Trick-Or-Treat-Or-Not

Is anyone else excited that Halloween falls on a Friday this year? I love Halloween! It’s definitely one of my top three favorite holidays along with New Year’s Eve and the 4^th of July. There is nothing better as a kid, than running around in costume in the dark getting tons of candy. As an adult, I love getting dressed up and waiting to scare the children that come to my house.

Which is why it really disturbs me that some public schools aren’t even allowed to celebrate Halloween anymore. According the Seattle Public School district, “costumes could offend or upset students who come from other cultures”. The pagan origins of modern Halloween can be found in the Celtic celebration of Samhain, or "End of Summer." The Celts believed that on this agricultural harvest festival the dead revisit the land of the living and communal fires were needed to ward off evil. Many feel that celebrating Halloween is somehow promoting paganism, witchcraft and the occult.

I’m not sure how dressing up as a comic book hero and knocking on doors for candy is related to paganism, but it did get me thinking. In a few weeks, we will be discussing our First Amendment rights, and the separation of church and state. Halloween isn’t the only holiday that schools have banned in the interest of not offending anyone. So my question to you this week is, “What do you think of school’s celebrating holidays? Should they celebrate all holidays, some holidays or none at all?” For an added twist, “What are your Halloween plans?” I’d love to hear what you’re dressing up as! Answers are due no later than Monday, November 3rd, 2014. Have a happy and safe Halloween!

The Freedom to Offend

I was shocked when I read over our last break that a Texas Court of Appeals had legalized “up skirts,” a form of photography that involves individuals taking photos up the skirts of unsuspecting women.  I knew immediately that I needed to investigate further and that I wanted to blog about it for my next class.

The photographer in the case was initially charged with a violation of “improper photography.”  I had never heard of such a thing, but my research revealed that the Texas statute: “Forbids photographs, video and other electronic means in a location that is not a bathroom or private dressing room a) without consent and b) with the intent to arouse or gratify sexual desires.” 

Last month, the Texas Court of Appeals struck down this law.  Presiding judge Sharon Keller wrote in the court’s opinion which stated in part, “Protecting someone who appears in public from being the object of sexual thoughts seems to be the sort of ‘paternalistic interest in regulating the defendant’s mind’ that the First Amendment was designed to guard against.”

I strongly support the First Amendment and the right to free speech or expression.  I know censoring any speech, particularly those that you don’t agree with, is a slippery slope to start down. However, I understand why many Americans were outraged that individuals can now take public photographs, without consent and with the intent to gratify sexual desires.  Want to know the real kicker in this case?  The photographer who was initially charged, Ronald Thompson, was taking underwater pictures of children’s private regions in swimwear, without parental consent, at a San Antonio theme park.  Apparently, that is now perfectly acceptable in America – or at least in Texas.

Some of you plan on making a career out of photography.  I’m sure all of you resent censorship of your work in any form.  So, my question to you this week is, “What do you think of this of this case?  Were the photographer’s Frist Amendment rights infringed upon when he was charged? Should there be a limit to “free speech?”  Answers are due no later than Monday, October 27^th, 2014.

Blame Canada!

Okay, don’t really blame Canada.  I found out that it’s actually a great place.  After much trepidation based on my last encounter with Canadian Board Patrol which resulted in my deportation, I breezed right through without incident on this occasion.  Since I was at Niagra Falls which has both an American and Canadian side, I came back and forth through customs every day, and each time it was just as easy as the first.  It’s not that I want to visit Canada repeatedly, but I resented the fact that they had actually forbid me from entering.  So I’m glad we can finally bury the hatchet. 

In fact, since we spent so much time going through customs, it gave us time to really study the process.  It actually made our mindset shift – suddenly we didn’t think they were checking us enough!  On more than one occasion, we were asked if we were carrying guns or weapons.  When we answered no, we were waived through.  Now, before the government monitors this blog post, and thinks I’m alluding to anything – let me clear: We really didn’t have any guns or weapons.  It’s just that we wondered why you would take our word.  Is that all it takes to get though U.S. border security?  Our cars were never checked, and we were never personally searched.  Our longest wait time was probably 20 minutes.  Keep in mind; we were at one of the largest entry points between the United States and Canada, in which thousands of tourists travel back and forth repeatedly throughout their stay.

Recently, there has been much in the news about the hundreds of undocumented children showing up at our Southern borders.  I don’t support entering any country illegally, but my heart breaks for any individual that would sacrifice everything to gain the freedoms we so easily take for granted.  I support giving people who want to become American citizens a chance.  We are a nation of immigrants.  That being said, we are also a country with a target on our backs.  It seems risky and utterly ridiculous to me that a nation as powerful as ours would have unsecured boarders.

I’m interested in knowing your thoughts on the issue, so my question to you this week is, “Do you think America does a great job of securing our borders?  Do you support illegal immigrants having a path to American citizenship?”  You must answer both questions for full credit.  Just for fun, if you’ve been out of the country before, share your experience with border patrol!

I hope you guys had a good class this week, and I apologize about the schedule changes.  As a reminder, we will have a short quiz over chapter 1 next week, and your project topics will also be due.  Thanks to those who have already emailed me theirs! 

 

Choose Your Own Adventure!

I hope you all enjoyed a nice fall break.  It's always hard coming back to school after break. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching and being surrounded by all the crazy, creative energy that is all of you. That being said, it's still hard to get back into the grind. So for our first blog post, I'll go easy on you.

This week we started our study of the Constitution and the freedoms that make us uniquely American. You can order your own free copy of the United States Constitution from: http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?section=bookstore&page=freeCopy.cfm

A good portion of this class will be spent discussing current events and political issues that affect our everyday lives. For this post, I would like you to tell me at least one issue that you are interested in studying. To help you out, you can look over the blog posts that we've had in the past several years to get an idea of the type of things we've covered. Many of the topics are pretty controversial and I do my best to not censor the information available to you.

So my question to you this week is, "What is one issue that you are interested in studying in this class?" Answers are due no later than Monday, October 13th, 2014. I'm looking forward to a great quarter!