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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNSAA reverses decision, will let student perform poem on gender identity on TV
http://www.omaha.com/article/20140402/NEWS/140409670/1685#nsaa-reverses-decision-will-let-student-perform-poem-on-gender-identity
Audio: The Bottom Line's Mike'l Severe spoke with Michael Barth's mother, Kim Buchan, on Wednesday before the NSAA reversed its decision. Listen here.
By Joe Dejka
A battle over free speech ended Wednesday with a dramatic finish.
Under pressure from free-speech advocates, the Nebraska School Activities Association backed down, allowing teen speech champion Michael Barth to perform his poem on gender identity.
The association's executive director had initially blocked the Gordon-Rushville High School senior from giving the speech for a television broadcast highlighting state champions from last week's speech contest.
The intent of my decision was not to stifle freedom of speech, but rather to avoid any negative connotations for individuals within this statewide production, said NSAA Executive Director Rhonda Blanford-Green. The NSAA will continue to advocate for all students and promote equitable opportunities through activity participation.
Read the NSAA's statement (PDF)
FULL story at link.
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NSAA reverses decision, will let student perform poem on gender identity on TV (Original Post)
Omaha Steve
Apr 2014
OP
Whose poems caused the kerfuffle? When I first looked at the linked article ...
DreamGypsy
Apr 2014
#6
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)1. Outstanding. That was quick.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)2. bump... nt
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)3. K&R!
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)4. K/R. nt
historylovr
(1,557 posts)5. K & R
Nice to see some good news today.
DreamGypsy
(2,252 posts)6. Whose poems caused the kerfuffle? When I first looked at the linked article ...
...I thought that Michael Barth had written and recited/performed a self-written poem:
Under pressure from free-speech advocates, the Nebraska School Activities Association backed down, allowing teen speech champion Michael Barth to perform his poem on gender identity.
So I searched to find the poem he had written. I eventually stumbled onto the fact that
Barth won a first place medal at the state high school speech tournament last week reciting poems.
The Nebraska School Activities Association, however, then deemed the content too controversial to be featured in a public TV broadcast highlighting the best performers at the competition.
Barth performed poems titled Swingset and Same Love, Blanford-Green said.
The Nebraska School Activities Association, however, then deemed the content too controversial to be featured in a public TV broadcast highlighting the best performers at the competition.
Barth performed poems titled Swingset and Same Love, Blanford-Green said.
Here's Swingset, by Andrea Gibson:
So, I teach in a preschool. Hehe I make a goddamn difference, now what about you. Thats one point I had to make before I read this poem. The second point is, I usually have hair that is much much shorter than this. Thats all you need to know.
Are you a boy or a girl? he asks, staring up from all three feet of his pudding face grandeur, and I say Dylan, youve been in this class for three years and you still dont know if Im a boy or a girl? And he says Uh-uh. And I say Well, at this point, I dont really think it matters, do you? And he says Uhhhm, no. Can I have a push on the swing? And this happens every day. Its a tidal wave of kindergarten curiosity rushing straight for the rocks of me, whatever I am.
And the class, when we discuss the Milky Way galaxy, the orbit of the Sun around the Earth or whatever. Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and kids, do you know that some of the stars we see when we look up in the sky are so far away, theyve already burned out? What do you think of that? Timmy? Umm my mom says that even though you got hairs that grow from your legs, and the hairs on your head grow short and poky, and that you smell really bad, like my dad, that youre a girl. Thank you, Timmy.
And so it goes. On the playground, she peers up at me from behind her pink power puff sunglasses and then asks, Do you have a boyfriend? And I say no, and she says Oh, do you have a girlfriend? And I say No, but if by some miracle, twenty years from now, I ever finally do, then Ill definitely bring her by to meet you. Hows that? Okay. Can I have a push on the swing?
And thats the thing. They dont care. They dont care. Us, on the other hand My father sitting across the table at Christmas dinner, gritting his teeth over his still-full plate, his appetite ripped away by the intrusion of my haircut, What were you thinking? You used to be such a pretty girl! Frat boys, drunken, screaming, leaning out of the windows of their daddys SUVs, Hey! Are you a faggot or a dyke? And I wonder what would happen if I met up with them in the middle of the night.
Then of course theres always the somehow not-quite-bright enough fluorescent light of the public restroom, Sir! Sir, do you realize this is the ladies room? Yes, maam, I do, its just that I didnt feel comfortable sticking this tampon up my penis in the mens room.
But the best, the best is always the mother at the market, sticking up her nose while pushing aside her daughters wide eyes, whispering Dont stare, its rude. And I want to say, Listen, lady, the only rude thing I see is your paranoid parental hand pushing aside the best education on self that little girls ever gonna get, living with your Maybelline lips, stairmaster hips, synthetic kiwi-vanilla smelling beauty; so why dont you take your pinks and blues, your boy-girl rules and shove them in that car with your fucking issue of Cosmo, because tomorrow, I start my day with twenty-eight minds who know a hell of a lot more than you. And if I show up in a pink frilly dress, those kids wont love me any more, or less.
Hey, are you a boy or a never mind, can I have a push on the swing? And some day, yall, when we grow up, its all gonna be that simple.
Here's Same Love, by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
(no transcript; way complicated)
In 1967 I was in high school, on the debate team and competing in speech competitions. I though I was pretty cool reciting selections from Thomas Merton's Raids on the Unspeakable - I don't recall what selections. I didn't change the world.
I now stand in awe of Michael Barth and his motivations, abilities, and courage to confront his state, community, and school cultures with his chosen poems:
As a result of today's controversy, Barth also learned about what he's willing to do in defense of his own personal convictions. If the NSAA hadn't changed its mind, Barth said he wouldn't have changed his performance. "I would have just gone there and been ready to perform whether they wanted me or not, and if they were gonna turn me down, they were gonna turn me down," he said. "I guess I would have turned around and gone back to school. I wasnt gonna change it. Its something Im passionate about."
Barth's performance will be included in the "Best of the Best" program that will air on NET1 on Sunday, April 20, at 9 a.m. and rebroadcast on NET2. The full program will also be available online.
Cool. Thanks for the post, Omaha Steve!
Ohio Joe
(21,771 posts)7. K&R - nt