© April 4th, 2017 - 1:39 pm - 2:03 pm - Edited 5:10 pm to 5:12 pm
- Nesting - When I was in the 5th grade, I had a crush on Kathy Byrd. One day, without too much thought, an idea occurred to me in which I could get closer to her. Our teacher asked us to take out our books on a regular basis and turn to a particular page as part of ongoing lessons. Our desks had a built in basket at the bottom for our books and other things. We had a writing surface closer to our level, I think that most of the desks were made of wood and the basket was metal. The writing surface can be described in the shape of thought bubbles in cartoons that connected to the top of the desk. My plan was to take Kathy's book, when she wasn't looking and put it under my desk. Then, when the teacher asked us to take out our books, and Kathy couldn't find hers, I'd tell her that we could share my book. And that's what happened. Kathy looked around, couldn't find her book, and I offered to share mine. I think that I told Jim Waller about it. I don't remember a lot of details. But, when I reflected on it years later with my mother, she said that she doesn't remember details either. But, Jim probably would have told me that it wasn't right to be dishonest with Kathy Byrd. As I reflect on this situation and experience now, I see a lot of different perspectives in no particular order. A boy who's doing his best to relate to a female classmate with whom he has feelings for, a boy with Autism, but isn't diagnosed for about 36 years later, a patriarchal dynamic, that's part of a dominant culture, of one person making decisions that effect other people's lives, a level of a male dominating a female. I'm sorry Kathy. I hope that this sheds some light for all of our learning and healing with this description which includes different perspectives as we continue our journeys.
Another version?
April 4th, 2017 - 1:39 pm - 2:03 pm - Edited 5:10 pm to 5:12 pm - Nesting - When I was in the 5th grade, I had a crush on Kathy Byrd. One day, without too much thought, an idea occurred to me in which I could get closer to her. Our teacher asked us to take out our books on a regular basis and turn to a particular page as part of ongoing lessons. Our desks had a built in basket at the bottom for our books and other things. We had a writing surface closer to our level, I think that most of the desks were made of wood and the basket was metal. The writing surface can be described in the shape of thought bubbles in cartoons that connected to the top of the desk. My plan was to take Kathy's book, when she wasn't looking and put it under my desk. Then, when the teacher asked us to take out our books, and Kathy couldn't find hers, I'd tell her that we could share my book. And that's what happened. Kathy looked around, couldn't find her book, and I offered to share mine. I think that I told Jim Waller about it. I don't remember a lot of details. But, when I reflected on it years later with my mother, she said that she doesn't remember details either. But, Jim probably would have told me that it wasn't right to be dishonest with Kathy Byrd. As I reflect on this situation and experience now, I see a lot of different perspectives in no particular order. A boy who's doing his best to relate to a female classmate with whom he has feelings for, a boy with Autism, but isn't diagnosed for about 36 years later, a patriarchal dynamic, that's part of a dominant culture, of one person making decisions that effect other people's lives, a level of a male dominating a female. I'm sorry Kathy. I hope that this sheds some light for all of our learning and healing with this description which includes different perspectives as we continue our journeys.