“Seth will be here for the week I’m gone to watch Martha. Otherwise, no. Briar is busy with school, and so is Tabby. When I call, it generally goes unanswered, and I’ll receive a text a while later along the lines of ‘busy, what’s up?’ and that’s it. I think Seth only grudgingly agreed to watch Martha, so I didn’t have to kennel her.”
Martha is my three-year-old golden retriever. My sole companion. The one topic my kids will give me half a minute to talk about with any sort of interest at all. However, even Martha couldn’t facilitate my kids keeping in touch.
“That’s something, at least,” Byndley says.
“Mm,” I agree. “He’ll be here a few days before I leave to get to know Martha and let Martha get to know him, so hopefully, we’ll have a chance to bond a little.”
“And learn you’re not the man your wife has made you out to be.”
Like me, Byndley has always wondered what Natalia has been saying to our kids about me. It seems unnatural that my kids would have such a deep indifference toward me, especially when I constantly make an effort to know them. It would be different if I didn’t. If I were absent in all ways instead of only just physical.
But even now, when all three kids are adults, it’s me who reaches out. Always. No exceptions. I think only Briar called me for Father’s Day this year, and I received a text from each of them on my birthday over the summer.
That’s it. That’s the extent of my kids acknowledging my existence.
“Anyway,” I say, shaking my head and taking a seat. “You didn’t come in here to listen to me lament.”
“No. I came with the Companion Alliance Program information. This is the final read-through. I’ve included applications for you to consider. I’ve weeded out all but eighteen. You need to choose ten.” Natalie placed two folders in front of me. One was for the program itself, and the other was for the eighteen student ambassador applications. “This one has the remaining applications if you care to look.” She placed it on the corner of my desk, keeping it separate but accessible.
“Very good. Thank you.”
“I have accommodations being looked at, though it seems theonlyplace near þórðargleði University is Reykjavík Domes, which are within our price point, and I think the kids are going to love them. They’re amazing. There are a few pictures in the folder for you. I’ve been in touch with Magnus Albertson at þórðargleði to finalize a schedule, and that’ll be ready soon.”
“This is really happening,” I muse as I open the folder to look at the course catalog for þórðargleði. I’ve studied it a dozen times since reaching out to suggest a tentative partnership.
My goal has always been to create a safe space for all those who need one. Primarily, that means members of the queer community at large, a community that is still facing hate, hostility, violence, erasure, and discrimination all over the world. The endless stupid justifications this hateful world uses never cease to amaze me—the vast majority of which are based on organized religion.
God says…
No, dear. A book tells you what your god says. Has this god ever actually spoken to you in a physical form that everyone around you can hear as well? I don’t think so.
But this isn’t here nor there. I don’t care what anyone believes. I’m happy to support that belief if it makes you happy, but that support ends when you use it to condemn, bully, harass, attempt to erase, and hurt others. That’s when I become an enemy.
I’ve worked endlessly to build RDU as a beacon of hope. The groundwork was already here when I joined the RDU staff. I believe the reason I became provost at a rather young age is my constant leaps forward regarding progression.
RDU was advertised as a ‘safe space’ for young queer people. That wasn’t enough for me. I needed it to shine like a lighthouse. Every suggestion I ever made was with this in mind. I didn’t want RDU on a steady, slow-growth plan. I wanted it to explode onto the scene.
In my decade-plus as provost, I think I’ve accomplished a lot of what I wanted. We have an exceptional athletic department, one I’m currently focusing on growing. I’ve just recruited the most amazing individual to build a trades department from the ground up, and he’s doing some fantastic work. RDU boasts some of the most brilliant minds in many fields teaching our young people.
More than that, this placeisthe queer capital of higher education.
Now it’s time to expand. Always expand. I’d like to do something for the K-12 grades, but I’m stuck on that idea right now, unsure how to make that happen. However, there are queer people all over the world and oftentimes, they don’t have the funds to support their education overseas.
Thus, my sisterhood program was conceived. My goal is to partner with a school and mirror our advances while making it another queer capital of higher education. One on every continent. I believe I can see that happen in my lifetime. In the lifetimes beyond mine, I hope to see one in each country.
However, baby steps. Right now, we’re focusing on Iceland. Iceland is already a very LGBTQIA+-forward country with many progressive laws and protections for queer folk.
“It is,” Byndley says, placing a hand on my shoulder. I’m so lost in thought that I can’t remember what I said last. “It’s going to be great. I need your ten finalists by the end of the week to make sure they have plenty of time to prepare for this trip.”
“Sometimes I’m not sure if you work for me or if I work for you,” I say.
She grins, squeezes my shoulder, and heads for the door, her high heelstap-tap-tappingon her way out. I smile and push aside the top folder so I can take a look at the applications.
Byndley has removed the first page with all personal identifying information. The rest of the application is set up in a way that even pronouns are missing. I’m judging blindly. Which I think is how it should be. I want a person who represents RDU, who embodies what this school stands for, and will represent the student body well. I want someone who has fully embraced this campus. Someone who truly loves the courses they’ve taken.
I can put the stats and supporting figures on paper all day long to prove what we’re doing here is legitimate and advanced. But that’s not as potent as listening to the people who benefit from it.
At first, I just flick through the applications and grin when Byndley also managed to get faculty recommendations using onlythey/thempronouns or the first letter of the applicant’s first and last name.
