1

I was in class today and we were talking about cognitive categorization heuristics, with relationship to various similar phenome sounds (voiced verses unvoiced consonants ie. /d/ vs. /t/ or /w/ vs. /v/). But the professor referenced the example of a talk that a visiting professor gave the previous semester regarding the limits of intelligibility of “bisexuality,” because of the difficulty of categorizing the intermediate spaces and non-binary configurations.

Anyway, In the description of this the prof stumbled over the word “heterosexual” or “straight” (I think she was deciding which to say). So of course, I, without looking up from my knitting (I was in a tough spot!) say “The rest of y’all,” drawled out for effect, I think, but I might have resorted to a more Pittsburgh “the rest of yous,” I don’t remember. I think it got a chuckle, but the knitting was more enthralling at the moment.

I’m pretty quiet, and while I’m sure there weren’t a lot of (any?) people who had missed the queer memo, I keep to my self, and my classmates don’t really know who I am, so I felt a little awkward for a moment (it passes quick, thankfully,) when I realized that I had put myself out there in front of a group of people that I don’t really know.

2

In another class we were having a discussion of Nora Ephron’s I Feel Bad About My Neck, and adult development and aging. At some point there was a thread of the conversation where the discussion turned to the the connection/impact that relationships had with the aging process.

At this juncture a couple of student talked a little bit about the challenges and impact that being queer had on this thought. Now while the class had a few moments of gratuitous “sharing,” these stories were pretty restrained and totally appropriate. While no one articulated it in these terms I think it’s an interesting issue: queer relationships aren’t the same as straight ones, and perhaps the lack of institutionalized marriage exposes the fallacy of long term monogamy, or something. I dunno, there’s a paper in there for someone, but in any case, while I might have nodded and smiled along, I didn’t really say anything, despite sort of wanting to “join rank.” as it were. Which felt almost as awkward as the moment in the first class.