Class is in Session!

Part 1 of my recap about my first weekend of classes

Before I jump into the the recap of the weekend, I just need to be honest about how that week went for me. I didn’t intend on sharing a ton of personal information on this platform, but our lives cannot be fully compartmentalized, can they?

• Sunday - My car won’t start.

• Monday - Take the car to the shop.

• Tuesday - I pick my car up from the shop and later get a phone call that my mom unexpectedly and suddenly passed away. She is my only remaining parent having lost my dad in 2015.

• Wed - My car breaks again, and I have a job interview.

• Thursday - I go to the funeral home to make arrangements.

• Friday - Orientation for school

• Sat - 8 Hours of school

• Sun - 8 Hours of school

• Mon - 8 Hours of school

• Tues - 8 Hours of school

I tell you all this because I started that week knowing that my life was going to change with the possibility of the job and school, but I could never have predicted the curve ball of my mom’s passing. I chose to attend school because this is a program that doesn’t really allow for absences, and though I was given an option to make it up a year from now, I decided to forge forward especially because I knew a distraction would be welcomed.

And it was THE BEST distraction.

That weekend was proof how joy and sadness can coexist side-by-side. That your brain can learn new things while simultaneously being so overwhelmed you forget if you’ve eaten a meal. As much as I wanted to just share with you how amazing that weekend of school was, it will forever be entangled with the memory of losing my mom and I honestly don’t know if I could write about one without a mention of the other. So thank you for sitting with me for that short recap.

Friday - Orientation

Despite being on Zoom, you could feel the energy. There were about 140 people on the Zoom call and it felt like I was buzzing. We spent a few hours recapping the program, how we use the online platform, and a lot of admin stuff. Somehow boring yet exciting. After the last break of the day we returned for a plenary session with a guest speaker.

The guest speaker was unknown to us until the camera came on and there she was in a bright swell of pink. For our first informational session, we had none other than Dr. Brent Satterly, aka Clitoris Umbridge (click the link to see how fabulous she is) dressed in full, delicious drag. I immediately knew I was in the right place with the right people. Dr Satterly, or Clitty Umbridge, gave an inspiring presentation on Queer Joy, Queer Resistance, and Mental Health. I wish I could explain to you how full my heart felt know that this was the program I picked, and this was the first presentation, and this was our first presenter. I knew this wasn’t going to be a typical school experience just due to the content, but wow, I was impressed from the jump.

I closed my laptop that day knowing that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.