GLBT Helpline Interview

[judecorp]

I went to my interview to volunteer with a GLBT Helpline call center thingy, and it was the most non-interview interview I've ever had, mostly because the director-person and I are far too alike in our philosophies. She would ask me questions and I would answer, and she would start nodding, and then we would go off on some tangent. Eventually she asked about my comfort with trans- issues and I didn't know how to answer because, well, I'd say I'm comfortable with trans- issues but I don't want to be Mr. 'I Know About Everything' and I also didn't want to be Mr. 'I Am Uncomfortable So I Will Just Say That I Have A Tranny Friend.' So I actually laughed about it and said I had tons to learn but I'm most interested in the academics of gender, and that I didn't want to be one of those people that says, "I'm friends with trannies, so I must be cool!" but I also couldn't say I /was/ trans, because even though I identify as genderqueer I don't really participate in the community (here) and I know my interviewer does, so wow, this is a big run-on sentence. So we got to talking about gender issues and I got to drop my Coolness Bomb, namely that I got to talk to Dar Williams about her stance regarding trans-inclusion at Michigan. So now the interviewer thinks I'm a cool rock star, and really, what's better than that?

(I suppose what could be better would be if I could get involved with the radical queer types, but I don't want to seem like I'm stalking my interviewer. So instead I'll just sit around and say, "Hey, I dated a transwoman once!" or something equally lame.)

She also asked a bunch of questions about racism and some really personal-type self-analysis questions, and I think I talked way too much and she now knows I'm ridiculously metacognitive. Oops. But she asked for my coming-out story and that's where I totally balked - because I don't have one. At all. And not because I'm not "out" or whatever, either. But I didn't have any real coming-out dramatics like so many people do. I sort of came out, then ended up getting married, then got divorced, then had to do the whole 'Wow, I'm Serious This Time' stuff, and then moved in with Jen so was thereby outed to everyone in my extended family without incident. I totally sat there and was like, "Well, I never really 'came out' in the sense that people usually do. I totally just started talking about dating girls and no one really cared except my mother, whom I don't talk to much anyway." Oops.

But it was a pretty fun interview, and I'm looking forward to volunteering there in the hopes that there are other totally cool people like my interviewer, because that would rock. Oh, it would also rock if volunteering helped me eventually get a Big Gay Job, which I also confessed to said interviewer and she admitted that was how she got her current position.

Comments

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, unless my references say I'm a terrible person, I definitely have the volunteer job. I just hope it all turns into something blissfully paid in the end. (And not after, you know, 10 years or something.)

Thanks!

re: interview

[etherial.livejournal.com]

Is that a volunteer-volunteer position or a job-volunteer position?

Re: interview

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I understand the question.

It's a volunteer position, staffing a call center for a GLBT Helpline a couple of hours a week.

[kungfoogirl.livejournal.com]

This is really awesome.

I think you've definately got the "I'm not trans, but I am definately an ally." thing going on.

And, if you wanted, you could have used my coming out story. It's got all the drama of a made-for-TV movie.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, I hope so. I mean, I try to be everyone's ally, which is probably a little naive and idealistic but we all have our faults. :)

And while I /could/ have used your Coming Out story, that's not what she asked me. She asked for mine! And it was so, so terribly bland!

You, however, SHOULD sell your story to Lifetime. It could be called "A Daughter Scorned" or something equally ridiculous.

[katy-kate.livejournal.com]

Dar Williams!


I LOVE Dar Williams. I don't know much about her politics, but I first heard her when I was living in Boston 6 years ago, where she sang It Was Pompeii live on one of the local radio stations. Her voice drew me in, and the story in the song had me weeping.

I need to dig out Immortal City and give it a listen again. I'd love to hear your Dar Williams stories.

-Katy

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You can read about my fateful lunch with Dar Williams right here (http://judecorp.livejournal.com/326640.html). And there's a poor photograph of my signed "Mortal City" CD here (http://judecorp.livejournal.com/326661.html).

That's really my only Dar Williams story. But it's a doozy. I am /still/ so touched by it, and it was two years ago. Good times. She is a totally sweet and amazing person, and I just love her and her music. <3 <3 <3

Mortal City is my favorite Dar Williams album. Definitely pull it out again and take a listen. I love "The Ocean" and "As Cool As I Am" quite a bit - they are big 'sing in the shower' songs for me.