Not Inclusive Enough?

The Vagina Monologues 1996 (left) vs later edition

Well I guess I don't have to worry about Amherst Regional High School ever doing another sanctioned performance of the Vagina Monologues on public school property now that the bastion of PC feminism Mount Holyoke College has mothballed VM because it's not "inclusive" enough to include transsexuals.

As some of you may sadly remember ARHS was the only high school in the nation to allow VM back in 2004, only five years after being the only entity in history to ban a performance of West Side Story.

After Principal Mark Jackson was soooooo impressed with an off campus production put on by the kids in 2007 he allowed VM back at the ARHS in 2008, but not since then. 

My main complaint with the work of "art" is the repeated use of the C-word (rhymes with bunt).

Ensler claims she wanted to "reclaim" the word.  And we see how well that has worked out over the past two decades.  Right up there with reclaiming the N-word, although the hipper 5-letter version does actually gets used way more often than it should these days.

And the monologue, ‘The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could’ glories sex between an adult and underage girl after the minor had consumed vodka.

In the original version published, in 1998, the girl is only 13 and the monologue closes with her gushing:

“Now people thought that it was a kind of rape. I was only thirteen and she was twenty-four. Well, I say, if it was a rape, it was a good rape then, a rape that turned my sorry-ass coochi snorcher into a kind of heaven.”

Yikes! Can you imagine if a white, middle aged, Republican had authored that?

Yes I did attend the 2004 showing at the high school because Fox News paid for my ticket and requested I attend.  And no, I did not try to record it.

Obviously it's not a First Amendment violation for the public schools to ban taking pictures of minors on school property (although you have to question the wisdom of the schools allowing those minors to perform R rated material).

 Calvin Terrell, Amherst Regional Middle School last week

And the schools fulfilled the requirement of copyright law by posting public notice a week before the event that VM was off limits to recording.  Also, unlike Calvin Terrell's "performance" at the Middle School last week, a fee was charged at the door.

Maybe when Terrell returns to perform next academic year he can dress up as a vagina, just for old time sake.

Pride goeth before the fall

The most interesting exchange of the 12/14 Regional School Committee meeting perfectly underscores the hubris of Amherst--and it came from a member of the Regional Committee who is not even from the People's Republic of Amherst.

Kip Fonsh of Leverett trots out that tired old saw about Amherst educational superiority that may have been true at some point in the past, but certainly those days are long gone. Other than being the only High School in history to cancel a production of 'West Side Story' or allowing young girls to perform the R-rated 'Vagina Monologues', nothing springs to mind where ARHS has blazed a trail--at least with things of educational value.

And even Mr. Fonsh, a major cheerleader for the current administration, seems to indicate study halls are not exactly something worth bragging about. Notice too how Superintendent Geryk and Principal Mark Jackson (Amherst's two highest paid employees) are not overly quick to respond to Rob Spence's question about how Amherst compares to Northampton or Longmeadow on this issue.

"Prisoners of the budget" indeed. With ARHS currently having the highest cost per student in the area, hard pressed taxpayers have to wonder if perhaps those holding cell toilets are gold plated.

Turn the volume w-a-y up on your computer; and yes, I know the lip sync is something out of a Chinese martial arts movie. My $30 shareware editing program is being a tad funky today.

"The Vagina Monologues": Third time is the charm

Amherst School Czar Mark Jackson (Principal of both the Regional High School and Middle School) announced that Amherst Regional High School would once again perform the "The Vagina Monologues" next Valentine's Day.

But this time, the play will also be used as sex education curriculum in the Middle School for a full year culminating with a joint performance next February. No indication of which school student gets to perform the "Reclaiming Cunt" monologue.

Jackson will also lead a one-man bullying seminar using his pernicious performance at the public 3/9 School Committee meeting--where he brow beat School Committee member Catherine Sanderson--as a perfect example of overly dominating male behavior.

No Vaginas for you!

So ahhhhh (that would be a sigh, not an orgasm), NO ‘Vagina Monologues’ at Amherst Regional High School this year! What a shame. Violence against women in Amherst will now get completely out of control.

Last year of course the High School kiddies did an encore performance sanctioned by clueless, spineless PC school officials–although it took four years to get around to it. In 2007 Principal Mark Jackson actually showed some backbone (which he probably does not do all that often) and told the kids no way in Hell. So they went to Northampton Center for the Arts and did it there.

