Ketchup ... Catsup ... err, Catch Up!

Hey folks, sorry it's been so long since I've made a proper posting. With the podcast, the holidays and some issues that crept up at work, I just never got around to it.

I've been accumulating things to talk about though and here, even if in more succinct form, are some topics that came to my attention in the past month or so.

Enjoy!

Yes, We Have No John Lennon, We Have No John Lennon Today....

So there was a bit of an uproar that the new John Lennon album was not going to be available through iTunes.

What's the big fat hairy dudes? Look, the album may not be available through iTunes, but that doesn't mean you can't get it through other channels. It's available through Amazon for only $22.99. Even if you have to pay shipping, that's still roughly $11 less than buying the digital tracks through iTunes AND you get the CD, liner notes, etc, etc.

Still want it on your iPod? Rip it. Duh.

Taft Students Daft – Think Blogs Are Private

So according to a December 8th, 2005 Chicago Sun-Times article, three honor students at Taft High School were suspended for making what basically amounts to death threats against a teacher on their personal blog. The school says they were tipped off to the posting, the students say the school was “monitoring” their personal blogs.

What was posted?

In a posting November 3rd, one student wrote: “She'll see oh yes, there will be blood, ... Ms. ---'s neck will be ... slit like a ... chicken!”

Wow, nice honor students huh?

After the suspension, one Taft student (not one of the bloggers) said “A blog is like your journal. You should be able to say whatever you want in it...”

And the student blog poster later wrote: “I didn't know our Xanga's were being monitored. It's not private like we think. I thought it ... was freedom of speech.”

Uh, you mean you didn't realize your blog was being monitored by ... the ENTIRE WORLD?

Being public, I don't find it surprising at all, in light of the gun, drug and other problems in schools these days, for another student to read this entry, freak out and bring it to the attention of authorities – in this case the school.

Talk about stupid.

Journals ARE private and secure in your desk drawer at home. That's why nobody knew the Columbine shootings were coming, the students in that case kept their journals to themselves and didn't post them on the Internet for everyone in the world to see! If only they had...

A blog, on the other hand, is akin to printing up the message on a leaflet and posting it all over town. Blogs by their nature are not private and if you want them to be so, then password protect it. But please don't go around screaming violation of First Amendment Rights if you're going to talk about slitting a teacher's throat like a chicken.

Okay kiddies?

Oh ... and can someone tell me what the criteria are for honor students at Taft High School? They must be pretty low....

D.L.K.

In another public school case, the officials of McHenry High School expelled a student for drawing his initials on a piece of paper.

Okay, it's not quite as simple as that, but what it amounts to is the school bullying a student they seemed to have branded a “bad egg” years ago.

Accusing D.K. (I'm withholding names here) of drawing “gang symbols” on his notebooks in class, the school suspended and, later, expelled D.K. for drawing “DLK” on his notebook surrounded by various crowns and other images the school determined to be gang symbols. In what has to be one of the stupidest statements school administrators have made recently, they said “DLK” stood for “Disciples Latin King” apparently not realizing a) these are the kid's initials and b) they were blending two different gang names into one. I don't know about you, but I'd be interested to hear what members of those two gangs have to say about their names being merged like that.

Look, if the kid is bad, he's bad. I don't know him or his family, but preventing him from expressing himself through artwork – “gang symbols” or not and without definitive links to said gangs – is not a great way to ensure his right to ... free speech and freedom of expression.

The kid needs to come clean and say if what he's doing is attempting to emulate these gangs and their ... err, ideals. Schools have policies against this – and for good reason. If he is, he should stop, but regardless of that, expulsion is a harsh way to punish this kid. Sounds to me like the school is doing exactly opposite what they should be doing ... but as we know, it's easier to sweep “problems” under the rug than to face them head on.

If he was merely doodling, however – I recently uncovered some of the drawings I made in grade school and these fantastical “war doodles” were full of bullets flying and body parts all over the place – then I think the family should bring the ACLU into the picture and see what a full blown lawsuit against the school district does to reverse this recent ruling.