19 September 2011

Reassured

My marketing teacher is awesome.

She cornered me in the hallway last week before class.  She's kind of spunky and quite hilarious at eight in the morning.  I wasn't expecting her to speak to me when I passed her in the hallway.  She said hi.  I said hello.  But she wanted to talk more.  So the conversation went something like this:

"Amy, remind me of your major again."

"Aviation management."

"Hmm...okay.  Well I just want you to know that if you ever need anything, if you need someone to talk to, anything, my door is always open.  I know there's a lot of men in the aviation department and if you ever have any problems, you just let me know and I'll be sure to take care of it.  And also, I am known to have quite an adorable following of gay men, because my shoes are fabulous, and I think they're wonderful, but we haven't had a lot of women here that have been so comfortable being themselves.  I just want you to know that I'm here if you have any problems, if you have any issues, you just let me know."

This was rather unexpected.  But it was also really nice to hear.

I don't know this woman very well.  But she went out of her way to let me know that I have an ally at school.  I thanked her.  I didn't really know what else to say.

At the same time, part of my decision in going to this school was because it's a more liberal campus.  I was hoping to feel safe.  I was hoping to feel good with being me.  I was hoping for a little bit of acceptance.  And when I was deliberating between my three college choices, I really felt like the school I chose was where I needed to be.  So it was almost like this experience reaffirmed my decision to go to this college.

And if it makes it a little easier to go to class at eight in the morning, that's a nice bonus too.