Teaching to save the world

It’s the very first day of my freshman year at Miami University, and as the nerves course through my veins, I sit down at a desk near the front of my Spanish Literature class, waiting anxiously for someone else in the room to break the silence. As the minutes pass, the silence remains, building my anxiety until finally the paneled wooden door leading into the classroom opens and in walks a slim man with tight brown curls, bright red pants and three hoop earrings lining the lobe of his left ear.