Student Can Recite Poem With Profanity

[deadparrot]

RENO, Nev. - A federal judge gave a ninth-grader permission Thursday to recite a poem at a state competition that his school objected to, claiming it contained profanity.

The words "hell" and "damn" in W.H. Auden's "The More Loving One," do not constitute offensive language that could disrupt the school's educational priorities, said U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval.

He issued a temporary restraining order sought by Jacob Behymer-Smith, 14, after school administrators at the Coral Academy of Science told him he could not use the poem in future competitions.

The teen intends to recite it April 22 during Poetry Out Loud, a contest sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060414/ap_on_re_us/poetic_justice

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. You can express yourself, just not the way you want to.

That's basically what this is.

[CanuckAmok]

2. Hey, at least there's one fed judge who's not being bullied by the fundies

Imagine what it must be like to be a learned old federal judge, suddenly accountable to a government who are basically a bunch of private-school drop-outs. Now wonder most judges are bald... the're all pulling their hair out.

[truthisfreedom]

3. weird. nice story.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. My first impression was that the kid was going to celebrate the 50th

anniversary of "Howl" by Alan Ginsberg, and that poem is rather "sophisticated" for Middle America to this day.

[Book Lover]

5. Decide for yourselves...

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total darkness sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

1957

[eppur_se_muova]

6. You wouldn't find words like that in the Bible!

Oh wait... never mind.