| RAT Protests! |
| Ahh...the practice of freedom of speech, raising a little hell, and getting some publicity while fighting for what you believe in. What more could a Rat want? I, the spastic, paranoid, meek little girl with social anxiety, waltzed into my school's board of education meeting and spoke. In front of those... "important", "powerful"..."people". What on God's green earth drove me to face my greatest of greatest fear of public speaking? Four concrete walls. Four very meaningful concrete walls, mind you. There is a classroom in our high school where, for a grade in junior Social Studies, every student chooses a historical figure, writes a paper, then paints a picture of the figure on the wall. There are paintings of George Washington, Martin Luther King jr., Hitler, Christopher Columbus, Jane Goodall, Mozart-- and mine, the World Trade Center towers, among others. It took me two weeks to complete my picture and I'm quite proud of it. Now, our superintendent, in his sheer idiocy, has decided that even though some of the paintings have been up for over 15 years, they now cause a "distraction" to the students.This coming summer, they paint over them. All of them. Needless to say, the students aren't happy. The teacher, Mr. Larkin*, along with a fleet of outraged students, I being one, launched a full-out "SAVE THE WALLS" protest, complete with the film production class interviewing several students and making a movie on the matters. It got us nowhere. Except Mr. Larkin got in trouble. Our next move? Take it. Public. The local news station received several emails from my fellow rats and myself. In my letter, I mentioned that I was going to crash the next board meeting with the issue. That same day, I received an email back, asking when the meeting would be held. I knew instantly that they were involved. The superintendent received emails from the news station about the matters at hand. He then LIED to them, saying he had already established a "new deal" with the students. That's horse hockey, says I! The New Deal was simply this: The walls were going to be painted over whether we liked it or not. And we would be "allowed" to paint on posterboard. Oh, you generous man. Anyway, I appeared at the next board of education meeting as planned, with a few Rats for moral support, and gave my argument in a mature, political, respectful manner. The board members "respected and admired me for speaking up", however, I lose. Too bad. Sorry. Now they're saying that digital pics of every painting will be displayed on the school webpage. More horse hockey. (Carrie's checked every day since...nothing yet.) Less than two minutes after I spoke, a camera guy from the news station arrived, and a man sitting in front of me turned to me and said, "Can I speak to you outside?" Turns out he was from a local newspaper. He interviewed me, and then the camera guy thrust a microphone in my face. Boom! Instant celebrity! Well, not quite. I got my 15 seconds of fame, and most important, the issue got some of the publicity it needed. At school the next day, several people came to tell me they'd seen me on TV, including our loved-by-all art teacher, Mrs. Green. She was actually moved by it and started having her students put protest posters in the halls. SCORE! Though we've not gained much ground, you can bet we're not done. No, my dear Rats. We have only just begun to bitch. I will continue to keep you all posted on our protest. Until next time! --Scarlet, a.k.a. 'Spaz' |
| *Names have been changed to protect the guilty. |
| Save the wall! Send a protest here. |
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