Kate Oliver

about 15 or 16 years old, one of whom raised his gun up to point at me. Now, if you haven't been to Paintball before, there are two groups of people there. One is this group of teenage boys. They go every weekend. The staff know their names. They've brought their own guns. You can bring your own guns to Paintball. And they are there to pray on the week.

And the second group of people, the weak, we are a bunch of gays who've just realized we're there for their target practice. But the reason I froze up so badly when this happened was not because I'm afraid of paint. This came from a far more primal place. I was flashing back to when I was this teenager's age, about 15 years old.

And the second group of people, the weak, we are a bunch of gays who've just realized we're there for their target practice. But the reason I froze up so badly when this happened was not because I'm afraid of paint. This came from a far more primal place. I was flashing back to when I was this teenager's age, about 15 years old.

And the second group of people, the weak, we are a bunch of gays who've just realized we're there for their target practice. But the reason I froze up so badly when this happened was not because I'm afraid of paint. This came from a far more primal place. I was flashing back to when I was this teenager's age, about 15 years old.

And in school, the most terrifying thing in the world to me was teenage boys. I was the weird androgynous nerdy kid in the class. You probably remember the weird androgynous nerdy kid in your class. If you've wondered how they're doing, we're fine. I'm fine, thanks. I had this big frizzy hair, like, swept straight back. I had these thick glasses on.

And in school, the most terrifying thing in the world to me was teenage boys. I was the weird androgynous nerdy kid in the class. You probably remember the weird androgynous nerdy kid in your class. If you've wondered how they're doing, we're fine. I'm fine, thanks. I had this big frizzy hair, like, swept straight back. I had these thick glasses on.

And in school, the most terrifying thing in the world to me was teenage boys. I was the weird androgynous nerdy kid in the class. You probably remember the weird androgynous nerdy kid in your class. If you've wondered how they're doing, we're fine. I'm fine, thanks. I had this big frizzy hair, like, swept straight back. I had these thick glasses on.

And I would walk around the edge of the playground on my own every break time with my head down, carrying my briefcase. And... Kids would shout stuff at me and they'd throw stuff at me. Once in class, they banged on the window and shouted stuff. A couple of kids came to my house one time. So it got pretty bad.

And I would walk around the edge of the playground on my own every break time with my head down, carrying my briefcase. And... Kids would shout stuff at me and they'd throw stuff at me. Once in class, they banged on the window and shouted stuff. A couple of kids came to my house one time. So it got pretty bad.

And I would walk around the edge of the playground on my own every break time with my head down, carrying my briefcase. And... Kids would shout stuff at me and they'd throw stuff at me. Once in class, they banged on the window and shouted stuff. A couple of kids came to my house one time. So it got pretty bad.

And so my main memory of being kind of 12 to 15 is just feeling so tense all the time and just feeling like a target and wanting to hide and just wanting to disappear. And so in that waiting room, in that space, when this teenager raised that gun, I was the exact same person. I was terrified. I was so frozen. I was ashamed. I felt so embarrassed.

And so my main memory of being kind of 12 to 15 is just feeling so tense all the time and just feeling like a target and wanting to hide and just wanting to disappear. And so in that waiting room, in that space, when this teenager raised that gun, I was the exact same person. I was terrified. I was so frozen. I was ashamed. I felt so embarrassed.

And so my main memory of being kind of 12 to 15 is just feeling so tense all the time and just feeling like a target and wanting to hide and just wanting to disappear. And so in that waiting room, in that space, when this teenager raised that gun, I was the exact same person. I was terrified. I was so frozen. I was ashamed. I felt so embarrassed.

I knew that in a minute my friends would notice that I was afraid of this child, and they'd be ashamed of me too. But as I panicked, something shifted. He lowered the gun, and he suddenly looked really confused. He suddenly looked very young. And he said to me, Miss, did you bring a cockroach to my school? And I did, I did. I did. I used to work in the London Zoo Schools Outreach Programme.

I knew that in a minute my friends would notice that I was afraid of this child, and they'd be ashamed of me too. But as I panicked, something shifted. He lowered the gun, and he suddenly looked really confused. He suddenly looked very young. And he said to me, Miss, did you bring a cockroach to my school? And I did, I did. I did. I used to work in the London Zoo Schools Outreach Programme.

I knew that in a minute my friends would notice that I was afraid of this child, and they'd be ashamed of me too. But as I panicked, something shifted. He lowered the gun, and he suddenly looked really confused. He suddenly looked very young. And he said to me, Miss, did you bring a cockroach to my school? And I did, I did. I did. I used to work in the London Zoo Schools Outreach Programme.

And it was my job to go around schools and teach kids about endangered species and about habitats. And we would bring animals from the zoo with us, not the wild animals like the lions and tigers, but like snakes and lizards and ferrets and giant insects like these rainforest cockroaches. The cockroaches, by the way, are particularly cute animals. His name was Charlie. He was very sweet.

And it was my job to go around schools and teach kids about endangered species and about habitats. And we would bring animals from the zoo with us, not the wild animals like the lions and tigers, but like snakes and lizards and ferrets and giant insects like these rainforest cockroaches. The cockroaches, by the way, are particularly cute animals. His name was Charlie. He was very sweet.

And it was my job to go around schools and teach kids about endangered species and about habitats. And we would bring animals from the zoo with us, not the wild animals like the lions and tigers, but like snakes and lizards and ferrets and giant insects like these rainforest cockroaches. The cockroaches, by the way, are particularly cute animals. His name was Charlie. He was very sweet.

And this job, this job was exactly as awesome as you are imagining right now. We would drive up to a primary school and the kids would see the van out the window and they'd all be going, the zoo's here, the zoo's here. And then we'd walk into the classroom or the assembly and we'd be like, is everybody excited? And they'd be like, yeah. It was like being a celebrity. Yeah.