Reason Prevailed Somewhere this Week

But not in La Grande Oregon, where on Wednesday night, school board members voted to uphold Superintendent Larry Glaze’s decision to censor a student production of Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”, ignoring spirited and articulate appeals from the High School principal and drama teacher. It was yet another disturbing case of school officials catering to the more censorious voices in their community. Prior to Wednesday night’s meeting, NCAC sent a letter to Superintendent Glaze urging him to reconsider his decision, calling for a greater respect for the students involved in the production, and stressing that:

Any parent concerned about the play’s content could simply keep his or her child out of the production and the audience, or protest in other ways… Not all parents in the community object to the play, and those who do have no right to impose their views on others or to demand that this production reflect their personal preferences. 

This argument was echoed by some board members, who nonetheless lost in a contentious 4-3 vote.

‘Gossip Girl’ tackles cyberbullying

Cyberbullying was finally examined in Gossip Girl, the CW drama driven by a blog of the same name, touted as “your one-and-only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite,” this month.  Though the high school student characters have posted rumors about one another and their parents for the past season and a half, threats of shutting down the site only popped up recently, in Episode 17 “Carrnal Knowledge,” which aired on February 2 and is still available online.  What changed?  This episode, the site targeted a teacher.

Accused of having sexual relations with a student, Ms. Carr reports the Gossip Girl blog to her boss, Headmistress Queller.  The headmistress responds in three ways, all reminiscent of reactions by school authorities faced with critical, satirical, or hateful writing about their teachers online.  Calling Blair, the student responsible for the rumor, into her office, Queller explains a familiar rationale: “This school has been aware of the Gossip Girl website for some time.  Up until now the content has focused on students – the students haven’t complained, so we’ve turned a blind eye.  However, now that a teacher has become involved, I have no choice but to deal with it.”  On this blog, Sarah recently discussed the frequent application of this reasoning, and the results that follow.

‘My Brother Sam is Dead’ kept in Muscogee school libraries

Good news for kids’ right to read! On Wednesday, the Muscogee County (GA) School District’s media committee voted unanimously to keep the novel, My Brother Sam is Dead, in elementary school libraries. Counting up 19 terms she found inappropriate, one parent had challenged the book for its profanity.

In its decision to keep the book on the shelves, media committee members cited the importance of evaluating books as entire works, and not reducing them to isolated words that some find objectionable:

It’s a very well-written book, very gripping,” said Beth Beasley, the media specialist at Mathews Elementary. “It gave you a point of view that might not be found in a history book.”

…Instructional specialist Doreen Sears said Waller’s complaint was covered under the selection criteria for appropriateness — if the book, vocabulary, content, concepts and themes were suited for the intended audience. All of the committee members felt the book met or exceeded this guideline.

“We were evaluating the book as a whole, not taking one part out of context,” Sears said.”

NCAC and ABFFE respond to banning of ‘The Bookseller of Kabul’

Earlier this month, we covered the banning of The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad in Wyandotte, MI.  The Wyandotte School Board banned the book, removing it from the High School library and classrooms while it is reviewed by a reconsideration committee.  The committee meets tonight to discuss the book.

The Kids’ Right to Read Project is sending this letter to the school board to oppose the book ban.  We’ll keep you posted on what develops.

California law banning sale of video games to minors ruled unconstitutional

Jurist reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held that a California ban on the sale of video games to minors is unconstitutional. According to Jurist:

The bill, originally signed into law by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2005, prohibited the sale or rental of violent video games to minors under the age of 17, and required retailers to label violent games.

The court struck down the law, writing in their decision:

None of the research establishes or suggests a causal link between minors playing violent video games and actual psychological or neurological harm. . . . The state must come forward with more than it has.

Last summer, NCAC joined the New York Civil Liberties Union in protesting a New York bill that involved somewhat similar issues. The bill in question that had three parts: It would require any retailers selling or renting video games to prominently display the rating on the game’s cover, it would set up a government committee for reviewing ratings, and it would require that video game consoles have technology that allowed parents to block content.

Teens Sending Nude Photos of Themselves or “Sexting”

A survey of 1,280 teens and young adults conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com finds that 22% of girls and 18% of boys said they have electronically sent or posted nude or semi-nude images.

The impulse to make a nude self-portrait is neither new, nor specific to kids. In the introduction to a collection of male nude self-portraits, actor Alan Cumming states ‘I think everyone secretly wants to take nude self-portraits. To be able to see ourselves as others see us – whether passive or in the throes of passion – is always illuminating, but isn’t it also erotic just to have in our possession an image that captured a moment in our lives when we were at our barest?’

NCAC Executive Director Joan Bertin weighs in on NYPost cartoon controvery

CNN’s coverage of the NY Post’s controversial cartoon from a First Amendment perspective. Click here to watch the video.

NCAC Executive Director Joan Bertin weighs in, noting NCAC’s response to the violence in Denmark resulting from a newspaper’s running cartoon portrayals of Mohammed.

‘Keep libraries free!’ from Indexed

Direct TV rejects ad about recent Gaza invasion as too “controversial”

Satellite television provider Direct TV’s recent decision to reject an advertisement produced by the advocacy group U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation raises serious questions about the responsibilities of corporate media to permit, if not promote, the free exchange of ideas on important questions of national policy.

The advertisement, which asks viewers to contact President Obama and tell him to end U.S. military aid to Israel, includes footage from the latest Israeli attack on Gaza and refers to the U.S.-made weapons used in the attack. Direct TV reportedly told the U.S. Campaign that their ad was too controversial for the network. They further claimed to avoid airing ads by advocacy groups involved in other controversial issues such as gun control and abortion, but were unable to cite specific examples. It is not surprising that an ad touching on U.S. involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was perceived by the network as “controversial”. Yet, the fact that people have different and strongly held views on a topic makes it more, not less, important that those differences be aired and debated as fully as possible.

Board decides to restrict access to ‘Sex for Busy People,’ ‘The Lesbian Kama Sutra,’ ‘The Joy of Sex’ and ‘The Joy of Gay Sex’

In January, we reported on a Topeka, Kansas woman’s push to move books about sexuality to a restricted section. As Rebecca wrote then, “Restricting books may seem like a fine compromise, but it has a serious chilling effect on library patrons’ reading selection, and adopting such a policy would permit one person to enforce her views on everyone else.”

Yesterday, in a 5-3 decision, the library board decided to restrict Sex for Busy People, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, The Joy of Sex, and The Joy of Gay Sex calling the books “harmful to minors.” In an excellent article in the Topeka Capital-Journal, reporter Ann Marie Bush quotes Jason Chaika from the Kansas Equality Coalition, “There is not a librarian’s desk big enough to hide all the books that someone may find objectionable.” Bush also reports on Cecil Washington, who defended the restriction. After asking the assembled audience to “cover your ears,” Bush reports that Washington “read several explicit lines from a book he found online. The material wasn’t from one of the contested books.”