Well, I’ve waited until twenty minutes until midnight to write tonight. That means I truly only have 20 minutes to write if I plan to post before the clock strikes 12. Or maybe I better plan on 18 minutes, since it takes a few minutes to cut and paste and then add tags plus a photo. Not that I can imagine a photo for this post at the moment since I have no idea what I plan to say.
I have spent the better part of the evening doing something I never do – tracking down on Facebook some of my very first students I worked with here in LA to see how they are faring. Yes, it sounds slightly creepy and I suppose it is on one hand. They don’t know that I’m looking at their Facebook pages – or the limited amount of information I can see on Facebook pages where I am not a friend. However, I genuinely am interested in seeing where they ended up in college and how they are doing now. I have, after all, midwifed a few hundred students over these past 15 years and I have a dozen or so that I checked in on tonight.
The gist. Most seem well. They have gone to excellent schools: Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Yale, UPenn, Berkeley, UCLA, USC, etc. the usual suspects for this group of affluent young people. They are for the most part off on their quests to make the world a better place with jobs in film and public interest. A few are in law school, one is in the Israeli Army. One or two look as if they’ve strayed off the straight and narrow path and may have met a few problems along the way – too much alcohol, too many drugs. I was surprised to see tattoos on a few girls I knew when they were ten who had parents that I’m sure remain unhappy about such permanent artwork. Still, overall, my first group of kids from way back in 1998 look healthy, happy and productive. That makes me smile.
So, now I have five minutes to get this online to beat my deadline. I will close with that in mind.
I guess one of the best parts of Facebook is that you can see how people are doing without intruding in their lives. I’m happy to see my former students are doing well. After all, I knew them when they were sweet, innocent and idealistic – in 4th grade. I’m pleased to see that they are off on their life journeys and having some fun along the way. Good for them.
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