snitsnat wrote:
> When you were teaching, no one gave two hoots, though I'm curious, did
> you catch any heat?. What was the reaction?
Well, actually, they did care: I was replacing a prof who was booted for photographing his students' breasts. Naked breasts. He wound up teaching English in Korea.
My affair started on April 1, the day my divorce became final. My student came over with a bottle of wine and said, and I quote "I know you're in love with somebody else, I know you're my teacher, and I know you're leaving. And I don't care. I'm 21 years old and I know what I'm doing."
It was that last statement that did it for me. I could have laughed till I cried, or I could have kissed him. I kissed him and we took it from there. We had a lovely time for a few months, after which time he graduated and I left academia. He was 21; I was 35. We remained friends for years after. He was a very nice young man and I don't regret the affair nor think that it was "the wrong thing to do." I do think that part of the attraction was "having sex with a prof/teacher" -- but you know, how should I put it, it was on the same level of "having sex with a foreign girl" or "having sex with my cousin" or "having sex with my sister's best friend" ....a bit of spice; not a mind fuck.
There was no official reaction. Some students knew about it and, so far as I know, cheered. My colleagues remained in the dark so far as I know. I left town, doubled my salary, halved my working hours....and the rest is a mixture of regret and relief (about academia.)
Joanna