April 13, 2005
whaddaya call that?
Yesterday I was substitute teaching for middle school people. I must tell you my great big discovery!
Middle school students are just as annoying as you remember them being.
Ha! And people say pure research is dead!
At any rate, I didn't know one person's name. It was a girl. A young lady. A woman. A young woman. That student. I asked a kid named Roddy, "What's that woman's name over there. The one who's really quiet."
He looked around to find someone who was teacher-like. I think "woman" wasn't the correct word to use. But if I say "kids" it's insulting. I mean it sarcastically, but they don't know that. Still, it implies that they aren't grown up, and they don't like that. I wouldn't like that. So should I have said "girl"? Can I say "girl"? Can I even acknowledge gender differences? And what if someone appears androgynous to me? Do I say, "Who is that non-gendered individual wearing clothes?" Can I acknowledge differences at all?
I'm caught up in doing things the right way. Let me be very clear: it doesn't mean that I will do things correctly. It does mean that I want to know how to do things correctly. I'm at sea when it comes to figuring out what's the right things to do and what isn't. What are the rules? Am I going to get in trouble?
Getting in trouble...I laugh in your face, Trouble! I used to. With other jobs I'd say, "What kind of trouble can I get in? They'll just be annoyed." Now, though, perhaps because I'm back in school, I've transferred the idea of getting in trouble to my own behavior. It works well with middle school students. "If you guys aren't quiet, I'm going to get in trouble because you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing."
It's a silly way to do things, but it works sometimes. It doesn't work with high school students. At least with the boy (young man, man, young gentleman, fellow) students it doesn't work. They say, "Okay. I guess you'll be in trouble." The hubris of youth!
Oh! Hey! What about me? Where can I refill my container of hubris?
There is no certainty in this world. Death and taxes, they say. Birth and death, I say.
Ah well. I suppose in the end there is very little certain. I can always say, though, that since I was born, I've been a girl. Female. A woman? A girl who would be a woman? A lady...a young lady? Little lady? Chick. Bird? Filly. Lassie. Girlie? Gal, doll, lass, senorita, damsel, gal?
As I was saying. There is very little that is certain...
Posted by dotty at April 13, 2005 10:05 PM