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Strollerderby
Since when is "Most Feared by Freshman" an appropriate topic for print in a high school yearbook?
There have been inappropriate articles and pictures about cheerleaders, and labels of girls as “skinny” and “fat.” Now comes word of child porn and graphic depictions of alleged bullies.
Two more high schools. Two more yearbooks scandals. Two more faculty advisers seemingly MIA.
Big Bear High School students are allegedly walking around with child porn in their yearbooks. And Mamaroneck High School students are in possession of yearbooks that show an alleged bully holding a dismembered head and hand. And so I ask yet again – where are the faculty advisers?
Wenatchee High School in Washington is the latest to print mean-spirited fodder about its students
Last week I wrote about a high school in California that delayed the release of the bulk of its yearbooks after a staffer wrote a nasty article about the (in)appropriateness of the cheerleaders’ uniforms. While the school couldn’t force the yearbook staff to retract the article, they students did anyway, rewrote it and apologized. But what had me wondering was where was the faculty adviser who should have seen it and stopped it from being printed in the first place?
I’m scratching my head over the same thing today about a high school in Washington. Wenatchee High School’s yearbook has identified photos of two freshman girls not by their names, but by “fat” and “skinny.”
According to speculation, the staff put those labels in as placeholders because they didn’t know the girls’ names and forgot to update the page before the yearbook was finalized and 1,100 copies were printed.
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A boy at a Texas high school has experienced "a great deal of anxiety" over the idea of a prayer at his graduation ceremony
At my public high school graduation ceremony once upon a time, a rabbi — the dad of one of the graduating students — was the first person to take the stage. He lead a short prayer in Hebrew and then another in English. Everyone said “amen” and moved on to the more pressing matters at hand, namely valedictorian speeches and diploma distribution.
I’m not one who advocates prayer in school, but a benediction at the beginning of something like a public high school graduation by a clergyman of any faith doesn’t get my knickers in a twist. A federal judge, however, feels differently.
A Texas school district has been forbidden from allowing public prayer at a high school graduation ceremony this weekend. They can’t even say the word “prayer” or “amen.”
School officials are delaying the release of 600 out of 1,000 yearbooks because of an offensive article and pictures
How much editorial control should a high school yearbook editor wield? Most will probably never know the scope of their influence, considering that senior photos and candid snapshots of the soccer team are considered pretty G-rated material.
But what happens when the material is more racy, and the subjects of some photos are actually offended at how they’ll be seen in perpetuity to their schoolmates?
Cheerleaders at River City High School in West Sacramento, Calif., are upset at an article about them in this year’s yearbook. Titled, “Who Wears Short Shorts,” they’re described as showing “more leg than Daisy Duke” and as being “dolled up in micromini [sic] uniforms” while “strolling down halls” with “blatant disregard” for the school’s dress code. One picture accompanying the article shows the cheer squad with their skirts up high while in action mode, while another shows just a digitally altered photos of some of the girls’ legs.
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Seriously, pick a different word.
I’m all over the 1st Amendment. Good stuff, that right to free speech and assembly.
I even agree with the Supreme Court decision to let Fred Phelps and his family of bigots picket funerals. Do I agree with them? No, not even a little. Do I think the Westboro Baptist Church should be arrested for their actions? No, not that either. (I actually wish we’d all start inviting them to our funerals, give them friendly waves and a plate of church lady fried-chicken and hash brown casserole. But that’s something to explore in a different post.)
I’m against laws censoring language (hate speech is an important exception), but I think as individuals we could do more self-regulating — whether or not we’re in front of kids. Because the word “retard”? With every free speech bone in my body, I wish people would just stop saying it. Continue reading »
The many hate-filled signs of the Westboro Baptist Church.
The Supreme Court ruled today in the case of Snyder v. Phelps, an lengthy legal battle pitting the father of a deceased U.S. soldier against Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church, widely known for picketing funerals and carrying signs that say things like “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”
According to Chief Justice Roberts and his colleagues, “The First Amendment protects hateful protests at military funerals,” the New York Times reports. He said in his ruling, “The national commitment to free speech requires protection of even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.” The court sided with Phelps 8-1. Continue reading »
Phillip Greaves appeared in court today.
The Huffington Post reported this afternoon that Phillip Greaves, author of The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure, is being charged with violating Florida’s obscenity law, “a third-degree felony that could land him in prison for five years.”
John noted on Monday that Polk County, Florida officials had arrested Greaves in his Pueblo, CO home. He wrote, “Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said that his officers were able to arrest the author on obscenity charges because Greaves had sold and mailed his book to them in Florida,” adding, “He was kind enough to sign it for them.”
Greaves has been assigned a court-appointed public defender, Francis Solorzano, who asked Judge John Kirkland to drop the case. Solorzano stressed that “There are no images in the book,” arguing that “Any finding of probable cause would tend to have a chilling effect on free speech.” Kirland told Solorzano “the judge who signed the arrest warrant had already found probable cause and he could not override that decision,” according to HuffPo. Continue reading »
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