Before I say anything at all, let me just say how sorry I am to everyone in this class for my behavior on the blog this weekend. I wanted to say this in class, but we ran out of time and I had to leave for another class. Listening to your comments tonight (even though I have already come to the realization) solidified to me how wrong I was in dismissing Hannah’s comment on sexism in the article. Even if I disagreed with the notion, which I don’t, it still would have been wrong of me to attack any of you for expressing your interpretation of the text. That is not the spirit of academia nor is it consistent with how I wish to be interpreted myself. But hearing so many of you say that you are concerned with expressing yourselves in the blog or in class, and because I don’t know of too many other examples of this sort of rhetoric occurring in our discussions, I feel fully responsible for this concern.

Let me just say that all of you should consider me an ally. We all have our crosses to bear and carry our own baggage, in one way or another. I myself am labeled as a mentally disabled veteran by the VA and the Army, so I should know better than to minimize someone else’s plight. As I said in the blog responses, it is entirely vital that we are on guard as academics to find examples of marginalization in the work we observe. I am really appalled that I reacted that way, and not that it justifies it, but it came out of a totally selfish and bratty place. I had just posted my own blog on Drucker when I saw Hannah had posted hers. I suppose I took her comment as an attack on the article that I just worked hard to conceptualize in my own blog, and just responded irresponsibly. It is never ever right to overlook the experience of others in academia and the “real” world.

Sorry (to all of you, and Hannah). Please do not associate my name with a feeling of fear to say what you want in class or in the blogs. I will do much better going forward to contain my own emotional reactions, but I do have to say I am a strongly opinionated and passionate person which is just about the only reason I’ve gotten this far and through everything I have been through. But academic blogs is not the place for Facebook-style trolling, and I get that. PLEASE. Do not stop yourself ever from saying what you feel and know that I do respect you, but with such passionate opinions and my unique emotional/mental circumstance, it gets hard for me at times to keep my mouth shut when I really need to do just that.

If you already think less of me, than I deserve that. But I promise to work harder at being fully open to everything all of you have to say and that I am learning so much from everyone’s diverse experiences and perspectives. I hope we can all facilitate a pleasant environment for all of us to work in, and I will do my part to ensure I do so especially. If you have individual concerns with the situation please do not hesitate to reach out to me, even if you just want to tell me off, because I deserve that too. Thank you for a wonderful learning experience thus far, and I look forward to working together throughout the duration of our time in the program.