From the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" Department
The New York Times article "School Bars Yearbook Photo of Student in Medieval Garb" speaks absurdly and hilariously for itself:
Patrick Agin, a high school senior in Portsmouth, R.I., was surprised by his school's refusal this fall to use a yearbook photograph of him dressed in medieval chain mail, with a broadsword over his shoulder…
…the picture ran afoul of its zero-tolerance weapons policy.
"Students wielding weapons is just not consistent with our existing policies or the mission of the school," said Robert Littlefield, the principal. "I think the picture speaks for itself."
And the story just gets better and better.
The high school mascot is a depiction of a Revolutionary War Minuteman carrying, yes, a rifle.
"That's an entirely different issue," Mr. Littlefield said. "I don't think anybody could reasonably construe a cartoon depiction of a soldier from 250 years ago as a threat to our educational environment."
But a photo of a student dressed in chain mail, well that's just the slippery slope to Columbine.
But wait , there's even more. The high school will allow the student to display his photo with his broadsword in the yearbook in the advertising section.
As the ACLU lawyer says, "It's a perfect example of bureaucratic ridiculousness." Amen.
Whole silly story here . Read it and weep, laugh, cry, and chortle.
Disclosure: I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. But even if I weren't, this would still be a wacky story.
