As is to be expected at this time of year, my morning so far has meant reading one senior project/honors thesis and two M.A. theses, all three of them creative theses combined with scholarly commentary. Thank heaven they are good. A hundred eighty pages of close reading would really suck if the papers weren't good.

This afternoon I will host a poetry reading by a few students in my Poetry Writing I class. They are presenting at the annual Student Scholarship and Creative Achievement Conference. This is becoming a tradition, as this is the third time my students have formed a "Poetry Corner" presentation. I actually had faculty members ask in the last two weeks if the Poetry Corner was going to happen again this year, because they enjoy it so much.

When I take a break from the theses I wander around the building and over to the student union and notice all the serious looking students dressed up and looking professional, the women proud in short skirts and pretty legs, the men studly in neckties and well-fitted suits. It makes me feel much as I did as a high school teacher when graduation came around, or perhaps some less momentous but still dress-up affair occurred and the students brought their appearance up to the level of the event. It's a kind of appreciation, pride, and affection mix that I don't know how to name.

And as convener I am wearing a gray pinstriped suit, white shirt, red tie. I polished my shoes this morning. I will demonstrate I take their work seriously. One participant, a student in her forties, told me this morning that she is so nervous about the reading coming up that she couldn't sleep last night. She has been a performer/singer/actress since childhood, but giving a reading of her own poetry is giving her the jumping yips.

I know how she feels. The atmosphere is highly charged.

I love it.