When Cas and I go out to restaurants, he sometimes gets spotted. We’ll just be eating a hamburger or ordering a drink, and we’ll hear, “Mr. Dunlap?” It actually happens to him more often than it happens to me. I’ve always found this strange, because in sheer numbers, I’ve taught way more kids than he has. Add 19 years of teaching up with anywhere from 120-200 kids a year, and people are bound to remember you now and then, but he gets spotted more frequently. I can only assume his former students like the same restaurants as we do, and my former students eat elsewhere. Usually, though, there is a certain amount of anonymity in travel- enough that you can do a Segway tour or ride one of those electric razor scooters, looking like a first-rate idiot, and you can be sure nobody you know will see.
Whelp, I guess those days are over. I got spotted in New Orleans last night. I was wearing a fabric face mask and sitting on a streetcar, and a former student knew me. I’m basically famous, now. The child (my gosh, she’s an adult, actually!) had graduated from the school where I was teaching in 2013. That’s what made the whole thing even more impressive. Certainly, she’s been had plenty of time to forget my face in the intervening eight years, but somehow, she knew it was me with only half of my face visible! I suspect she’s 26. I was grateful that she introduced herself, and after that I knew just who she was, what clubs she was in, etc. I don’t think I ever actually taught her in a classroom, but a high school is a community, and you end up knowing a lot of people.
As we were hopping off of the streetcar last night, she said goodbye, and even wished my dad a a happy birthday. What a nice kid! (I mean, what a nice 26 year old...)
Just a strange moment from our travels. I’d better be on good behavior from here on in- or change my hairstyle- who knows how many other former students are lurking around this city.
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