But the following year Mr. Jackson (having attended the NoHo performance with his feminist wife) was so impressed (with all of a month’s preparation) he allowed ARHS sanctioning and use of the public school building. Although the turn out last year was not nearly what it was in 2004, down from a sold out 800 to only 500.

And now this year, ZIP. However will Eve Ensler afford cosmetic surgery?

Of course, Amherst Schools are currently beyond disarray. Four new principals (out of only six) hired in one year. Jackson is the most experienced Amherst Principal with a pathetic five years under his belt (replacing another male principal who apparently made a pass at a 15-year-old male student and has not been heard from since) but Jackson is currently on personal leave for this entire month.

Second in command Marta Guevara--with more experience at ARHS than Principal Jackson--is off for the entire year. She championed the 2004 ‘VM’ performance and later banned the term “freshman” in the High School because it was sexist.

And of course uber-slick Superintendent Jere Hochman left for greener pastures (meaning way more than double salary) giving the Regional School Committee only three weeks notice of his exit. So now we have interim married Co-Superintendents Alton Sprague and Helen Vivian--both W-A-Y beyond retirement age--trying to keep the flotilla of leaky ships from sinking while using prehistoric methodology.

And there’s that little matter of the Middle School Pool closed because bureaucrats can’t handle one year’s notice for a $2,000 retrofit item. And no hot water at Wildwood Elementary School, and God only knows how many safety violations at Marks Meadow.

Rob Okun, who twice over four years wrote touchy-feely drivel editorials supporting the pernicious production on town property by underage teenagers, is no longer director of the 'Amherst Men’s Resource Center For Change' ensconced in a tax-exempt downtown Amherst building (Maybe he had a sex change operation.) And of course last year they were the main recipient of money raised by the kid’s production. Gee, no conflict there.

Sophie Rabinovitz, who was involved in the original production in 2004 (the year Amherst was the only High School in America to sanction the play after nixing 'West Side Story' in 1999 because of racist concerns) but she and the school sat out 05,and 06 then she spearheaded the production in Northampton in 07 and convinced the Big Old Teddy Bear Mark Jackson to allow it at the school in 2008.

Of course now that she has graduated the organization she founded, “Women’s Rights Club” also seems to have floundered [Going from 85 members in 07 down to only 45 this past year.

But hey, she has over 500 “friends” on Facebook. Ahhhhh, the advantage of promoting young girls engaging in public masturbation, or pedophilia (as long as it is women on girl.)
############################################################
On Jan 6, 2009, at 9:45:56 PM, amherstac@aol.com wrote to Jacksonmk@arps.org:

Hey Mark,
So it's that time of the year: Are the kids planning an encore performance?????

Larry

On Jan 7, 2009, at 2:27:45 PM, "MARTA GUEVARA" wrote:
I hope you and your family are well! I'm not working at the HS this year, so I have no idea about the monologues. While Mr. Jackson is away, Ms. Leonard is acting principal, so I'm including her on this reply.
Dr. Marta M. Guevara
Assistant Principal


On Jan 9, 2009, at 8:14:20 AM, "Annie Leonard" wrote:
Larry:

No plans to do the Vagina Monologues at the HS this year.

--Annie
Annie Leonard
Assistant Principal
Amherst Regional High School

'Vagina' exposed

Jere Hochman, Superintendent
Mark Jackson, Principal ARHS
RE: Public Documents Request ‘VM’

Could I please get an accounting of the number of tickets sold for the recent performance of The Vagina Monologues at Amherst Regional High school, and a breakdown of how many were “student” tickets and how many full-fare “adult” tickets.

Could I also get any overhead costs associate with the production (police for instance) and any monies paid out to presenters during the week of workshops at the School leading up to the play.

Larry Kelley

And the Captain fiddles while...

To: amherstac@yahoo.com
Subject: 'VM" morning announcements
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:20:01 -0500
From: jacksonmk@arps.orgj

Gee, Larry, I've always spoken highly of you.

Mark Jackson, Principal
Amherst Regional High School
21 Mattoon St.
Amherst, MA 01002
W: 413-362-1701

Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:41:44 -0800 (PST)
From: "larry kelley"
Subject: VAGINAS! Vaginas, VA GI NAS!
To: jacksonmk@arps.org

Hey Mark,

And I once spoke highly of you. Especially last year when you stood up to the girls and said “No” we can't allow school sanction of ‘Vagina Monologues’ because, as you told the crusty Amherst Bulletin:

"... the experience of those who were responsible for organizing the event three years ago was that it took over their professional lives. The level of detail to attend to was inordinate," Jackson wrote in an email.

