Comments on: Bully pulpit: One more punch to the theatrical chops

By: Art Scatter » Why I quit my job: A teacher tells all

Art Scatter » Why I quit my job: A teacher tells all — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:02:53 +0000

[...] last minute, parents of three kids (out of 52 involved) protested to Principal Anna Pittioni, who called the show off. That was in February. The kids themselves voted not to water down the script so they could take the [...]

By: Art Scatter » A “Laramie” lawsuit: Footing the bill for censorship

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:06:36 +0000

[...] — and of course, if the subject makes anyone uncomfortable, it has to be evil. We’ve seen it recently, as Art Scatter has written, in Sherwood. And back in April our friends at the blog Portland Public [...]

By: anonymous

anonymous — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:57:57 +0000

This is indeed a story of a very small group of parents (by the way, only ONE that threatened to pull their child out– and later did) being very vocal and then getting what they want because they made a big stink. Also Sherwood’s administration seems to have made a very knee-jerk reaction. SSD is now “investigating” Jennie Brown and it will be decided soon whether or not she will continue on with the district. I hope she has a good union lawyer on her side!

By: Ria Torricelli

Ria Torricelli — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:03:52 +0000

The not-so-tragic end to this story is that the kids will get to perform the play, after all. After standing up for the uncensored version of the play, we found a new venue and will be performing it March 9th at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 2pm. The students have learned an immeasurable life lesson about not backing down when something you believe in is under scrutiny. As a parent of a cast member, I am so proud of these kids and I am hoping we are inspiring a new generation of activists.

By: David Loftus

David Loftus — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:22:26 +0000

I want to add that, irritating as students in their teens and twenties can so often be without thinking, when they set out to make adults uncomfortable (and more important, one another!) with intent and creativity, and within an institutional setting, they should be fully encouraged, not squelched. The more you bottle kids up at school and in the workplace, the more they’re apt to act out in an uncontrolled, unproductive, and even self-destructive manner.

By: David Loftus

David Loftus — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:18:40 +0000

As comforting as Steve’s thoughts may be to us, I would argue that censors in school districts are not motivated by a jones for power (as in, a delight in exercising it) so much as by a driving fear of losing it . . . especially when they have comparatively little of it in the first place. The villains who more closely resemble Steve’s portrait are the faceless, anonymous complainers (typically, s small collection of parents, though I have not followed this story closely enough to know whether there was an initial parental complaint or the principal jumped the gun and anticipated it). A similar incident just occurred at Arkansas Tech University, where an administrator canceled a student production of Sondheim’s “Assassins” because of fears it would stir up terrorist activity. The students got on the Internet and inspired tons of letters and emails (I learned of it on the Harlan Ellison site, Ellison Webderland, where I hang out), and I understand the administration has backed down and the show has been revived.

By: Steve Patterson

Steve Patterson — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:25:06 +0000

I know you’re a gracious, polite guy, Bob. I can be too. But sometimes I’m not, and this is one of those times: censors do not have the best intentions.

What they have is a jones for power. They crush those who disagree the slightest with their orthodoxy because nothing must interfere with the fragile little snowglobes in which they make their fragile nests. Here’s what the pecksniffs, hypermoralists, and others bloated with a delusional sense of importance teach kids: pretend to be creative and we’ll praise you and make you feel all cuddly inside, and everything will be mondo groovy, and we’ll give you a brown felt unicorn and a cup of cocoa. Color outside the lines, and we’ll make you you wish you’d never been born, you snotty little clot of rancid waste.

Censors are agents of the thought police.