Hot for Teacher

Sometimes I find myself attracted to certain traits I normally don't find all that attractive. Not that I think they're ugly or anything, just not what I usually go for. I'm in a History class this semester. I've been enjoying it. It's all about anti-semitism in modern European history. It's quite fascinating... but that's not the point.

The point is... the professor. We shall call him... Professor L. Prof. L is youngish, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. He hails from east of the Mississippi and his accent is quite noticeable in Utah where everyone speaks with a western dialect (which is pretty flat). I wouldn't call him classically attractive. He has brown hair and blue eyes. He's small in stature but not petite or anything. He's just... rather ordinary actually. 

The first day of class, I though Prof. L was weird. I wasn't sure what I thought of him. As the class periods went by something changed. Suddenly, I noticed the thick rimmed glasses. The stubble. The professorish (in an attractive way- not unkempt) clothing. I found myself looking at him in a different way. As I said, he's not what you'd call classically attractive or handsome. He's more... intellectually attractive. You can tell that he's smart and that he knows a lot. Add in the stubble (which I, oddly enough, am a sucker for) and the glasses (See The Clark Kent Affect) and suddenly, I enjoy class just a little more.

Of course, Prof. L's attractiveness ebbs every now and then. When he shows up clean shaved without his glasses, suddenly he's not exactly as appealing. And recently his hair had gotten really long, on the verge of becoming the unkempt professor we often think about. And then he got it cut, which is what drove me to write about him. He calls it his Ben Stiller haircut. I think it looks really nice. And it makes him look even more intellectually attractive.

I think that if you stripped away the glasses and the clothes and the professorness, there would be nothing left but a nerdy, small statured guy who likes comic books (yes, he has professed to this) and is a history geek. So maybe the whole appeal of him isn't just his looks but the fact that his looks combined with the fact that he is intelligent and a professor, appeal to the eye of a single girl. What is it about professors anyway? (Not that there are many attractive ones at my university, at least not in my program.)

I was sitting on the bus on my way to campus when someone sat down next to me. I didn't look over mostly because I didn't want to seem like a weirdo. They said, "You're familiar." I finally glanced up and lo and behold! It was Prof. L. (No, my heart didn't skip a beat or anything- this is purely a classroom affect) I greeted him. And all the way to campus we discussed his class. He was polite. I was polite. I realized that if he wasn't my professor, I'd think he was weird.

There is such thing as a Hot for Teacher Affect. Perhaps I might have to explore that another time. Until then, I'm going to keep enjoying the attractiveness of my history professor, Prof. L, until the end of the semester. It adds to the classroom experience, in my opinion. Hurray for learning... and attractive professors.

So, Until Next Time,

The Hopeless Romantic