Friday, December 16, 2011

MORE Sex Abuse For Christmas

I was trying to decide what I was going to write about and then I remembered one of my grad school professors got arrested this week.  


For child rape.  


Ready for the classes he taught that I took?  


Mental Health Diagnostics 


AND 


Human Sexuality.  


Yes.  The irony train left the station with me sitting in first class. 


I hate, Hate, HATE that it has to a) be a damned Social Work professor and b) it has to be one that I not only know but actually took classes from. 


People I went to school with didn't think much of him.  He got into a heap of trouble in his early years because he kept changing the syllabus in all his classes. I always felt like he was just too busy trying to please the students to be all that effective. 


It just makes my degree feel cheap and somehow defiled.  Like I have to go back to school for a while and somehow repent for what this jackass has been doing for years.  


And no.  I have no qualms referring to one of my old professors as a "jackass" when it's plastered all over the news that he told police he likes to "stroke" young girls.  


We're talking ages 9 to 13 here.  


Excellent. 


And I certainly don't have any issues with posting about it here. He's not my professor now, this has nothing to do with my job, and the fact that he thinks he has a porn problem is now public knowledge.   


I don't watch the local news but you can bet I'll be keeping an eye on this story as it unfolds, which you can view here. I tried to embed it, but the code is bad and I'm not geeky enough to figure out how to fix it.


Additionally, this damn season is kicking my ass.  I always put a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself every December--for instance I make, MAKE my Christmas cards--but for some reason this year feels overwhelming. My unorganized nature and tendency to procrastinate have finally gotten the best of me. Plus it feels as if we're hemorrhaging money with all the extra expenses families don't incur any other month of the year: Craft supplies the school party, dirty Santa gifts for social gatherings, food for The Big Dinner, food for when family is in town, charity giving, and the presents! Oh, the presents for all those people in our life who lack for nothing. 


So, all in all, not a great week. I'm sorry for the cynicism. Hopefully this will pass soon.    


Song of the week:  


4 comments:

Megan said...

First of all, hello! New reader here. I too am a Social Worker and I found the news regarding your old SW professor absolutely horrific! This is such a disgrace to our profession! This guy (I'm not going to even call him a social worker anymore) was charged with teachings methods, philosophies and the values and ethics of social work. He was there to serve as a mentor to his students; someone for you all to look up to and strive to be. Yet! He's a lowlife pervert and has absolutely no integrity and has a disgusting secret!

Tanya said...

Hi Megan! Thanks for dropping by. I had written a long response to your comment and then lost it. In essence, I was agreeing with you.

Unknown said...

Being in Canada may be the reason that I missed the story on your old professor. I am a clinical social worker and also a part time prof. At one level this really upsets me and, at another level, why would our profession be exempt from having some sickos in it. It may even be that, given what we do for a living, we may attract more of them than most.

The news seems saturated with sex abuse by those in positions of trust - and it seems to be in all countries. It feels like it is epidemic. That for me is the really sad note.

Nectarine said...

Wow, what horrible, disgusting, dissapointing news. At least this hopefully means that he will not be able to victimize any more young girls.
I can only imagine how disturbing this must be to you and all his former students!