First Day of Classes

Despite much anxiety about a last-minute course location switch, and the scrambling around that entailed this weekend, my first two classes went well, and I like the new building in which I'm teaching. I teach two sections of the same class back-to-back, and requested these sections because they were both in the same building, making it easy for me (with my very slow gait and use of a cane) to get to the room in time. Well, Friday evening, the room and building changed for my second class from the same building to a building much farther away. I went to campus on Saturday and timed how long it took me to walk from one building to the next, and it took me almost 15 minutes, which is all the time I have between classes. Apparently my school has a habit of doing this to teachers, and it's bad enough for an able-bodied instructor, but for someone who is disabled and suffers a great deal of pain when walking, it's completely unacceptable. They refused to change the room of my classroom, so I found a colleague who taught at the same time as my early class, but in the same building as my second class so that I only have to change floors. I'm now teaching in a completely new (to me) part of campus, one undergoing a great deal of construction and, basically, a huge clusterfuck, but I made it and I taught, and it went well.

This is what I wore:

Dress: Lucie Lu

Shoes: Softwalk Jupiter

Necklace: gift from my French host family years ago

Glasses: Warby Parker

You can't see my top knot/bun, which I'm really proud of (tutorial here), so here's another photo, 

though it looks better in person. I use this brush to tease my hair.

I'm currently feeling exhausted, sitting eating my lunch, listening to a story about disability access on Talk of the Nation on NPR ("Wheelchairs Welcome? Not Everywhere."), which feels completely appropriate to the day I've had today.

First of all, I rarely photograph with my cane, because I keep my main cane in my car, since I don't use the cane to hobble around my apartment, but whenever I am on campus (or anywhere I am walking a lot), I use my cane, and even though I am capable of standing and walking, it is with great pain that I do so. The cane makes it slightly less painful for me to stand and walk, because it offers me added support. I can't personally speak to the difficulties wheelchair users face, though I have a lot of friends who use wheelchairs and I'm frequently aware of the lack of access everywhere.

The new building in which I'm teaching this semester does not have any handicapped access as far as I can tell. There are stairs into every entrance (part of the building is obscured because of construction on the adjoining building) and there is no signage directing one to the elevator. I had a moment of crip solidarity with another woman using a cane as we both happily discovered the elevator on the opposite end of the building from the entrance labeled "Handicapped" (that had a flight of stairs up to it). We discussed how hard it was to get around with the construction and how thankful we were to get to an elevator. I get anxious when I can't find an elevator because, while I can walk up and down stairs, it costs me spoons I need for teaching and navigating the rest of my day. I get so frustrated when a public university fails when it comes to access.

But I am happy with how my classes went, and now that I know where I'm teaching, it shouldn't be too terrible. It is hot today, so I wanted my outfit to be comfortable yet professional and still represent my femme identity. I also like that this dress has sleeves. I feel more professional when my shoulders are covered. I love the blue in this dress; it's one of my favorite colors, and I love the suit-like skirt to this dress, plus it's very comfortable.

What did you wear on your first day of school?