Stu goes on about being stupid and only being in the honors program because of hard work in the past. I haven't responded yet (mostly because I've been overwhelmed by Buddhists). This is not the sort of problem that I can identify with, as I was one of the know-it-all obnoxious freshmen. As Stu asked when I'll be in my office on Monday, I suppose that I will address this in more detail then instead of over email.