So I’m feeling stupidly troubled about something. I still see Visa about once a month, last time was 10 days ago,. She warned me she might be on my campus a couple times in the next few weeks (her kids go here), and if we passed each other, I could deal with it as I wished—ignore her, wave, etc.

This past Friday an encampment began on my campus. There were of course chants of multiple anti-Semitic slogans. I accidentally walked into it, not knowing it was there, and once I managed to extract myself, I texted my Jewish colleagues and friends on campus to warn them in case they didn’t want to deal with that.

Visa’s Jewish. And I remembered she might be on campus. So, I texted her too. She was indeed on campus that day, and she sent two thank-you texts back.

I feel strange about the whole thing. Clearly it was fine to warn her, but I also feel like it shifted our relationship, and I don’t like that.