#We feeling furry and trans in this starbucks tonight

[witchyeevee]

Of course I made a new fursona when I finally decided on my new name I’m just that fantastic

#no actually Evie the fursona happened like a day after Evie the name #but I am really happy to step away from my first fursona Witchy because #while I love her #she’s very much her own character and OC #and it doesn’t feel like a projection of me anymore as much as just a character #Evie is definitely like #‘ME’ as a projected character #and I’m very happy that I made her around the same time I solidified what I wanted to be called #We feeling furry and trans in this starbucks tonight

[markusbones]

Tonight on : old arguments that keep me up at night.

So, I’m in my first class at University in Toronto and I was really excited. I’ve got a new notebook, new pencils, old shoes, and I am so ready not to flunk out this time (unlike when i tried to go to uni back in Winnipeg, but that’s another story).

This prof came in, looking too cool for school, late with a Starbucks coffee and a cynical look that made him kinda funny but kinda rude.

So we get talking, and I like the class - its about media and sociology and I’m getting really into it.

Then he starts talking about how the school is next to “boystown” and after a while I realize he’s talking about the gay village, which is, yah, down the street. Boystown is like older slang for it, and this guy looks maybe 35 or so, so idk why he says it that way, but he does…. (Foreshadowing: its bc he’s a prick and uses a cismasc-centered worldview)

Then, somehow, he brings up the topic of bears. Like, human gay bears. The ones that are furry big dudes who do dudes. And when he mentions “bears in boystown” the class doesn’t get it. So he asks, “anyone know what a bear is? Anyone want to define this?” And this room full of 18-or-something-year-olds, most of whom are new to the city and have no clue.

And I’m starting to realize I am probably one of the only queer and trans ppl in the room - at least, ones with experience in the scene anyway.

And here’s the thing - I didnt feel like being out that day. It was the first day at a new school and I didn’t want to be that gay guy or that trans kid, so I just kinda smiled to myself, amused at all these ppl.

Then the prof (who BTW is a straight cis guy) looks at me and says, “Markus, can you tell the class what a bear is?”

And I’m flabbergasted since, 1. a prof using your name is always a bit offputting (he’d made us do little desk plackards so he could call on us by name), plus, B. I was super surprised and uncomfortable.

So I said, “why do you think I know?” (I.e. “why are you outing me rn, my guy?”)

And he did.not.like.that.

He turned from pinky-pale to fushia, and said, “because your sitting there with a shit-eating grin on your face!”

(Maybe he said shit-eating, maybe didnt, but its my retelling and this is how I remember it)

So, not wanting to piss anyone off, I tell the class and we get on with the lecture.

Then, after I think its all over, the prof pulls me aside. And he tells me not to be a smartass, saying I made him look bad.

I’d go on to despise the guy - he refused to integrate a lesson on cissexism into the day on queer studies he had pasted on at the end of the term. And when I had him again, for another course, I even gave recommended readings to him that could be useful for the lecture (again, one day on queer and trans things, again at the end of the semester), he not only refused to use them but misgendered a trans author during the lecture and said the word tr*nny and talked about “truck stop hookers” and how straight men sometimes have sex w trans women to experiment being gay?????

SO here is what I would say to that prick now if I could go back in time to my first day: “Hey, you wanna not look like an asshole in front of the class? Dont be an asshole!!”

!!!!!!!!

OK. Thanks for listening. We should do this more often. Hope you’re doing ok.

Ok bye.

#personal #trans #university #arguments w the void