Oh, YES! The perfect man.
Oh, yeah, and he’d be great in the movie, too.
One of the good things about those students being transferred out of Kaitlyn’s classroom is that parent-teacher conferences won’t start “So. A trans-sexual [it’s always hyphenated when there’s something bad about it]. What sort of homo-sexual [see previous] agenda have you been feeding my son? If he grows up to be one of your kind I’m suing.”
Delurking to add another voice to the chorus of “Mr. P rocks!”. I’m glad the school is being so supportive. I’m sure that after an adjustment period with the parents it will be “business as usual” for you. If the quality of your posts are any indication, you must be an excellent teacher. If I had any children, I would be proud to have them in your class.
Kaitlyn, just posting to say I think you’re fantasitc. 
I thought this story was so great I shared it with my girlfriend. She said “Mr. P is my hero!”
Actively trying to convert parents who’ve already made up their minds would only inflame the situation, and polarize people on both sides. I’m not an activist, and never aspired to be one. I don’t want people to take sides, I just want people to accept me for who I am and let me do my job.
Which isn’t to say that I don’t hope to influence people. I just hope to do it by simply being a good teacher, and showing the doubters that my being what I am doesn’t prevent me from being good at my job.
I would likely use a somewhat milder form of my response from above:
You can’t catch transsexuality. I don’t want your son to be like me. If I thought that were possible, I wouldn’t be here.
Of course, what is often meant by a “homosexual agenda” is the idea that all people should be treated equally under the law, and with respect and dignity without regard to their sexuality. If that is the standard being used, then yes, I’m promoting an agenda by asking to be treated equally, but then again so is every person who ever asks for equal treatment.
Crawling up on six years of participation in Great Debates, I would like to see that paragraph bronzed, framed, and posted as a sticky in GD, so it can be quickly referenced whenever that subject comes up – annoyingly often, it seems.
That’s interesting. I’ve never had much trouble with reasonable height heels unless I know I’m going to be standing for very long periods at a time. In any case, I love how they make my legs look, and my legs aren’t going to last forever, so I’m goint to take advantage while I can.
[Fernando]Don’t be a shnook darling. It’s not how you feel, it’s how look. And you look mahvelous.[/Fernando]
I met my wife at a Korean cultural event–this one for adults. I think I would have liked the opportunity to go to one of those camps when I was younger, I’m happy your kids have such opportunities.
Me neither. I don’t understand why people say heels are so hard to wear; I have three and four inch heels that are no more difficult to walk in or wear than flats. Note: I said “walk”. Running is another story.
I want Mr P to become a doper.
Kaitlyn, how are the kids in your class reacting? I’m guessing most of them are probably less bothered about it than some parents would be.
I’d like to thank everyone for all of their support. Everyone here, along with Mrs. Six and Mr. P, and I’ll even include Clothahump in that statement, helped me get through what could have been a very difficult week.
One more story. (It has nothing to do with my first week of school, I just can’t resist).
One of the families at OLDSCHOOL had three daughters, and I had by last year taught the three oldest. After daughter #2 was in my class for a year, I had daughter #1 for two years, then daughter #3 was in my class for the first half of last year when I was suspended. It was this mom who had called asking about the rumor that I was dying of cancer. I told her I wasn’t, that I was still healthy, and she seemed content to let the matter drop without further explanation. Nobody from the school and none of the parents had ever seen me in my female persona that I know of.
Fast forward a few months to summer break. I’d been dressing female in public places for a couple of years by this time, but had always been careful to go to places where the “old” me wasn’t known, so as not to draw attention. Now I’d decided to just go all out. I was tired of hiding and pretending to be someone I wasn’t and shortly after being suspended had abandoned the idea of ever wearing male clothes again, no matter where I might go.
So Mrs. Six and I are engaging in one of our favorite Saturday evening activities: Visiting the mall and trying on clothes we had no intention of purchasing. I’m wearing a below the knee medium blue v-neck print dress with 3/4 length sleeves belted at the waist, black lace patterned hose, and blue flats with a front bow to match my dress. My hair’s pulled back into a pony tail with bangs, and of course a couple of loose strands had come loose to be tucked behind the ears as needed. We’re walking down the main concourse, when I hear, “Mr. LASTNAME!” and turn to see daughter # 3 running towards me, arms open. I give her a hug,
Daughter 3: Guess what? I got all A’s on my report card. You’re wearing a dress. I might be going to the gifted school next year, but Mom hasn’t gotten the letter from the school yet telling me if I get to go or not. I’m not sure if I want to go to the gifted school or not. I’d star at Oldschool if you were going to be my teacher.
