snow and sexual harassment

We had more snow again today. Not my favorite. 

The snow caused some problems.

I am not happy about this.
Argg.....I just don't think it's tasteful.

This is something to think about. I am not sure I can even process this.

I should probably fix my myspace page but for some reason I don't want too. Myspace causes too many issues with the home computer. A friend emailed another friend to ask if I had died. I guess it's nice that they asked.

I missed the sexual harassment workshop at work because I had to get to physical therapy where I was told 'your hamstrings are tight' and 'you don't need PT as in physical therapy you need it as in personal trainer' 'are you sure the doctor told you to come here'. After that conversation the nice therapist proceeded to have me do things with my core muscles that hurt in good way but then I did one thing that hurt in a bad way. The therapist didn't quite believe my story till someone brought up my xray. She was stunned I could move around as well as I can. Sometimes I'm not happy with myself because it seems like there is so much I still can't do. Certain things like bending require planning and thought. I can't pick things up. I am actually afraid of the camera bag at work cause I know I can pick up but then it will hurt like a mofo later. Vacuuming is very difficult. I can do it but my lower back will actually hurt afterwards. I can't cut my toenails on the left foot. There are other more personal things that are challenging but I have to give myself some time.

My calf still hurts from last week and my hip pain is about the same. I want the hip pain to go away. I am hoping the PT will help.

I wonder if I really need a sexual harassment workshop?  I feel it's hypocritical of my workplace to ask me to attend one. I  have complained twice about being harassed and the workplace didn't respond to me at all. I was told in the one case that I needed more than one incident to complain.  One of the people still works there. I think students have complained about this person too, but nothing was done. Maybe if someone complains now they will do something about this guy. I know I am a big girl and can take care of myself but this person is insidious and subtle. It angers me that no action has been taken but then again what do I know.
 
 The other guy I actually kneed in the balls cause he got too close too many times. This guy was consistently doing stuff like trying to snap my bra strap. He would also put himself in a position to reach around me in small spaces. He was just a weirdo. He also made alot of comments on my appearance. He  wanted me to go to church to save my soul because I had sinned by having a kid out of wedlock.   But this was all before the sexual harassment policy was in place. My boss at the time told me that the person's time was up at the end of the year so I just needed to be patient and the problem would take care of itself.

When I think about this I wonder if the fact I didn't complain too much or too loudly about these people is indicative of my tendency to not care for myself. I know during one of the times this stuff happened I was doing some counseling about another issues in my life and I mentioned it to the therapist who also worked part time for the workplace. The therapist seemed concerned that I didn't make a bigger deal out of it. She also seemed upset that nothing was done.

Sometimes I wonder if I am treating people fairly. I don't think I harass people per say but sometimes I tease my students to try to get them to do a better job or to get them to wake up.  Not so much anymore because I don't them well enough to tease them. I do tease people who fall asleep in class. I have a couple of students who think class time is nap time. One of them works at 4:30AM everyday and the other one I think they just stay up too late after their work ends at night. I also tease a student who consistently causes class disruptions. It sort of keeps them under control for a bit. I know that student pretty well and they will be graduating soon. I worry about them. My other class disrupter I have some problems with but have managed to cope with it by spending some time with them outside of class. They don't teach you how to deal with these things in grad school. I don't think the teasing is sexual but it could be considered harassment. I will have to read up on this and see what the deal is. No one has ever complained but there is always a first time.

I know I fell asleep in my 8am aesthetics class in college. I think I also slept though a semester of anthropology but I managed to study the text and do well on the exams. I liked the aesthetics professor. He pulled me aside and told me I had to wake up because I was causing him to have a complex about his teaching skills. The instructor was a pretentious arty boy who later that year after I had graduated, decided to ask me out on series of  dates which consisted of watching a series of Russ Meyer movies in his apartment. I wonder if that would be considered sexual harassment?  His intentions seemed sincere. He wanted to expand my knowledge of classic American films. He tried to get me to go into a PhD program after my MFA cause he felt I would be a great teacher but I told him I was done with school for awhile cause I needed to have a 'real' life.

I also had a prof in grad school that was charged with sexual harassment but the school chose to send him to some sort of rehab situation cause he was also an alcoholic. I remember having him in class prior to the rehab. He arranged our seating so that all of the women were in the front row. He also used to have 'one on ones' with us. Usually you would try to bring a friend to your 'one on one' because he was just a creepy sort of guy. He'd talk to your breasts instead of your face. I was assigned to be his lab assistant. When he came back from his forced sabbatical he would talk to me about all sorts of weirdly inappropriate things. Later I was quizzed about by the department head about all of this. I think the school asked him to take early retirement. At the time my coping strategy was to just play along with his crap, keep my head down, and hope for a good grade. One time I got upset about something he said to me I remember putting my hand underneath his chin lifting his head up so he would look me in the eye. I told him to repeat what he said but he couldn't. He didn't bother me again.

It seems weird to me that we still have these sorts of problems in my workplace. I would have hoped to have all sexual harassment eradicated in my lifetime at work.  I think it's the exception rather than the rule at my workplace. It does bother me that the one person still works there. But I also think my view is skewed because of my life experiences. I just hope I am not hurting my students. I know that when students have come to me to complain about things like this I have sent them to my supervisors but there doesn't appear to be much follow up. I worry about that.

I don't know why I am thinking about this right now. Maybe it's repressed memories or something,. Or maybe I am just annoyed the workplace will ask me attend a videotaped screening of the workshop.