Book Banned for Profanity

Must be strange for Laura Bush to be on the liberal side of a controversy...

In rural Newman, profanity gets a book banned

By Seema Mehta

February 4, 2009

A Stanislaus County school board banned a celebrated but controversial piece of Chicano literature from its high school classrooms this week because trustees and the superintendent believe “Bless Me, Ultima” contains too much profanity.

The Newman Crows Landing Board of Education voted 4 to 1 Monday night to strip the coming-of-age novel by Rudolfo Anaya from the sophomore required reading list at Orestimba High School. The district review of the book was prompted by a parent’s complaint last year that it was “anti-Catholic” and sexually explicit.

But Supt. Rick Fauss said he had grown concerned by the amount of cursing in the 1972 novel that was spotlighted on former First Lady Laura Bush’s must-read list and is also the literature selection for this year’s state high school Academic Decathlon competition.

“There was excessive vulgarity or profanity used throughout the book,” said Fauss, head of the nearly 2,700-student Newman Crows Landing Unified School District. “The context didn’t . . . make it acceptable.”

English teachers, some parents, the ACLU and the author were outraged. “What are these people afraid of?” asked Anaya, 71. “We have ample evidence throughout history of what happens when we start banning books, when we are afraid of ideas and discussion and analytical thinking. The society will suffer.”

“Bless Me, Ultima” tells the tale of a young boy, Antonio, growing up in 1940s New Mexico and his relationship with a curandera (folk healer) named Ultima. Antonio tries to meet the disparate expectations of his parents and reconcile his Roman Catholic faith with Native American mysticism.

The book has been removed from classrooms across the nation, including in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and elsewhere in California (the Laton Joint Unified School District in Fresno County in 1999), and was No. 75 on the American Library Assn.’s list of top banned books in the 1990s.

But it is also a critically acclaimed piece of literature, is required reading in many English courses (including in some L.A. Unified schools) and is enjoying renewed popularity: It was chosen by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of its “Big Read” program, in which various communities read the same book at the same time.

In California, the Department of Education recommends the novel for grades nine through 12, but cautions: “This book was published for an adult readership and thus contains mature content. Before handing the text to a child, educators and parents should read the book and know the child.”

In rural Newman, about 25 miles south of Modesto, “Bless Me, Ultima” has been part of the sophomore curriculum at the district’s only traditional high school for more than a decade, said Catherine Quittmeyer, chairwoman of Orestimba High School’s English department. Four or five years ago, teachers decided to move it to the summer reading list for honors students and to keep it part of the classroom curriculum for other sophomores.

Now, the novel will remain in the library but will no longer be required reading.

Teachers said the book helped them connect with their Latino students, who make up two-thirds of the district.

“Those kids came alive” when they read the book, Quittmeyer said. “It wasn’t a book by a dead white male. They understood the words, they understood the culture, they would be the ones we would turn to as experts. They felt so empowered by this book.”

Senior Brittney Clark, 17, said the book has value for all teenagers.

“You can relate to the kid because he’s trying to figure out what he should do with his life without upsetting his parents,” said Brittney, the daughter of a teacher.

The controversy began last summer when Nancy Corgiat, the mother of a sophomore, complained about the book to the superintendent.

“She initially complained about the vulgar language, the sexually explicit scenes and an anti-Catholic bias,” Fauss said.

Corgiat, who declined to comment this week, reportedly told board members in January that the book’s themes “undermine the conservative family values in our homes.”

Christian Bale Has a Pottymouth

The director of photography for walked on the set while Bale was working last summer, and apparently, audiotape was rolling when an angry Bale dropped a shock-and-awe campaign of F-bombs.

Here's what MSNBC says:

Last summer, a report surfaced that days before he was arrested on allegations of assault in London while promoting “The Dark Knight,” Christian Bale had lashed out verbally against a crew member on the set of “Terminator Salvation.”

And Monday, a new tape from the July 2008 incident has emerged, featuring the actor screaming, shouting and using profanity at “Terminator Salvation” director of photography, Shane Hurlbut.

In the tape, posted on TMZ, Bale was recorded as he ranted at Hurlbut, after the DP walked on to the set as the actor was filming a scene with co-star Bryce Dallas Howard.

“I want you off the f---ing set, you pr----,” Bale says at the start of the audio recording, which TMZ reported was sent by the film’s executives to their insurance company in case the actor didn’t finish filming the movie.

“I’m sorry,” Hurlbut replies.

“No, don’t just be sorry. Think for one f---king second,” Bale shouts. “What the f-- are you doing? Are you a professional or not?”

Bale grows angrier as Hurlbut replies to him in a calm tone, “Yes, I am.”

“No, no. Am I gonna f---ing rip your lights down in the middle of the scene? Then why the f---are you walking right through, ‘Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh,’ in the background,” the man said to be Bale, sing-songs. “What the f--- is it with you? What the f--- don’t you understand?”

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28984085/

Rhymes with Truck

Wow. This is not a man we'd like to hang out with, although he's making good use of his First Amendment rights.

