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silverfoxesclub-digest In this issue: Subject: Daddy Longlegs joke A little girl was playing in the garden when she spotted two spiders mating. "Daddy, what are those two spiders doing?" "They're mating," her father replied. "What do you call the spider on top, Daddy?" "That's a daddy longlegs." "So, the other one is a mommy longlegs?" the little girl asked. "No," her father replied. "Both of them are daddy longlegs." The little girl thought for a moment, then took her foot and stomped them flat.
"Well, we're not having THAT sort of shit going on in
THIS garden."
Subject: Actor Richard Farnsworth Commits Suicide
Headline:
Text:
Subject: old fart
Someone whom I annoyed (as is often
the case) called me an "old fart" in his
e-mail today. It gave me pleasure to
delete it, but I felt somewhat
complimented, to tell the truth.
I thought of a scene in James Joyce's
novel, "Ulysses," in which someone
breaks wind, and a wag turns to him
and says, "Did I hear an angel speak?"
Perhaps, though, I don't qualify as an
angel. Being of the earth earthly, I
suppose I am closer to a metaphor
(?) used by sentimental Mexicans
(great beer drinkers and bean eaters,
thus superior fart makers) when
confronted with flatulence.
They call it "el suspiro de un culito
enamorado" -- the sigh of an asshole
in love.
Seen by a silverfox on a T-shirt Saturday
night at Johnny Mac's (a "wrinkles" bar
in Phoenix):
"Masturbation: a very touchy subject."
Subject: What about Clarence?
(Ben Boxer says, with regard to the
article below: "They have to start
teaching and enforcing tolerance
somewhere, and I think a good place
is in the schools. What better
education for the future good of any
multi-cultural society than to instill the
principle of respect for one's fellow
citizens of any age (including seniors)
and type (from race through sexual
orientation) in the young? What I
wonder, though, is when one of these
cases about sexual harassment of any
kind comes before the Supreme Court
again, will the other august jurists
finally kick Clarence Thomas's butt
for offering Cokes to Anita Hill with
his pubic hairs on top of the can?"
Headline:
By NICOLE ZIEGLER DIZON,
Text:
So she and other gay students in this
suburb west of Chicago asked the
school board to include ``sexual
orientation'' in a policy that bars
students from harassing other
students.
The month-long battle that ensued
reflects the struggles school districts
across the country face as more
students ``come out'' during high
school - and demand the right to
express their sexual orientation
without fear of abuse.
``We used to get a call once a year.
Now it's once a week,'' said Anthony
G. Scariano, a Chicago attorney who
fields districts' questions about
policies that protect gay students.
Scariano's clients include 200 Illinois
school districts and 15 outside the
state. He points to several recent court
decisions in advising them to include
sexual orientation in their
anti-harassment codes.
In 1996, for example, school officials
in Ashland, Wis., agreed to pay
$900,000 to former student Jamie
Nabozny, who had alleged in a federal
lawsuit that school officials failed to
stop harassment that ranged from
anti-gay slurs to severe beatings.
And last year, a divided U.S. Supreme
Court (news - web sites) ruled that
schools can be sued when officials
don't prevent students from sexually
harassing each other. That ruling
could be interpreted to include
harassment based on sexual
orientation, Scariano said.
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight
Education Network, a gay-rights
group meeting in Arlington Heights,
Ill., this weekend, has discussed ways
teachers and administrators can
address the needs of gay students.
Workshops on the group's agenda
included ``How to Handle Harassment
in the Hallways in Three Minutes''
and ``Strategies for Effective
Anti-Bias Trainings.''
Peter LaBarbera, a senior analyst
with the Family Research Council, a
conservative policy group in
Washington, worries that groups like
GLSEN have a larger agenda in mind
when they try to get sexual orientation
clauses included in district policies.
``We think these nondiscrimation
policies end up being used in schools
for purposes that most parents would
object to,'' such as to teach young
children about homosexuality,
LaBarbera said.
In Naperville, 27 parents, students and
community members spoke
passionately on both sides of the issue
at an August school board meeting on
the proposal. The district includes
nearly 19,000 students.
Pastor Brian VanDerway of
Cornerstone Church in Naperville
said a school policy should ban
harassment of any kind instead of
singling out a particular group of
students.
``No matter who you are, somebody is
going to find something about you at
that age that they don't like,''
VanDerway said. ''(The policy) should
say we as a school refuse to permit
harassment of any kind for any
reason.''
But Sievers, an 18-year-old who has
graduated from Naperville Central
High School, said teachers need to
know that they can and should stand
up for gay students.
``I heard name-calling, taunting,
teasing. I had some death threats,''
she said of her junior and senior
years, after she told classmates she
was gay. ``Teachers did nothing. ... I
don't think that they thought they
could do something about it.''
The board eventually approved a
compromise version that does not
explicitly ban harassment based on
sexual orientation, but does point out
that gay students in particular may
face harassment.
Superintendent Don Weber also said
he would make it clear that anti-gay
slurs would not be allowed in school.
``We said all along that the policy
does not promote a lifestyle,'' Weber
said. ``We're saying that students
should not be harassed.''
Other school districts - most of them
large - have adopted similar policies
over the past several years.
GLSEN surveyed 42 of the country's
largest school districts two years ago
and found that 58 percent of them
barred discrimination against students
based on sexual orientation.
June Million, a spokeswoman for the
National Association of Elementary
School Principals in Alexandria, Va.,
said her group has begun holding
seminars on including sexual
orientation in anti-harassment
policies. She's seen more schools
adopt such policies, although teachers
still may not know how to handle
playground slurs or teasing.
``It is awkward,'' she said. ``I just
think that they need more examples of
how to deal with it.''
In Naperville, it's too early to tell what
difference, if any, the policy has made,
said 18-year-old Audrey Martin, a
recent graduate of Naperville Central
who pushed for the changes.
``If we made a difference for one
student that they won't get harassed,''
Martin said, ``then it's worth it.''
End of silverfoxesclub-digest V1 #8 |
Actor Richard Farnsworth Commits
Suicide