I am He. I am the Master Teacher.

The assignment today in feature writing: Each student is assigned a different campus elevator in which to ride up and down for half an hour and then write about it. This is a sensory exercise, a concentration exercise, an ease-in-public exercise and an overheard-dialogue exercise. It also reminds them that, as Tom Wolfe recommended, a feature writer should always get there a half-hour early and lounge about.

But is it a useful exercise? Is it merely an elegant conception? The results will tell us that. Oh, next time I do it I'll get drama students to "stage incidents."

This is a good job. High school students would eat me alive.