Mr. P

In the wake of all the stories and support/opposition of all gay and lesbian people in the world, I wanted to post my own little story about a time in my life when things seemed a lot more innocent (although I am no fool, I know it really wasn't but to me it was).  It was 1976. Belleville School Number 9. 4th grade classroom.  Into the classroom waltzes in Mr. P, tall and lanky, with amusingly colored suits and a funny way of talking.  My very first male teacher.  At first, it was weird for me, having only women in the classroom, most of them very nurturing; it was strange to have, well....a man.  After the initial getting used to, Mr. P was a funny man, who loved to be at the side of his classroom piano and boy did he teach us some great songs. "The Hilllls are ALIVE....with the sOOUnd of MUUUUSic!" 

He and his piano became one; and the sounds were delightful. A wonderful respite to the sometimes dull, droll of school life.  We planned a musical that never came to fruition, (The King and I...of course I dreamed of being Anna) but we did pull off a Sound of Music number (which I was able to get myself into as one of the children). Our 4th grade class (for me, anyway) became alive, like a Broadway stage and Mr. P was its star. 

It was a beautiful time with no labels or misgivings; an innocence that I sometimes long for in a world that seems to divide us more than unite us.  Mr. P was a teacher, not some man who had an alternative lifestyle who you loved from afar since he had to be held at arms length because of it. He was just Mr. P. and I liked it that way.  No one told me that what he was doing was wrong or that he was gay; he was just Mr. P.

Mr. P planted in me the seed of the love of Musicals and a special love of music that I still carry in my heart today; 
for that I will be forever grateful. 

Thanks Mr. P. .....You rock.

Loudly yours,
Alicia