english 101

i am in an intro english class this semester with a lot of "running start" students. i'm not from washington, so i wasn't accustomed to this, but it's a slew of high school students getting college and high school credit at the community college i attend, so they're ahead of the curve by the time they reach graduation. it's a great idea and, quite honestly, i was a little weirded out at first and thought it would feel like i was in a class learning nothing (hello to my ego). quite the contrary, i love this class and i love these students. my teacher is a really kind and thoughtful poet. it's so interesting to interact with these teenagers and remember the places i've grown from with writing. my teacher has recommended me to tutor for the following term - something i've never been interested in but now have decided to pursue. 

i'm gaining a perspective on high school i never had before - the view of an outsider looking in from a very close range - and in return, a lot of them have started to come to me for proofreading and advice. i feel as though i'm part of an extremely passive ethnography, watching the cliques sit together and remembering how my high school experience was just as segregated by stereotype. while the students segregate themselves in a conventional way, they are much more progressive than i remember the students in my high school experience being. it is the most amazing aspect of these students to notice;  how the mindset on lgbt and non-gender-conforming individuals has progressed. as a high school student, this was not even a conversation. i recall a very narrow and restricting binary that seemed inescapable for many. in this class, i hear people being respectful of pronouns and viewing each other in terms of an all-encompassing "we're really all just equal human beings existing in this world" perspective. 

not many people would expect to hear that, during my time living in utah, i gained a more progressive and thoughtful understanding of my fellow humans that i had yet to encounter prior to my move. the people i met in utah are all incredible, amazing people that answered all my questions and helped me get a little closer to removing my ignorance. ignorance is not our world's biggest problem, but resistance to ignorance. ask questions, get answers, listen. 

* shouts to all my utahns that helped me learn and grow. i miss you and i love you. *