The Twinkies

One of the sad truths about being a fan of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1) is that you are rarely defending people’s rights to read Huck Finn. No, you get to defend pornographers, Ann Coulter and teenagers who call people “douchbags” (sic).

Avery Doninger, after an altercation with her high school about who could use the school auditorium, described unnamed school administrators as “douchbag” in her Live Journal blog. The school stripped her of her position as class secretary and when her fellow students reelected her, writing her in as her name was not permitted on the ballot, the school threw out the write in votes. Her family sued on the basis that her right to free expression was being thoroughly trampled on. The judge ruled in favor of the school basing his ruling on a precedent that students were not free to, for example, yell “Fuck you” in school hallways.

That’s right. The Internet is contained within the halls of a public high school. All your base are belong to us. I’m certainly no lawyer but that strikes me as a generous interpretation of the precedent and a rather dangerous one as it extends the authority of the school, already too great in my opinion and certainly far more extensive than at the time of the Tinker vs. Des Moines ruling, beyond the doorway of the schoolyard into the wider world. Or, in adolescent parlance, that is seriously fucked up.

Following the logic of this ruling a school could penalize a student who wrote an expose of school corruption, a novel the administration didn’t like, or used a personal blog to prostelize her faith and claim all non-believers were going to hell. Sound extreme? Never underestimate the eagerness of school administrations to use every tool at their disposal to control students.

Somehow this system, a system that denies students the right to free expression even outside the school, a system that throws out the results of elections it does not like, this system is supposed to teach young adults how to be participating members of a representative democracy. However, you are going to have to tell me how that is going to happen because, frankly, I don’t see how an individual can go from functioning in this kind of petty tyranny to participation in an open society with any kind of ease.

(1) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

I took the kids to “Gentle Touch” at a local park today. J looked at the barn cat and said “Cuh” as he headed right towards her. That makes “cat” his first non-mama/dada/nana word. It actually amazes me how a human being is able to recognize that random sounds apply to things, and not just to specific things but to general things. Thus he has figured out that “cat” means not just our cat but new cats he has never seen before. Language acquisition really is fascinating.

After J handed my chewed up chicken and I had him place it on a place I said “thank you.” He repeated it back to me: “dank ooo.” Now, I know he is parroting. I am not one of those crazy people who are convinced by nonsense that their child is a special, gifted snowflake. Both J and F are likely to be precocious in some ways because they are growing up with college educated parents who read to them and focus a lot of attention on them, though, actually, speaking does not appear to be one of those precocious areas. Climbing. They are precocious at getting onto unsafe surfaces and egging one another on to new trouble. At any rate, early precocity is no indication of giftedness. I stood early and spoke late. Based on that I should be an illiterate ballerina.

J also said “dank oo” in the bath after I said it to him.

F handed me a book to read. J decided he wanted me to read a different book and handed me his choice. When I insisted on finishing the first book he reached over and closed it.

And I’m just not going to say anything like Sleeping twins: Priceless because that is just too easy.

Did you know that Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, was a twin? His older twin brother, Thanatos, took care of death.

I have nothing funny or interesting to say because I am tired. The other night was one of those 11:00, 1:00, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, and 6:30 kind of nights. I don’t think I have recovered yet. We have broken down and are using CIO at bedtime. I’m tired and worn out. This has gone on too long.

Two nights ago I found I couldn’t actually sleep. I lay in bed for hours, unable to sleep. The universe is not kind. What do you sacrifice to Hypnos? A goat? Do you think I can buy him off with flowers instead? Because, you know, I live in the suburbs. We aren’t zoned for goats.