Cops drop charge in truck profanity
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 7:03 AM EST

PITTSTON — Police withdrew charges against a Luzerne County man who was cited for having an obscene word on his truck.

Joseph Decker of Hughestown can keep a sign, which reads “If you’re in America and can’t speak English, get the (expletive) out,” on his truck because he altered the four-letter expletive by replacing the middle letters with symbols.

On Nov. 11, Hughestown police filed a disorderly conduct charge against Mr. Decker for displaying a profane word on his vehicle.

At Monday’s summary trial before Magisterial District Judge Fred Pierantoni III, Police Chief Stephen Golya agreed to withdraw the charge.

Regrets, He's Had a Few

Illinois Governor Rod Blagejovich wishes he hadn't cursed when the Federal wiretap tapes were rolling:

"I apologize for some of the profanity, but if I would have known they were listening, I wouldn't have used those words."

No Cussing Club: 30,000 Members

Interesting...

Watch your mouth
PATRICK THATCHER Staff Writer
January 23, 2009 - 2:44PM
VICTORVILLE • Trying to raise a G-rated family in an R-rated world is not an easy task, said the 15-year-old founder of a club that encourages people not to cuss.

Profanity is everywhere — on TV, in movies and easily heard on most middle and high school campuses, said McKay Hatch, a sophomore at South Pasadena High School. So he is doing something about what he feels is a huge problem: kids cussing.

McKay visited Sixth Street Prep School in Victorville on Friday morning, presenting his message to about 200 kids from kindergarten to sixth grade. It is an entertaining and engaging multimedia program of his own music videos, slides and props, and he brings kids up on stage to participate in the program that goes beyond no cussing.

Hatch founded the No Cussing Club almost two years ago at his middle school and it has grown to 30,000 members worldwide.

“This whole club is more than just about don’t cuss, it’s a lot bigger. It’s about being clean all around — no drugs, no bullying, no violence. The whole idea of this club is just to be nice to people,” Hatch said.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people trying to sabotage McKay’s message and have sent hate e-mails and threats to his Web site, nocussing.com. The site is locked down and the FBI and the Pasadena police are investigating, said Brent Hatch, McKay’s father.

“So far we have had 60,000 e-mail threats and profanity filled e-mails since Jan. 4 of this year, and what these people are saying: Let’s attack this kid because what he is doing is stupid,” Brent Hatch said.

McKay is unnerved by the threats and says the more that detractors attack him on the Web or on blogs, the more popular he becomes among the people who follow his example and the more the media seeks him out as a guest. He has been on the “Tonight Show,” “Dr. Phil,” “Good Morning America” and a few dozen other programs talking about positive attitudes for kids.

In fact, a crew from “Inside Edition” was at the Sixth Street Prep School taping McKay’s presentation for airing at a later date.

“You don’t have to be an adult to make a difference. You can make a difference at any age,” McKay said.

To learn more about the No Cussing Club and to read reactions from students and staff at Sixth Street Prep School, read Sunday's edition of the Daily Press.

Towns with Unfortunate Names

The New York Times had a terrific piece this morning about English towns with giggle-provoking names:

January 23, 2009
No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else
By SARAH LYALL

CRAPSTONE, England — When ordering things by telephone, Stewart Pearce tends to take a proactive approach to the inevitable question “What is your address?”

He lays it out straight, so there is no room for unpleasant confusion. “I say, ‘It’s spelled “crap,” as in crap,’ ” said Mr. Pearce, 61, who has lived in Crapstone, a one-shop country village in Devon, for decades.

Disappointingly, Mr. Pearce has so far been unable to parlay such delicate encounters into material gain, as a neighbor once did.

“Crapstone,” the neighbor said forthrightly, Mr. Pearce related, whereupon the person on the other end of the telephone repeated it to his co-workers and burst out laughing. “They said, ‘Oh, we thought it didn’t really exist,’ ” Mr. Pearce said, “and then they gave him a free something.”

In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Some are mostly amusing, like Ugley, Essex; East Breast, in western Scotland; North Piddle, in Worcestershire; and Spanker Lane, in Derbyshire.

Others evoke images that may conflict with residents’ efforts to appear dignified when, for example, applying for jobs.

These include Crotch Crescent, Oxford; Titty Ho, Northamptonshire; Wetwang, East Yorkshire; Slutshole Lane, Norfolk; and Thong, Kent. And, in a country that delights in lavatory humor, particularly if the word “bottom” is involved, there is Pratts Bottom, in Kent, doubly cursed because “prat” is slang for buffoon.

As for Penistone, a thriving South Yorkshire town, just stop that sophomoric snickering.

“It’s pronounced ‘PENNIS-tun,’ ” Fiona Moran, manager of the Old Vicarage Hotel in Penistone, said over the telephone, rather sharply. When forced to spell her address for outsiders, she uses misdirection, separating the tricky section into two blameless parts: “p-e-n” — pause — “i-s-t-o-n-e.”

Read more...

Well, Then!

The erotic letters of James Joyce. Note: they're graphic--sort of like phone sex without the phones. "Frig" makes an appearance, meaning just what you think it means. Could that be one of the earliest written references? We will have to find out.