Great opening class question...

...to students, by the instructor I work with:

"What do you collect, and why?".

It brought out the quirkiest answers (dead insects, scarves, postcards, trips to national parks), and you could see some entering students really bond.

A few were into non-digital music, one because she fears what'd happen to her collection of songs if her iPod or whatever had a glitch, another b/c she had learned about the music industry and wanted to support the artists she likes, which you really can't do through streaming services, which are exploitative and benefit the big recording companies that have a stake in them.

The instructor I work with, who's from Singapore, said in one class that for a while she had a collection of letters from ex-boyfriends, but it weighed her down too much and so she got rid of them.

"TMI!", she joked with the class, and in the second class she didn't tell that anecdote.

Now, she collects mid-century furniture, which she thinks ties in to her fascination with the era of decolonization that birthed Singapore.

She is super cool, and I'm excited to work with her...

After the first class, we had a break for lunch, and then we had to be back in an hour-and-a-half for the second class.

"Rinse and repeat," she was like, saying farewell after the first class.