UPDATE: we win, and the board meeting didn't even happen yet. when the board found out exactly how much resistance was coming to the meeting tonight, they decided it would be in order to reschedule the show in may, so the show will not be abolished. goal 1 has been achieved, now we work on goal 2, which is making sure they don't destroy this teachers career. they have decided to hold a closed to the public meeting about what if anything they are going to do to the teacher. lets see if they have the guts to come out of that meeting with everyone who supports the teacher standing there and tell us he is in trouble.
alright, i'm not really one to bitch and rant and flip out over something, but i've gotta get this off of my chest. i live across the street from the high school i graduated from 11years ago. i came home today and there were news vans transmitting from all around the school. i turn on my tv and they are talking about an event at the school called the variety show. basically, a schoolwide talent show held every year.
as bad as school was, the variety show was always the high point of the school year. i participated in it all four years of school both in acting for comedy sketches, as a singer and bass player in several bands, and as one of the emcee's my senior year. that show led to me being awarded college scholarships, directly led to my first post college job in the music industry, and eventually led to things like me being a member of a band that has consistenly been invited to play gigs all over the world on someone else's tab in places like hong kong, tokyo, quebec, california, new orleans, and hundreds of performances in new york. it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.
now they are talking about doing away with the show over bullshit. the shows first performance was friday night, saturday, the school board decided some of the show was too sexually suggestive, and one scene, which parodied the movie "Scary Movie" was offensive because of the Virginia Tech shootings. now keeping in mind, these skits were scheduled in january, long before the shootings, i can see if maybe it was a litte in bad taste, however, the crowd was laughing through the whole show, it was not done in any way but as a spoof of the movie.
when i was in the show, almost everything in it was sexually suggestive, from the dance numbers, to the song lyrics, to the comedy, everyone out there knows what this stuff is like, hell they make movies about how hot the dancing looks. we never had a complaint about content or anything else.
more importantly, it is the only school event of the year that brings together absolutely every cultural group in the school. to name some of the stereotypes....the metalheads play their music, the cheerleaders perform, the artsy kids put on sketches, the jocks make fun of themselves. if there is a group in the school, it is represented in that show.
to do away with this show would be nothing short of evil.
and the bastard school board member trying it has done it before.
he tried it my senior year, tried to exclude all of the musicians from the show for bogus disciplinary records that didn't exist. i went in front of the board at a board meeting and argued the case, and i won. this son of a bitch has been trying to find a reason to abolish the show since then.
on top of everything else, the teacher who was the shows advisor has been pulled from his classroom and put on administrative assignment. initial reports stated that him and teh schools principal had viewed and approved the shows content, which is how it has always worked, now the board has issued a statement to the press stating that it was just the teacher, the principal never checked the show. they are scapegoating the teacher. two weeks earlier, the principal screened the show and actually cut some acts out, now they are saying he never saw it. this is total horseshit. the teacher in question was a student and a performer in the shows with me when i was in high school, he is a good person, and a good, young teacher who is loved by his students, and now the board is gonna swing him over bullshit
i'm not saying that people shouldn't be upset by the virginia tech shootings, i think we should all be outraged by the shootings, and i believe most of us are. but we can't let it make us oversensitive to the point of destroying more good things. it was a terrible event, but we can't use that event as a reason to put blinders on to the rest of what is going on around us. pretending violence doesn't happen does not prevent violence.
to fault students and teachers for putting on what most people felt was an enjoyable performance, is ludicrous. and to use that as an excuse to stifle and silence the creativity of future students and teachers, is just plainly a simple sinful.
sorry, i had to get that out to get my thoughts in order, because tonight, 11 years after the last time i did it, i am going to the district board meeting and standing up in front of the board to fight for these students and for this show, i had to get the rant out now so that i didn't break in to at at the meeting.
wish me luck.
p.s. sorry if this made absolutely no sense, but i guess thats why they call them rants, lol
alright, i'm not really one to bitch and rant and flip out over something, but i've gotta get this off of my chest. i live across the street from the high school i graduated from 11years ago. i came home today and there were news vans transmitting from all around the school. i turn on my tv and they are talking about an event at the school called the variety show. basically, a schoolwide talent show held every year.
as bad as school was, the variety show was always the high point of the school year. i participated in it all four years of school both in acting for comedy sketches, as a singer and bass player in several bands, and as one of the emcee's my senior year. that show led to me being awarded college scholarships, directly led to my first post college job in the music industry, and eventually led to things like me being a member of a band that has consistenly been invited to play gigs all over the world on someone else's tab in places like hong kong, tokyo, quebec, california, new orleans, and hundreds of performances in new york. it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.
now they are talking about doing away with the show over bullshit. the shows first performance was friday night, saturday, the school board decided some of the show was too sexually suggestive, and one scene, which parodied the movie "Scary Movie" was offensive because of the Virginia Tech shootings. now keeping in mind, these skits were scheduled in january, long before the shootings, i can see if maybe it was a litte in bad taste, however, the crowd was laughing through the whole show, it was not done in any way but as a spoof of the movie.
when i was in the show, almost everything in it was sexually suggestive, from the dance numbers, to the song lyrics, to the comedy, everyone out there knows what this stuff is like, hell they make movies about how hot the dancing looks. we never had a complaint about content or anything else.
more importantly, it is the only school event of the year that brings together absolutely every cultural group in the school. to name some of the stereotypes....the metalheads play their music, the cheerleaders perform, the artsy kids put on sketches, the jocks make fun of themselves. if there is a group in the school, it is represented in that show.
to do away with this show would be nothing short of evil.
and the bastard school board member trying it has done it before.
he tried it my senior year, tried to exclude all of the musicians from the show for bogus disciplinary records that didn't exist. i went in front of the board at a board meeting and argued the case, and i won. this son of a bitch has been trying to find a reason to abolish the show since then.
on top of everything else, the teacher who was the shows advisor has been pulled from his classroom and put on administrative assignment. initial reports stated that him and teh schools principal had viewed and approved the shows content, which is how it has always worked, now the board has issued a statement to the press stating that it was just the teacher, the principal never checked the show. they are scapegoating the teacher. two weeks earlier, the principal screened the show and actually cut some acts out, now they are saying he never saw it. this is total horseshit. the teacher in question was a student and a performer in the shows with me when i was in high school, he is a good person, and a good, young teacher who is loved by his students, and now the board is gonna swing him over bullshit
i'm not saying that people shouldn't be upset by the virginia tech shootings, i think we should all be outraged by the shootings, and i believe most of us are. but we can't let it make us oversensitive to the point of destroying more good things. it was a terrible event, but we can't use that event as a reason to put blinders on to the rest of what is going on around us. pretending violence doesn't happen does not prevent violence.
to fault students and teachers for putting on what most people felt was an enjoyable performance, is ludicrous. and to use that as an excuse to stifle and silence the creativity of future students and teachers, is just plainly a simple sinful.
sorry, i had to get that out to get my thoughts in order, because tonight, 11 years after the last time i did it, i am going to the district board meeting and standing up in front of the board to fight for these students and for this show, i had to get the rant out now so that i didn't break in to at at the meeting.
wish me luck.
p.s. sorry if this made absolutely no sense, but i guess thats why they call them rants, lol
thelibra:
nah, it makes perfect sense. i graduated hs the year that columbine happened...lemme tell you about being censored! fuck. administrative bureaucracy is the largest amount of bullshit there is.