King Benjamin the Benevolent Transvestite

Posted on | 3 years, 8 months ago, around lunchtime | No Comments

Fallout both good and bad continues to rain down in the wake of linkage from an SDA online mag. On the one hand, I’ve received a bit of hate mail — effectively telling me to shut my mouth if I don’t have anything nice to say about the church, which is funny, because I have not yet begun to legitimately badmouth the institution, if that’s what readers really want to see; but on the other hand, I’ve received random email from very nice Adventists who appreciate a little open discussion.

And this morning, I got a note from one of my undergraduate history professors at SAU. He was (and still is, it would seem) the head of the department — and a damn nice man. He was always the sort of fellow who took his material very seriously … but himself? Not so much.

Here. An anecdote. One day he strolled into class a few seconds late and began swiftly scrawling lesson notes across the chalkboard. For some reason, a very nice leather purse was dangling off his arm. Finally someone raised a hand and asked, “Erm, Sir? What’s with the accessory?” For a moment he looked very confused. Then he checked his arm, and laughed. “Oh dear. I’d completely forgotten about that. How embarrassing — it doesn’t even match my shoes!”

Apparently a student had left the bag in his office, and he’d been racing down the hall trying to return it when the bell rang, summoning him to the classroom. I suppose Teacher Autopilot took over from there.

But couple this with his insistence that he was no midterm testing tyrant — merely a benevolent despot — and you get the nickname with which this entry is titled. We referred to the poor fellow by this handle for years, and he never once took it any way but graciously.

In short, it was exceedingly nice to hear from him. It absolutely made my morning, even if it also served to remind me that there were other teachers at SAU with whom I’ve lost touch since graduation, which God help me, was ten years ago now.

So let me be absolutely clear in this matter: For all that the university’s administration went to great and outstanding lengths to make my life difficult,* I was exceedingly fond of the faculty. I had some wonderful teachers who were fine human beings, and let it never be said that I’ve ever claimed otherwise. As with so many religious institutions, the bureaucracy may broadcast the true spiritual intent of the denomination — but down in the trenches there are good people toiling away, valiantly managing (against great pressure from the hierarchy) to not be assholes.


* Both while I was there, and for years after I left.

Category: misc

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