A more honest response to questions from our last meeting

To my fellow A&T Committee Members. 

As quickly as my words allow, I would like to address my recent dismissal as an instructor, as well as offer a bit more detail and honesty for the questions put to me in our “Emergency A&T Meeting”.

Let me start by saying that I love teaching. Getting to share my passion for our trade, helping others learn to navigate the nuances of the code and all the applied math, as well as so much more. 

When I was asked to try teaching, I said yes before I even realized it was a paid gig, I literally thought I would be volunteering my time. The IEC had done well by me and I would do some good in turn.

I was so excited for the chance to build upon what and how I was taught. To hopefully leave a positive mark upon the lives of some apprentices and the IEC itself. I put everything I had into teaching.

In my short time as an instructor, I would say I had at least some success with this regard. 

Again, I love teaching and I hope that my time as an instructor is not truly over.

So why then the issue with the dress code? I stand by my practical objections but they don’t speak to why I am personally uncomfortable with being told what clothes to put on.

“7 other guys are okay with this, what makes you so special?”

Perhaps it was a futile effort on my part to separate my personal aversion to this policy and keep the focus solely on what I felt were general merits and pitfalls. I clearly felt strongly about this but couldn’t give a straight answer on why, I alone, couldn’t go along with it. 

Clothing, being told what to wear, dressing to please others, has long been a major point of stress for me. Conforming to please others has never left me happy. 

However, doing my own thing has often been met with resistance. From simple “teasing” through to assault leaving me with bones broken. To be where I am today, I have suffered through more beatings than I care to remember. I was, in the words of Henley, “bloodied, but unbowed”

I am transgender, trans-femme.

It is not in my being trans I find the issue, although there is one of those broader policy issues buried there too. It is, for me however, simply to do with the stress around clothing. From having been told what to wear or facing violence laid upon me.

In our meeting, “It’s nothing personal” kept being thrown around. I am telling you, inadvertently or not, it is personal. This policy adversely affects me.

To answer that question “What makes you so special?”

Nothing, I am nothing if not a little broken. I love teaching, yet when faced with the anxiety I felt the moment I heard about this policy, it hasn’t felt exactly like a choice for me to fight it, even at the cost of losing something I cared deeply for. 

So I would counter with, “What is so special about this policy?” What more could this dress code offer than an otherwise passionate and dedicated instructor?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Best, 

Nova-Patrick Cush

P.S. 

If you care…

The name I have been using is Nova and my preferred pronouns are she/they. The operative word, “preferred”. I think Patrick has a place in my name, as could any pronoun fit. 

Do with that what you will, call me what you like, just wanted to get this out there.