Lydgate

Hi everybody. Please use the comments section to tell us what food you might bring to the reception. Not everybody needs to do this, but it would be great if several of you could bring something. (Maria, that spanikopita sounds good!)

Hi everybody. Use the comments section to suggest ideas for our end-of-the-year party. You deserve some celebrating! Where? When? How? Share your ideas and then we'll talk about them in class.

Doreen brings up the point that Friday, May 25 is Labor Day weekend. I agree with her that this won't work for our party. She suggests the Tuesday, May 22. Another possibility is May 30 (a Wednesday), the day before graduation. This might make the most sense.

What do people think? Good date? Any ideas about where? Someone's apartment? A park? Somewhere in Manhattan? A bar? A restaurant?

Hi everybody. So, we have place and time for our party set. I'm told we'll meet by the globe. This location seems very appropriate. We can imagine Dalí's Dream of Venus is still there!

If you can't get there by 5, be sure you have one or two people's cell phone numbers, so you can find us.

Use the comments section to let us know what you'll bring--food, drinks, cups, plates, etc. Also, if anybody has good directions to the park, it would be great if you posted those.

In the meantime, here's to a smooth and productive finals week!

I want to say just one more time what a great job you all did. Again, CONGRATULATIONS!

I said I'd post the Powerpoint slide show here, but it turns out the file is too big. If anybody wants it though, you can bring in a jump drive and I can give it to you.

See you on the 25th and / or the 30th.

I'm sitting with you all in the balcony of a large, modern, beige theater. (Why I am reminded of The Unconsoled?) You're all there, in two neat rows, and the graduation ceremony is about to take place. I distinctly remember Sylvia smiling this big beaming smile and Caroline looking at the stage with a very serious and concentrating expression.

There is a black charcoal grill at the end of our second row, and I have the sense that the goals are already heating up. I also know that even though we're indoors, the end of the row, where the grill is, is outside. We'll pour out of our two rows straight into our party!

There's one glitch. In the program, there is a listing of all the honors students who've won prizes of various sorts. At the top is a name I've never heard. I think to myself, "Did I go through two entire semesters without realizing this student was in the course? Is this possible?" I conclude that I must have and wonder what this says about me, as a teacher and a person. (I'm reading this book, What the Best College Teachers Do, and I felt it peering over my shoulder at that point.)

I managed to shake off the feeling of perplexity and anxiety, and we started to file out of our rows. That's where the dreams end.