HALIFAX, NS— At high noon, a string of saddled horses hitched to the Marion McCain Arts & Social Sciences Building has become a common sight for Professor Judi Jones, the instructor of Intro to Gender and Women’s Studies at Dalhousie. As Jones expects and appreciates her students to come from all walks of life, it came as quite a surprise to her on the first day of class to see the lecture hall completely occupied by a caravan of self-described “hermits, vagabonds, desperados and drifters” hailing from West Virginia.
“Was payin’ folks a social call at the haberdashery when the shopkeep’ told me ‘bout the course,” explained Elmer Watson, formerly a prospector, currently an Arts Major. “Me and some of the boys from the coal mines were interested, so we rode due East for some 3 weeks. Jebidiah’s horse went lame ‘long the way, had to put ‘er down. Cryin’ shame.”
Jones was admittedly skeptical of just how well her new students would perform in her class, but reported that after a viewing of “Paris is Burning”, (preceded by her explaining to them what movies were), the concept of sexual identity really began to click for the posse.
The students have gone on to produce some of the highest GPAs that Professor Jones has seen in her 20 years of teaching, and have shown time and time again their dedication to the course material. A notable example is one Clarence Clearwater, who — during his presentation on the intersection between the struggles of the proletariat and women’s struggles under the patriarchy — provided the audience with the visual aid of him skinning and tanning the pelt of a bobcat.
“At its root, gender is nothin’ more than a performance,” argues Clearwater, who moved to Halifax to avoid cattle rustling charges. “I spent 6 months settin’ trap lines up ’round Logan County. Medium game mostly. I happened upon quite some wolves at that time. Big, nasty bastards, but they’d treat me all the same. There’ns the question—the wolf sees me as a man, but how do I see myself?”
Professor Jones says her only complaint in teaching the men is their incessant badgering, requesting a chaperone to walk them home. Now that the sun sets before the end of class, many of them are concerned for their safety against creatures like the Mothman, which they claimed took many of their folk last cold season.
Article by Derek Bartlett, Published November 11th, 2022