Daughters 1 and 2 and Mom have arrived.
Daughter 1: Mr., uh, I mean, uh . . .
Me: Miss.
Daughter 2: Miss Lastname, I got into advanced placement math and English for when I start high school next year. I get to take Geometry when most of the other kids will be in Algebra!
Me: That’s wonderful! Congratulations.
Mom: So. What’s new? [Looks me over carefully] I like those shoes.
We proceeded to talk about where I got my shoes and how hard it is to find a purse to match your shoes if you don’t buy them as a set, and how the sets are always so much more expensive than separates because the manufacturers know this and just want to stick it to you. The girls quickly got antsy and wanted to leave so we shook hands and parted ways.
It should always be this easy.
That might not be a good idea.
I’ve wondered if any posting has ever caused problems for anyone at work.
Oh, I realize that-I wasn’t serious. I just think he sounds like one of us.
Hmmm…speaking of Freaks…“One of us! One of us!”
YES IT SHOULD!!!
There does seem to be a plethora of threads on this and very similar topics right now, and reading this board would make one think that 90% of the people we encounter are reasonable, accepting and (where not exactly accepting) at least tolerant. It makes me glad to see the kind of support we give one another here, but every now and then I am reminded that this place is such a small segment of the real world…
My New Year’s resolution is to be the kind of person in real life that I admire here on the SDMB.
Waitaminut…I thought you said no one ever “made” you when you were wearing girl clothes?
Anyway, that’s cool!
But that anecdote reminds me of something I wanted to ask about your Friday outfit. You mentioned a loosely tied sash. Did the dress really require a sash? I picture you as having a lovely, slender Audrey Hepburn silhouette, and when you described the dress, I was picturing a linen sheath that hung straight down from the shoulders, but then you said “sash” and I thought “That would ruin the effect.”
But hey, who am I to say.
Y’know, on my son’s fourth day of kindergarten, a little girl opened a marker and the point of it (and it was the little skinny pointy kind) hit him in the eye, leaving a huge corneal laceration. (It was big enough to be visible without the colored dye the doc puts in it…looked like a crinkle across his eyeball. [shudders])
His teacher declined to send him to the nurse, didn’t refer him to the principal, didn’t phone me. She did, however, send him outside to recess and put him on the schoolbus some three hours later.
By the time he got home, he was shocky–couldn’t open the eye at all, was nearly incoherent, and absolutely crashed into a deep, deep sleep as soon as he hit the couch. I couldn’t wake him even to take him outside; my son and I carried him into the doctor’s office still snoring away. “Bad sign,” the doctor said.
He spent the next 5 days seeing the doctor and/or specialist EVERY DAY, getting the damn thing treated so that he could see again. I was truly worried he would lose that eye, and we’re lucky he didn’t. It was a nightmare.
I guess all of this is to say: Good heavens. Do people really have nothing better to worry about than your body and your sexuality?? What the hell is wrong with people? I’d be thrilled to have someone trustworthy teaching my son, and if he can pick up a little wider worldview in the process, all the better.
At any rate, I’m very impressed with how you and the school are handling things. Very smart, that principal of yours.
I hope things settle down quickly for you.
Wow, great thread. Kudos, Kaitlyn! I’d happy have you as my (hypothetical) children’s teacher.
Being identified as a man by someone who didn’t know me from before is what I mean by being made.
On those rare occasions that we run into people who we knew from before who haven’t been told directly, what has happened is that they recognized Mrs. Six initially, then recognize me by my association with her. I don’t know for sure that that’s what happened here, but I choose to believe it because it keeps my perfect record intact.
It was an A-line dress. I wore the sash because I thought it needed a bit of color.
There’s no way I could pull off an Audrey Hepburn look. We’re the same height, but I’ve got her by a good 15 lbs. She weighed slightly over 100 lbs at 5’ 7" due to severe malnutrition suffered during puberty, and never developed the normal fat deposits most of us get in our hips, butt, and thighs.