So my very first day at school here in Danilovgrad, I was introducing myself to one of the 8th grade classes. In between all the usual questions I get, like "Why are all Americans fat?" and "Ronaldo or Messi?" a boy stood up and asked if I supported the LGBT community. At least he didn't flat out ask if I was gay, so I was able to play Melanie Hamilton and said, "Of course, I do; they're people, too." He then responded about how the bible said they were all going to hell and wanted to continue before another student interrupted him to ask if I had yet tried burek.
After class, he tried to engage with me again about it, mostly talking about religion, and I argued with him for a little while - mostly along the lines of how he "knew" his particular religion was the correct one and did he think all Muslims, Buddhists, etc. were also going to hell? To which he replied, "Of course." and tried to continue proselytizing until some of the girls in the class shut him down and shooed him away so they could ask me if Americans really and truly can't find their own country on a map. After that exchange, this boy pretty much disengaged with me. I mean, he still was in class and participated, but he never approached me again, never tried to chat me up like virtually every other kid in my classes, etc.
Fast forward a couple of months to this past Friday. I had my first extra-curricular club meet-up: a Creative Writing Club. There were 10 students - all girls except for......you guessed it, little Mr. Religious Zealot/Homophobe. What's strange is that he came not even knowing it was a Creative Writing Club, he just heard that David was doing an extra-curricular club and he showed up.
It gets better. For this first class, I printed out the lyrics to about 6-7 songs to have an easy intro class discussing how songs are basically poetry and their first assignment would be to try and write one. I had a good mix of stuff from Country to Pop to Alt-Rock to Rap, from Dolly Parton to Jack Kays to Taylor Swift to Macklemore. The Macklemore song I picked was "Same Love." If you dont know it, click HERE to listen/watch the video so you have the context.
I picked this song, because: a) it was one of the few rap songs I could find not littered with swear words, and b) for the "irony" of a rapper doing a pro-gay message and how you could use writing to promote a cause. Again, I did not expect this boy to come to the class. Of course, he immediately zoomed in on the Macklemore song, and the opening line that says, "When I was in third grade I thought I was gay," and scoffed. "I could write something better than this!" And so of course I told him to try and do just that. He also had some unflattering things to say about Taylor Swift. lol
Will he show up again this Friday? I genuinely do not know and wouldn't put money on it either way.
Disclaimer: Any thoughts, observations, opinions, etc. are of course mine and not necessarily the views of Peace Corps.
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