🪞

a funny thing about having conversations with people within institutions (academic in this case but also others) about gatekeeping, is that you end up having a conversation over and over in which you're like, "hey this alligator spike pit moat you have erected around your institution is keeping a lot of people out," and they're like, "well *I* navigated the alligator spike pit moat just fine," and you're like, "right. by dint of us having this conversation, you within the institution and me without, it is understood that you navigated the alligator spike pit moat. due to that being an inherent requirement of entering the institution," and they're like, "I don't think you understand the prestigious history of our alligator spike pit moat," and you're like, "is there a reason why there needs to be an alligator spike pit moat encircling the concept of higher education?" and they're like, "look, the alligator spike pit moat isn't for everyone. some people just aren't cut out for the alligator spike pit moat :)" and you're like, "right, yeah, like disabled people and people coming from poverty or unstable home environments or underserved communities or people dealing with difficult to navigate life events like pregnancy or abuse or prison or addiction or the death of a loved one, for example" and they're like, "how dare you imply that we are keeping those people out on purpose. it's their own problem if they can't wrestle the alligators and avoid the spikes while also disabled and/or poor and/or pregnant etc" and you're like, "well that seems evil," and they're like, "it sounds like maybe you're just bitter about the alligator spike pit moat because of your totally random individual experience with ONE bad alligator spike pit moat. have you considered therapy?" and you're like, "did you know that there's some patterns here in terms of how y'all are handling this stuff?" and they're like, "actually yes. we even have a department of alligator spike pit studies :)" and you're like, "that's great, how do I get access to and participate in those conversations?" and they're like, "well firstly you must cross the alligator spike pit moat"

if you can document that you have a medical condition that might make it challenging for you to navigate the alligator spike pit moat, they'll give you an extra 20 minutes to complete your navigation of the alligator spike pit moat

IT GOT BETTER

The RomCom Aunties!

reblog if you agree

@movementnudge Does this count? I know it got me to do a big stretch!

When my students talk over me I do this bit where I quietly tell them I’m really shy and to please let me talk and somehow it works.

Why did we ever start yelling at kids when we could just let them be part of a bit, which is a kid’s favorite thing?

being extremely out of the loop especially regarding social media trends and discourse means you often end up learning things only after they've been turned into memes like ten times removed from the original context. for example the first time I ever read the term "girl dinner" it was on a gif of the T-Rex from Jurassic Park eating people so you can imagine the confusion when some time later I stumbled upon posts where people were hating on it and calling it gender essentialist

I don't think this is being "out of the loop", you're really just describing being in a specific, better loop.

I can't get over DuckDuckWent as a past tense of using duckduckgo as a verb. Like yes youre right BUT

holy fuck there's more of them?

I love how Val has every hallmark of a Mary Sue. She is all-powerful, able to rewrite reality to her whim. She can kill thousands of soldiers single-handedly and unarmed. She’s angsty, she’s tortured, she’s a secret government experiment. And she knocks it out of the park! I am hanging on every word she speaks. Showstopping, awe-inspiring, and she is still the B plot because the actual main character is a grouchy middle-aged aromantic woman who doesn’t even slightly know that Val exists.

“hey can you go ask they what does they want for dinner, and when is they coming over to watch movies with they?”

Reblog this and put why you don’t/ can’t drive in the tags