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Strollerderby
For centuries, those of the Catholic faith have been using rosary beads to keep track of their prayers. A circular string of beads with a pendant crucifix, a rosary serves as a sort abacus for counting one’s daily devotions.
But according to officials at Fieldstone Secondary School in Haverstraw, New York, rosary beads also have another purpose: To signify a gang affiliation. And that, they say, is why 14-year-old Jason Laguna was threatened with suspension we he wore his to school. Continue reading »
The saga of Taylor Pugh – a.k.a. Tator Tot — and his long locks isn’t over yet. The Mesquite School district offered Taylor’s parents what they thought was a decent compromise: Tightly braid Taylor’s hair so that it doesn’t touch his collar or cover his ears, and he can come back to school.
His parents said no. “If I braid his hair, his scalp will bleed and his hair will break,” said his mother, Elizabeth Taylor, who has offered to put Taylor’s hair up in a ponytail while he’s at school.
I’m not saying a thing about Texas, because I’m sure it’s a perfectly lovely state. But as soon as I read about kindergartner Taylor Pugh being kicked out of his kindergarten classroom for his moderatlely long hair style, I said to myself, “Must be Texas.”
And I wasn’t wrong. I’m just sayin’.
Back in the age of the dinosaurs, aka 1995, I went to prom with a charming young man. I wore a long, lacy purple dress. He wore a black miniskirt and a baby-doll t-shirt with the words “Prom Queen” stencilled across the chest in frilly lavender script. Guess which one of us got to dance with the captain of the football team? Hint: it wasn’t me.
I guess we were trendsetters, because the New York Times now reports that schools are cracking down on kids’ cross-dressing to proms – or just to class. Are these teens finding a clever new way to stick it to the dress code, or just exploring their honest gender expression? Does it matter?
17-year-old O’Rhonde Chapman likes to wear jumbo gold hoop earrings, long flowing wigs and stiletto heels. So what’s the big deal? To the school administrators of Nimitz High School in Texas, it’s the fact that O’Rhonde was born a “he”. Unhappy with his attire, the school principal recently sent him home.
Jonathan Escobar is the kind of kids who stands out from the crowd, especially when he wears his pink wig. Escobar prefers to wear wigs, makeup, and feminine-style clothing, a style choice that’s gotten him in trouble at school. Continue reading »
Pretty soon, kids will be going to school naked. And no, this isn’t a statement on the skimpiness of half the items in the juniors section. This is about the latest item to be banned by school districts: hoodies.
You know, those hooded sweatshirts favored by the Unabomber, shlubby moms like me and teenagers? Continue reading »
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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