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New York, 8:26 PM
Thu Nov 12
73 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/02/09
To this day, the smell and taste of blackberry tea and the sound of classical music makes me think of her crowded studio of books, easels, masks, puppets, clay...and shelves upon shelves of paints and charcoal and paper.
She was one of the first people to recognize that I could tell a story, and that I had equal affinity for words as I did for pictures. And she was one of the very few people that always told me that what I had to say had value, and that it was worth saying. #teachers
11/02/09
In was in her class that I had a huge life-changing realization, while we were discussing "The Awakening." I was 21 and it was the first time I realized that I had spent my entire life trying to be "normal" instead of just accepting myself.
Anyhow, I am forwarding this to every woman I know. #teachers
11/02/09
11/02/09
11/02/09
I am geeking out right now...that's incredible. The Madwoman in the Attic was such an eye-opening piece of criticism for me.
What was she like, as a teacher? #teachers
11/02/09
Maaaaaan I want to go back to school! #teachers
11/02/09
*but in a loving way.
11/02/09
And some nights she would pick up students from jail, because their parents didn't speak French, or were in jail too. They would call her.
And sometimes she smiles so broadly, and she tells me that something happened in class that day. Maybe someone asked a question that showed that he/she was interested. Or she felt a connection.
Teaching is the most difficult job in the world. My mother always told me it was the most rewarding. #teachers
11/02/09
11/02/09
Well said, Anna.
07/15/09
Having said that, sex workers often play an important role in the lives of disabled people. Often people with mental disabilities in particular have a hard time expressing themselves sexually, and a compassionate and empathetic stripper or prostitute can help them a lot.
When I was dancing I had a great customer, Joe, who had Down's syndrome and came in at 7pm when the club opened, and left at around 8.30 when other patrons started to arrive. If it was completely dead the DJ would let him put on his Monkees cd and it was obviously the highlight of his week. Sometimes I felt bad about Joe spending what must have been a large proportion of his disability check on strippers...but he often told us we were his best friends and that no women ever talked to him outside of the club.
07/15/09
07/15/09
Oh, that's both lovely and rather sad. Poor guy, but at least everyone at the club was so supportive of him!
07/15/09
07/15/09
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07/15/09
his mother, however, has no excuse for shamelessly exploiting her son and his disabilities for national attention.
07/15/09
In fact the only thing I do like is that there is a sex worker that actually specializes in patrons with disabilities (rock on, lady). Why didn't the mother just call her in the first place? Better yet why didn't she figure out that her son wouldn't want to actually have sex if he had to pay for it before going on television?
07/15/09
07/15/09
That would have required you know, communicating with her son with competency. And acting like a parent, rather than a frat brother. Oh, and she wouldn't have been on TV. (Translation: I don't think this woman is as nice of a person/competent of a parent as you probably are... and I mean that even if you're not a parent and don't want to be one too. That woman kind of sucks.)
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
Anyway, I really respect that he had the maturity and thoughtfulness to recognize that if he wouldn't like a girlfriend doing it, he shouldn't do it either. Basically he doesn't want to be a hypocrite. Good on him. Many, many men with IQs that are probably twice his would lack this most basic empathetic awareness... wonder what that says about their supposed intellectual "superiority."