It's funny, how I tend to remember physical attributes of people I knew, and project my feelings about those people on strangers who have similar attributes.

I just helped two students - one, who was concerned because the class he needed this summer was cancelled, the other, who missed his class this morning because he "couldn't find the building".

Oddly, I found it harder to be cordial to the one who had the cancelled class, because he looked very much like - same height, same dark messy-curly hair - a prof I once had, someone whose arrogance was only exceeded by his incompetence in teaching. (And this guy did throw of slightly aggressive/arrogant vibes). I sent him to the department chair; he did have something set up to fix things for these students, but I didn't feel the need to tell him where to go, or even ask him if he knew (I have seen the chap about the department some so maybe on some level I presumed he knew).

The second fellow - well, he had the same slightly sloping shoulders, wire-rimmed glasses, tousled, too-long sun-bleached blondish hair, and you-can-see-the-boy-inside-the-man expression of a fellow I once knew, and cared very deeply about (and still care about; he still shows up in dreams occasionally). I found the need to walk this fellow right to the place he was looking for, rather than merely directing him there with a wave of my hand.

I try mightily not to play favorites in my classes and I think I succeed because I am conscious that I can be swayed by stupid little things. But in casual contact, it doesn't feel as necessary to be evenhanded sometimes.