mr. delagar teaches up the hill, at what he sweetly calls the "real" university (he's not the only one). He came home early this semester to tell me he had one of my old students in his lit class.
"She's pregnant," he said.
"Oh?" I said.
"She was eating a poptart for breakfast. I yelled at her," he said smugly. "I took it away and gave her my apple instead."
"Ah," I said. "Well."
He looked at me over his laptop. "That was a *good* thing to do," he insisted. "She was pregnant! She needs to eat right!"
"Uh-huh," I said. "And how old is she again?"
He got a grumpy look on his face. "This is going to be another patriarchy lecture, isn't it?"
"You're her lit professor, not her daddy. Or her nanny. Do you think she doesn't *know* she's pregnant? Do you think she doesn't understand basic nutrition?"
"But--"
"You don't get to tell her what to do with her body. It's her body."
"But the baby!"
I sit back in the chair and look at him. "You haven't heard a word I've said for the past fifteen years. Have you?"
3 hours ago
8 comments:
You know, I have to agree with Mr. Delagar. I know, she is grown, but a poptart, come on. The apple was much better and I bet the tiny little embryo or fetus appreciated the vitamin boost.
Zelda! Sistah! Get my back here! He took the poptart away from her! He yelled at her! He acted to a grown woman as though he had a right to tell her what to eat -- please, now!
I agree his motivation was decent, but he didn't even have the right to tell me what to eat when I was pregnant and he was married to me. (Hah! He knew better than to try.)
Delagar, I'm with you on this one. There's nothing wrong with Pop Tarts. Sure, if that's all she's eating for weeks at a time, that's an issue, but Mr. D is hardly in a position to know that. For all he knows, she'd already met her daily requirements (and the baby's) twice over that day. And if you can't eat some harmless fat and sugar when you're pregnant, when can you?
I should note I speak with the dubious authority of a husband who shopped on foot every day to bring home the kilo of citrus and half-kilo of yogurt his wife's metabolism cried out for every day when she was pregnant....
I'm with Delagar. You know, it's not like the kid won't be feed pop tarts later in life anyway. Might as well develop a taste for them now :)
If someone had the gall to treat me that way, I'm afraid I might call the police, file a complaint, that sort of thing.
The people here defending Mr. Delagar might take that into consideration too, should they consider going about bullying pregnant women. Battery is a crime. Look it up if you don't get the concept. More, it's also a civil offense. You get a criminal conviction, and if you're pissed off enough to go for doubles, the civil case will be a snap.
-L
delagar, I'm with you too. It's still her body, pregnant or not. Plus, Poptarts have 7 vitamins and minerals (it says so on the box)!
Well, he could have offered her the apple. "Here, would you like my apple?" And perhaps she would have chosen to eat it ....
It's the yelling at part that didn't work.
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