Was it an Online Term Paper or a Personal Ad?
Was it an Online Term Paper or a Personal Ad?
My sophomore year in college we had an adjunct Philosophy professor who had to leave suddenly mid October when he got into a weird motorcycle accident. The morning the new professor walked in you could see all the women in the room run their fingers through their hair and sit up a little taller in their seats. If you listened closely enough every single women in that roomed sucked in a large amount of air. The new adjunct professor was gorgeous. He had a perfectly symmetrical face, deep blue/gray eyes and dark jet black hair. He also had the most amazingly chiseled body and was very tall at least six feet. My mouth dropped open and I looked over at my friend, Alley, she was really sizing him up from head to toe. Professor Burke was his name. He was pretty young probably only five or six years older than us and he was very progressive. He wanted to eliminate paper waste so insisted we submit our next project as an online term paper.
Professor Burke was very earth friendly. He drove a hybrid car, was a vegetarian and really believed in recycling. None of the women in the class minded submitting our homework as an online term paper. But the men were another story. They didn’t really like Professor Burke they would go out of their way to make fun of what he was wearing or would challenge everything he said in class. Of course the women where quick to defend him but Professor Burke took it all in stride. Alley was his biggest supporter. She really like him. She constantly talked about him and always had a question for him after class. Twice a week she visited him during his office hours. She made up lame excuses and inquiries about the assignments. But Alley couldn’t figure out how he felt about her.
She decided that her next online term paper would be a personal ad about herself that she would accidentally drop it in Professor Burke’s email inbox Her thought was he at least would know her likes and dislikes and if nothing else he would know she was single and looking. I had news for Alley. I was pretty sure he knew she was looking. She followed him around like a puppy. But she really thought writing this term paper about herself would be a great idea.
Alley proceeded to do some strong analysis research on Professor Burke who’s first name was Byron. She searched his name on local internet engines. She found out what schools he went to. She discovered that he was an avid lacrosse player. That was where he got that body. Alley tailored her personal ad to reflect him. She wrote about how she hated animal cruelty, was an avid recycler and tried to walk everywhere she went. All lies. Her idea was he would read her college term paper about herself and be so enamored with the similarities that he would call and ask her out.
That afternoon Alley found me in the library working on my research paper. She startled me so badly that I screamed loudly causing unwanted attention. She told me that she had just sent the online term paper to “Byron” and was hoping to run into him in the library. I had also received the attention of the object of her affection. I cringed as I saw Professor Burke walking towards us. He asked us how we both were and then wanted to speak to Alley alone. Twenty minutes later Alley walked back towards me red faced with tears in her eyes. Yes Alley had done some strong research for her online term paper. But these search engines failed to produce that Professor Byron Burke was an openly gay man.