Jackson also cited other priorities, such as the upcoming estimated budget shortfall that will occupy administrators' attention and deprive them of extra time to devote to the logistics of staging the controversial production.

Soooo, Superintendent Hochman is currently whining about a $300,000 shortfall in your budget for FY09, but I guess you don’t consider that significant; or maybe you have more administrators than you know what to do with this year.

And you must think that 2004--when you were not around--was just a tempest in a teapot. Yeah, Bill O’Reilly (three times), Time Magazine and The Today Show were all having slow news days.

Larry

Mark be nimble, Mark be quick...

In a message dated 1/17/08 2:04:04 PM, Amherst AC writes:
Hey Mark,
I am in receipt of your apologetic email to a couple of folks who complained about the insensitive, asinine promo for 'The Vagina Monologues' that was scheduled to be announced this morning.

When you say "I will address this issue today to ensure any future announcements are written in an appropriate fashion" one could get the impression that the original announcement was read school wide this morning but that it would not happen again (at least in so egregiously stupid a manner).

So my question is: what exactly was read to the kids in our High School this morning concerning 'The Vagina Monologues'???

Larry Kelley


In a message dated 1/17/08 2:14:02 PM, JacksonMK@ARPS.ORG writes:
Larry:

What was read today was the same thing that was read yesterday. But it will be different tomorrow.

Thanks,

Mark Jackson

Mark Jackson, Principal
Amherst Regional High School
21 Mattoon St.
Amherst, MA 01002
W: 413-362-1701
F: 413-549-9704
jacksonmk@arps.org


In a message dated 1/17/08 2:17:06 PM, Amherst AC writes:
Hey Mark,
What the Hell are you, an aircraft carrier floating in a sea of molasses?
Larry

UPDATE: 3:00 pm So just for the record here is the announcement they will make tomorrow:

The Vagina Monologues is coming to the high school stage, Friday, February 15th! Mark your calendars, and get ready to become part of the worldwide phenomenon.

Of course, I'm still shocked that Jackson is told by his Boss the previous afternoon about the inappropriate nature of the announcement that apparently was made anyway twice and Jackson even sends an apologetic email to two complainants at 6:18 am but somehow the original tacky announcement was still made this morning. For the record, ARHS starts at 7:45 am. And are they going to hype (albeit lower key) this monstrosity every day between now and February 15'th???

No Vagina For You!

From: "Mark Jackson"
To: ;
Cc: "Jere Hochman"
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 6:18 AM
Subject: Morning Announcements

Ms. XXX and Mr. XXX,

Dr. Hochman first brought the phrasing of the morning announcement regarding The Vagina Monologues to my attention yesterday afternoon.

He shouldn't have needed to do this. I should've have scrutinized this more closely.

Morning announcements, which are read to all students every morning, should be written in a more neutral fashion. I will address this issue today to ensure any future announcements are written in an appropriate fashion.

Again, my apologies.

Mr. Jackson

Mark Jackson, Principal
Amherst Regional High School
21 Mattoon St.
Amherst, MA 01002
W: 413-362-1701
F: 413-549-9704
jacksonmk@arps.org

Vagina Monologues: PT Barnum promo

Okay, this is the Internet and we're all adults here, so sure the V- word is fine. The C-word synonym, however, is not.

But I find it weird that even the more benign word "vagina" is repeatedly shouted in a Public School announcement tomorrow at the Amherst Regional High School. Just another 'Only In Amherst' moment. Maybe they should use 'Somewhere, There's a Place For Us' from 'West Side Story' as background music.
As the frustrated parent who just forwarded it to me said in her email: “So much for sensitivity”.

ARHS Morning Announcements
Thursday, January 17th, 2008

* VAGINA! Vagina. Va. Gi. Na. Get used to saying it, because The Vagina Monologues is coming to the high school stage, Friday, February 15th! Mark your calendars, and get ready to become part of the worldwide phenomenon.


