General Discussion

In those days, no way in hell could a teacher be openly gay. Among the parents, there would have been pandemonium in the streets. As a kid, I knew something was a little different about three teachers in particular. All three were good teachers in whose classes I excelled. One was my male home room teacher in 6th grade down in Los Angeles. For some reason, he suggested that I read a Judy Blume book. I think he could tell that I was a really sheltered kid and was ripe to be made fun of since I didn't know squat about sex. In my 11 year old mind though, that book was the most scandalous incendiary smut imaginable. After finishing the book, I never really trusted that teacher. I knew there were mysteries yet to be discovered and I didn't appreciate someone else choosing which doors I opened and when I did so. Three years later, when I was 14 and living in Central Pennsylvania, in a little town called Bloomsburg, I'm fairly sure that my Spanish and General Science teachers were gay. At the time, I didn't think of it in those terms. I just knew that one seemed a little too meticulously put together and the other one seemed a little over the top in his praise of my test scores. Anyway, looking back, I feel sorry for those three guys (even the one who tried to corrupt me with Judy Blume prose). They should have been able to live their true selves. As kids, I don't think we'd have given a shit. All that mattered back then was whether we had a quarter in our pocket to hit the Galaga machine at the arcade after school. Sucker arcade operators. On a good day, we could make that quarter go a loooooong ways. So, in summation, I would say that (1) all teachers have the potential to rock, regardless of whether they are straight, gay or any shade in between, (2) kids know what's going on, and they see and feel things in a way we no longer can once we grow up and (3) Judy Blume is a temptress who probably owes me some money in therapy bills I've paid over the years.