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School Censorship

This is an open letter to Jessica Thompson, a Phoenix, Oregon high school student whose graduation project art presentation was censored by principal Bruce Rhodes. Inspired by a Take Back The Night rally she attended, Ms. Thompson sought to explore a variety of women's issues, from sexual violence to social constraints and expectations. One abstract painting depicting a women's vagina was banned and three paintings of nude women could not be referred to during her presentation to a public panel of adults reviewing her project. The remaining four paintings are portraits of women. Principal Rhodes called the censorship "a small modification" and he made his decision without actually viewing the paintings.

Dear Jessica,

I am sorry to say that I was neither shocked nor surprised to read that your artwork was censored by your school principal. I frankly would have been more surprised if you had been allowed to express yourself freely and without pre-judgment by school administrators.

I hope you don't feel too badly about your experience: you are in fine company. The self-appointed protectors of public morals have been carrying-on like this forever and you are not alone in having your personal vision criticized and even banned by those who think they know what is best for all of us.

In 1957 City Lights publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti and bookstore clerk Shigeyoshi Murao were prosecuted for publishing and selling obscene material. The book in question was Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems. The prosecutor primarily objected to Ginsberg's celebration of heterosexual and homosexual love.

The decision by trial Judge Clayton W. Horn, a Sunday school Bible teacher who had earlier attracted national attention for his sentencing of five women shoplifters to view a screening of the film The Ten Commandments, was a stunner. Early in his decision Judge Horn stated that "I do not believe that Howl is without redeeming social importance." He went on to offer a twelve-point guideline for prosecuting obscene works, including a section that principal Rhodes would do well to ponder: "In considering material claimed to be obscene it is well to remember the motto: 'Honi soit qui mal y pense.' (Evil to him who evil thinks.)"

A few years ago an Ashland, Oregon rabbi objected to the portrayal of the character Shylock in an Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of The Merchant of Venice. He wanted the character to be modified because he felt it depicted Jews in a less than positive light. Even William Shakespeare faces calls for censorship--and in the town that Shakespeare built. I would not want to be the person who draws the short lot and has to re-write the work of western literature's greatest playwright.

As I see it you have had an opportunity to learn some valuable lessons through this experience and they are the kind of lessons you won't learn in civics class.

You have learned that art can be censored and that the censoring authority isn't even obliged to view the artwork in order to pass judgment. In your case the censorship wasn't even of a public display, but to supposedly protect the sensibilities of adults who had volunteered to review your graduation project.

You have learned that most adults will treat you like a child up to the day you turn 18 or graduate from high school and then they will turn around and demand that you start acting like an adult. Teenagers should not expect to practice a lot of independent decision-making before then, unless their parents are unique (and yours appear to be just that).

And you have learned that the supposed majority often rules, even though this country's founders attempted to forestall such tyranny by establishing freedom of speech. There are good reasons why that basic freedom is in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

Jessica, I hope you will move on from this experience and take from it clarity of vision and resolve. If you continue to follow your heart in your artistic endeavors, you will undoubtedly run into naysayers in the future. Do not let them deter you! We need artists who are not afraid to challenge the status quo and who are willing to express those parts of us that may be unpleasant or difficult to face. And we desperately need people willing to offer positive alternatives to the current political and social mores that bind us all.

Gregory Ventana, free-lance photographer and writer based in southern Oregon

A Higher Standard

The following e-mail message was sent to all City Council candidates:

Subject: SEAVILITY City Council Candidate Questionnaire

SEAVILITY is a nonpartisan group of concerned citizens recently formed to support candidates for Seattle City Council who will uphold Seattle's civil nature. We are asking candidates to answer the following brief questions, at their convenience, in order to give us an understanding of who is committed to promoting responsible public behavior in Seattle.

1) Our city's sidewalks were not built for people to use as substitute benches or beds in business districts. Instead, they were built as a mechanism to transport consumers from their automobiles in parking garages to the entrances of retail stores.

Do you support the current No-Sitting Ordinance in vital shopping districts? Would you consider expanding this ordinance to include a "no leaning" provision?

2) Two weeks ago the Seattle City Council passed a Noise Control Ordinance that set reasonable standards for excessive noise in an increasingly crowded city. Another quality of life and public health concern in Seattle is offensive odors. SEAVILITY proposes a No Odor Ordinance that would make residents and businesses responsible for the odors they emit. Under the ordinance, police could cite violators who were "plainly smellable" from 50 feet away in residential areas, 75 feet away in commercial districts.

If on the City Council, would you have voted in favor of the Noise Control Ordinance? Would you support putting restrictions on olfactory offenses by proposing a No Odor Ordinance?

3) Consumers and tourists in our prized business districts are often confronted by aggressive panhandlers. This can be intimidating and interrupt the flow of capital to businesses.

Would you require panhandlers to use polite language in their pursuit of handouts? (Retail customer service training manuals could be used as guides for proper language.)

4) Drinking and urinating in our public parks is unacceptable behavior. In fact, SEAVILITY has seen studies showing that one often leads to the other.

Do you support giving the police the authority to stop people from urinating?

5) SEAVILITY recognizes there is a homeless problem in Seattle. This population faces another long Seattle winter and needs programs that deal with their particular challenges.

In a formal dinner place setting, where is the proper placement of the dessert spoon?

Thank you for your response to our questionnaire. SEAVILITY plans on considering your answers, changing them accordingly, and writing out blank checks to the big winners. Good luck in the election!

Received via e-mail from SEAVILITY, "working for a more civil society."