I just read the course evaluations written by the students in my College Writing I class. They include a statement that could be, word for word, one I read in the evaluations of the first such class I taught, back in 1975. "I thought he was really funny because he had such a low voice for being such a small person." I've been hearing or reading that since I was thirteen. I like to joke that I have a Hulk Hogan sized voice in a Don Knotts sized body. The incongruity is funny.

And I'm not small. At 5'10" and 160 lbs I'm about as average as a man could be. My voice makes me smaller.

That's an odd thought: my voice makes me smaller. Somewhere in between finals and reading collections of student papers I'm going to have to think about that. There may be an essay waiting.

As always, when reading evaluations, I feel the small sadness that is the end of a school term. Students leave; teachers stay. It is right and necessary that this is so. Between the beginning of a term and the ending, we get to have some assertions about the quality of life. Then we're out of time. After that I hope for good memories and the beginning of a new term.

One of the many beauties of teaching is that there will be a new term.