flashing back to when i was teaching a middle school class and they gave me a thank you card on my last day and they had all written little notes for me and as i was reading them i said “this is so gross” as a term of endearment and they all looked at me horrified and i had to explain i meant gross in a cute way
have you ever seen a classroom of 13 year olds sit on the edge of their seats waiting to see if they all guessed correctly what types of contact can transmit HIV? you ever seen a 16yo boy correct his friends as they put condoms onto wooden demonstrators? there is nothing more excellent in this world than leaving a classroom after two weeks with a group of kiddos and telling them, “if you only take one thing from this class, know this: you deserve to feel safe and comfortable in your body”.