This is gonna have “Rico cures a goth girl” undertones to it, but it’s funny to me so I thought I’d share. As a coach and a male in the school system I go out of my way to make a point of establishing relationships with the fringe and unaccepted in our high school because I see how shitty life often is for them, and they also seem the most likely to become wealthy and famous one day, and buy me a truck or fly me to Hollywood for being cool to them in their vulnerable years. I go out of my way to call out any homophobic bullshit from my players and model acceptance and caring for your peers. I know, I’m hella awesome.
Anyway, this leads to some occasional odd shows of affection. I have a trans youth and two gay students in one of my classes that are inseparable, and spend their free time hanging out with me in between classes and in our version of study hall. It’s cool because they have excellent taste in music and film for high school kids, and I appreciate their perspective on how high school is often bullshit. However, today the chorus teacher found a shrine that they had created to me in the closet in the band room, and freaked out. They had stolen some of my pictures and personal items from around the room, and because I’m unorganized and unobservant during basketball season I didn’t notice. I just got out of a 20 minute meeting In the principal’s office because they were concerned for my safety. I actually kinda found it funny, and flattering, but they’re worried I’m going to end up buried in a field somewhere.
