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October 24, 2005

Small World

This probably won't mean much to anyone besides me, but I thought it was pretty cool. I had one of those "small world" moments this weekend while I was hanging out in the Gallery Place-Chinatown Starbucks waiting to see a movie, when I ran into a student of mine from a film course I taught at the University of Ilinois, Urbana-Champaign.

When the former student--I'll respect his anonymity--walked past, there was a vague flicker of recognition. He looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen him. After a minute or so, he returned to my table and asked if I had ever taught film classes at UIUC. Once we made the connection, the student--now working in New York, but visiting DC for the weekend--told me that my course had been one of the more exciting he'd had while in college, which was really a nice compliment. Now, given that I haven't taught at UIUC since May 2002, I'm impressed that he remembered me, but at the very least, the conversation reminded me--however fleetingly--that the work of teaching can have effects far beyond the four walls of the classroom.

Of course, if he knew what movie I was waiting to see, his good impression of me might have been tarnished forever.

Posted by chuck at October 24, 2005 6:39 PM

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