This summer marks a change in my relationship with NMPD graduates: through a combination of greater engagement with social media (particularly Twitter), the ability to leave comments on this blog, and the fact that the 2011 graduates included some of the most talented, creative and fun people I’ve had the pleasure of teaching, I have remained much more in touch with students after graduation. Previously, the start of summer usually implied a rapid fade of awareness and contact, with the exception of students who befriended me on Facebook.

(That too is changing: one of the most pleasant discoveries from my expanded use of LinkedIn is learning of career achievements in the diaspora of NMPD graduates).

I met up with some graduates for lunch last week, and was surprised and touched to receive not one, but two presents: a sculpted, painted mini-me that now has pride of place on my office desk (and is now my new Twitter avatar), along with a fabulously long scarf, hand-knitted from the pattern used in season 16 of Doctor Who, which will be very welcome wrapped around my neck during the walk between my office and the classroom in the depths of winter.

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