UPDATE: 9:00 pm (yeah, past my bedtime)

In a message dated 1/16/08 4:13:57 PM, XXX@hotmail.com writes:
Hi Larry,
I always check the high school daily announcements to be an informed parent. Thought you'd be interested in entry #9 in tomorrows.
http://www.arps.org/hs/News/announcements.html
So much for sensitivity, etc.
Trying to compose my letter to Dr. Hockman now.
Mary


>>2008 4:32 pm >>> 1/16/
Good afternoon Mr. Hochman,
I try to stay informed by reading the HS announcements online a day early.I was taken aback a bit by the ninth entry for tomorrow. While I think you have been sensitive with the whole "V Monologue" situation so far, this seems a bit "in your face" for some kids and quite insensitive. I know you don't write the announcements, or even see them beforehand. It just seemed a bit crude and I wanted you to be aware of it before tomorrow.
Thank you for your time,
Mary XXXX

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jere Hochman"
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: ARHS morning announcements
Dear Ms XXX:

I have not seen the announcements but will review them. We have worked at keeping this topic and performance in perspective and a parameter has been to avoid being in one's face. I am sorry about that. I will review this with Mr. Jackson. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Jere Hochman

In a message dated 1/16/08 5:49:09 PM, XXXXXXX@hotmail.com writes to Only In Amherst blogspot:
Well, what do you know!
Mary

From: amherstac@aol.com
To: XXX@hotmail.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 6:18 PM
Hey Mary,
Wow! Mind if I post it on my blog????
Larry

From:
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 6:41 pm
I'll have to think about it. I had enough heat after the no vote. You should see the reception I get at some school meetings! I know it wouldn't pull much weight if it didn't have a name to it.
Mary

From: amherstac@aol.com
To: XXX@hotmail.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 6:46 PM
Hey Mary,
I would xxx-out your name and email address but leave in your letter and Hochman's response. So obviously he would be the ONLY person to know and if other people found out we would know it HE leaked it (obviously I can keep a secret)
Larry

From:
To: amherstac@aol.com That sounds fine Larry. I am being optimistic that whoever wrote it wasn't thinking and it won't be announced that way tomorrow. Not only thinking about the students but the teachers that may not feel like reading that to a bunch of teens! Ich!
Mary

In a message dated 1/16/08 7:57:42 PM, Amherst AC writes:
Thanks Mary,
They were not thinking when they decided to allow 'VM' in the first place (let alone the second time!)
Larry

FINAL UPDATE: 10:00 pm

Questions to ponder:

Will a bucolic little High School in a state Mitt Romney described as “the most liberal in the nation” really trumpet "VAGINA, vagina, vagina” at tomorrow morning’s announcements?

Will the Crusty Daily Hampshire Gazette have any of this in tomorrow’s edition, since an Editor has been aware of this development since 5:00 pm? Or at the very least their equally crusty "newsroom blog" that's "updated Mon thru Fri".

And will Superintendent Hochman take Amherst Regional High School principal Mark Jackson to the woodshed for a well-deserved spanking?
Another, more sagacious, Jackson:
http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/2007/06/uncharted-territory-at-that.html

No Victory in 'V'

http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/75823/

You can’t tell by the cyber-version, but Mary Carey’s article from last week’s Gazette made today's Amherst Bulletin Front Page, above the fold. And, as they did four years ago, the squeamish Bully headline editor avoids “vagina” in a headline. Talk about underscoring my point.

So it’s okay for young girls to publicly scream the actual C-word, yet the Bulletin hides behind the euphemistic V-word? Yikes! And it’s not like they are know for being a (Christian) conservative publication.

Although not the overall lead story…it’s a good start. Four years ago the first shots fired came from my column 3 or 4 pages inside the late-December issue, when almost nobody was paying attention.

Interestingly the TOP story exposes public officials (lead by School Superintendent Hochman) still smarting from the May 1’st Override failure, eyeing tax money for a professional survey of citizens to discover how best to jam a tax increase down our throats.

According to today’s Gazette the Elementary Schools are $1.4 million and the Regional High School $300,000 in the hole for FY09. So rather than concentrating on filling that budget gap, Hochman and principal Mark Jackson (unless he designates his wife to handle it) will be preoccupied defending this ridiculous ‘Only In Amherst’ decision.

In a message dated 1/8/08 10:28:15 PM, mary.carey@att.net writes:

Hi Larry -- Do you have a comment on the decision to produce the Vagina Monologues that I can use in the Bulletin story. If they decide to cut out the parts you think are most offensive either because of the language or because they seem to condone pedophilia, would you think it is OK to produce a cleaned-up version (if that is allowed)?
Thanks!
--mary

In a message dated 1/9/08 7:58:22 AM, Amherst AC writes:
Hey Mary,
I will be a lot less inclined to unleash the Dogs of War if they do a cleaned up version.
Larry

In a message dated 1/9/08 9:10:25 AM, mary.carey@att.net writes:
What is YOUR ultimate goal, given the current situation, that is that the play will be produced and there may be certain things you can not do with it thanks to the copyright?

