When my mother first learned about what happened, her first response was, "We can fight this." Fight or flight is a survival response. And fighting is what is most natural to me. But on this one, my response was to fly.

As it was 12 years ago when Boston University told me to my face that they didn't accept disiabled students to their acting program because "we only accept students who we believe can succeed in this business. Disabled students we would encourage to pursue a less asthetically based career."

Now I had a lawsuit there for sure, but I didn't pursue it, nor did my parents encourage me to do so, although my mother was present because this comment was said during a GROUP INTERVIEW. I already knew I didn't want to go there and so my mother's response was, "Don't rock the boat for no reason." Not thinking that there might be reason enough to help other disabled actors rather than just myself. Not surprising considering these were the parents who acted like spending half of my childhood in wheelchairs and crutches was the same as having "fat thighs" in terms of social stigma.

But here my mother says we have an excellent case for discrimination, and the truth is we do. They've kept on junior members with less than stellar recommendations and laid me off because they decided to keep the "summer staff." I could sue in terms of discrimination as a disabled person, or as a white woman (the only white female teacher on staff in the english department), or hell as a Jew (yep the only jew gets the shaft, what a shock). I have beautiful recommendations, students who long to be my office elves, and more legitimacy in the field than a lapsed gym teacher or an alcoholic jesus freak drama teacher.

And there is a part of me that wants to fight it not because I want my job back but because I want them to acknowledge that they were lucky to have me rather than those assclowns who now get health insurance and they don't get to throw me away like a crack whore now that the profesion is legitimate. And there's also a part of me that wants to learn from past mistakes. In the past, I kept quiet because of the "There's nothing in it for me." Now I think about it and I think, "This department, regardless of pay off for me, needs its ass and its head kicked in legally so it can actually have something vaguely ressembling anything like decency."

You be the judge.

Oh and you might want to consider NYU's public rep. right now what with the suicides and so forth. A prime time to strike should I want PR.

On the other hand, I could save it for a tell all expose book on working at a wanna be ivy league school, which I could dedicate myself to writing full time for about three months. I already have the title.