Re: reception

[csjhs@eiu.edu (Jeanne H. Simpson)]

Jim

If you feed them sugar and/or caffeine, they will come.  

I kept coffee in the writing center for years, though sometimes I wondered
about that as people set coffee cups on computer stations and left the
spigot open and demonstrated a remarkable facility for making messes. 
Even so, the message indeed was: this is a welcoming sort of place.

And now I keep a bowl of candy (mostly jelly beans or spice drops) in my
office, a lair that many people probably don't want to come to.  I have to
refill it frequently. I get regular anonymous "donations" of replacement
bags of candy or dollar bills.  And lots of drop-in traffic, which I like
to have since I learn something from every visit. 

A good idea, you bet.

Jeanne Simpson
csjhs@eiu.edu