In a message dated 1/9/08 9:59:04 AM, Amherst AC writes:
My martial arts philosophy is don't engage in battle unless you are absolutely sure of your position and then if you think for whatever reason you will lose, do SOOOOOO much damage that the opponent will never want to deal with you again. (hand them a Pyrrhic victory)
Larry

In a message dated 1/9/08 12:56:20 PM, mary.carey@att.net writes:
D'oh. I didn't get a chance to include this.


In a message dated 1/9/08 1:17:03 PM, Amherst AC writes:
That's okay: That's why God invented blogging!

And the answer is...

And NO I have not heard back from Amherst School Superintendent Jere Hochman as to whether the Amherst Regional High School performance this year of ‘The Vagina Monologues’ with be an “edited for High School” version or the orgasmic original version (as long as you don’t count the 1996 First Edition) with the monologue that attempts to “reclaim” the C-word where the vile word is often repeated.

Yes, soon after the 2004 performance of ‘The Vagina Monologues', the ONLY high school in America to allow it, ARHS also banned the word “freshman” for incoming 9’th graders. And of course, this is the same school that banned a production of ‘West Side Story’ in 1999.

In his rather long email to me on Saturday Superintendent Hochman explains that High School principal Mark Jackson saw the performance at the Northampton Arts Center last year and was so impressed he decided to damn the torpedoes and go full-speed ahead on this year’s performance on school property.

I don’t know Jackson as he was not here in 2004, but his daughter was in my daughter’s kindergarten class at Crocker Farm Elementary School last year for a few months before he placed her in a private school.

According the Gazette article his wife Lynn Phillips has “written on feminism” but the only thing I could find on a Goggle search was a blurb she wrote for the book ‘Packaging Girlhood’.

Two years ago when the Amherst Regional High School performed ‘Urinetown’ as the official school play, Mr. Hochman emailed me a couple days before the first public announcement just to say it was nothing to get excited about and not to judge a play by its title. After a quick Goggle search I thought it was fine for a high school.

Of course this past week when it was announced that the school would reprise ‘The Vagina Monologues,’ my first notice came by way of the crusty Gazette article. And yes folks I have read the entire book/play, watched Ensler’s DVD and, UGH, attended the 2004 Amherst Regional High School performance (Bill O’Reilly made me do it!).

MYTHS EXPOSED:
http://www.cblpi.org/programs/vday/factsfallacies.cfm

UPDATE: Thursday 3:30 pm I’m waiting for the ultra-crusty Amherst Bulletin to go cyber (got my hardcopy five hours ago) so I can link to their Front Page story. But this was pretty funny. I get an email yesterday from Superintendent Hochman’s office that looks like it went to a bunch of folks:

On Wednesday, January 23, Superintendent Jere Hochman will present an overview of the Amherst-Pelham schools.

This brief presentation will be followed by and important hour of dialogue about our school districts' MISSION and VALUES. What do YOU believe to be the most essential values our schools should characterize? What do YOU believe to be the mission of our public schools?

Gee, off the top of my head, maybe the public schools should try to teach moral values.

UPDATE: Thursday 9:30 pm. So the ultra-crusty Amherst Bulletin finally uploaded but I'm too tired to respond with a new blog upload tonight. But if you go amherstbulletin.com you can read the 'V' story and my instant cyber reaction. More of a prepared response tomorrow.

Hallelujah!

Well I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. Superintendent Jere Hochman (finally) caved in to public pressure and will allow the Gospel Choir to sing at ARHS graduation.

Can you imagine the fallout if the ban stayed in effect?

Only in Amherst (somebody would say) can High School girls publicly use the C-word and perform a skit that glorifies statutory rape, but God forbid we allow a largely minority member choir to belt out a song where the word God comes up.

Yes, they did learn from the ‘Vagina Monologues’ debacle. One of the girls who performed in the 2004 edition, wanted to bring it back for an encore presentation this past February (why not in 2005 or 2006?) and the principal wisely said “NO”. But he should have said “No fracken way!”

Although only indirectly citing the tsunami of bad press, Mark Jackson claimed the production required too much time of faculty advisors, and with those looming budgets cuts…Hey, they could have tapped some of the $1.5 million they have stashed in their savings account.

Maybe at next year’s graduation we can get a couple of songs from ‘West Side Story’?