Today I found out that I am right-eye dominant. This is after Jamie, the nice man from the Iowa DNR has me do some exercises to find out which eye to look through when shooting.

Let’s back up. I’ve only shot a rifle once before in my life, and it was bolted to the ground. I was in Indian Guides at the time–a more laid-back and culture-appropriating version of the Boy Scouts. The 22-gauge rifles were bolted to the ground and we laid on filthy mattresses and aimed at tin cans on a log. I remember it was pretty thrilling and I couldn’t wait to see the look on my mom’s face when I told her I shot a gun. I was going to savor the subversion as she turned to my father to ask him what the f*ck he had let me get into.

I am now a 34-yr-old queer professor who teaches at a small liberal arts college–this one particularly liberal. I teach Spanish and Latinx studies.  We are in Central Iowa, which means that we are at least an hour’s drive away from any cities with a population over 100,000. We are in a rural, conservative, white area. However, I believe you bloom where you’re planted and I have no intention of profiling my neighbors as gun-toting, mask-rejecting, fundamentalist Christians with racist undertones. Sure, I know those people exist because they exist everywhere, and I’ve seen some evidence of their activityin these parts, but I also know that we are all complex individuals and I’d hate for people to write me off as a stereotype. I know I fit certain preconceptions about my sexuality, my profession, and other discernible aspects of my identities. However, I would like to think that I can hang out with anyone and make conversation.

I am also curious about aspects of midwestern and rural culture that I wasn’t exposed to when I grew up. For example, we had a small garden on and off when I was a kid, but we weren’t the best vegetable gardeners and didn’t get much other than entertainment out of our little plot. After working at a French vineyard with a productive vegetable garden (is my Ivory tower showing?), I started to garden more earnestly in my grad school years and I’ve gained some skill and knowledge over the years to the point where I can my own goods and we get a decent yield. I still battle weeds and plant diseases that I probably could prevent, but I’m learning.  

I know my grandfather hunted and my uncle has hunted, but this was never something my dad was interested in or anyone in my friend group. I think the idea of hunting didn’t really appeal to me until adulthood, when I associated it more with the local food movement and controlling deer populations than for sport. I still don’t really like the idea of hunting for sport, but I do enjoy meat. I also like the idea of being more in touch with where your food comes from and how it gets to you. Romantic? We’ll see.

When an ad in my local paper announced a program through the Iowa DNR that targeted (punny!) folks who had very little to no hunting experience to go through training and mentorship to culminate in bow-hunting deer, I said, “Is this for me? I think this is for me!” A quick application later and I’ve learned that I’m right-eye dominant and I’m heading to Waterloo, IA this weekend for the kick-off event. Follow my journey as I understand what all goes into hunting and the people who hunt.