Last year I wrote about having a community of elders rather than a single mentor.
This year I’m returning to the notion of what mentorship actually is, my sister is involved in a more formal mentorship program, obviously this isn’t a Queer thing this is a Woman thing cause my sister at least claims to be straight. I’m hugely impressed by and proud of her for doing it. But it does leave me with the notion that to be a mentor requires some volition on their part and I’m not sure anyone has ever stepped up like that.
A group of elders to I guess role model for me how to be the kind of queer person I want to be but a single person taking me under their wing? I haven’t had that. I think I might have had that if I’d taken up a tutors suggestion that I swap from Art and Art History to Independent Studies. She was a fantastic queer woman and I learnt a lot from her, not only the academic course but also her manner of being in the world. But even then I’m not going to call her my queer mentor due to a lack of volition on her part.
I guess, though here again there lacks volition on their part, I might say that The Jellicle is someone I look to for Queer mentorship, particularly as it concerns how she provides advice and help across the trans community. She’s someone I often wish I could be more like. But I guess that’s more inspiration than mentor.
Once again I reach the conclusion I lack a queer mentor and to be honest I’m not sure, despite my age, that I would be comfortable, having lacked mentorship, offering it. It’s a weird notion I suppose, do you really need a mentor to be yourself?
I suspect you probably do when yourself, the essence of yourself is squashed so much by society. It’s very easy to question to the point of non-function depending on what your immediate environment is like. I can see needing a mentor or even simply wanting one. I don’t know, maybe my thoughts on mentorship are too restrictive and I’ve had informal mentorship from many people in different regards.