{"id":7178,"date":"2004-10-13T10:09:52","date_gmt":"2004-10-13T17:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/10\/13\/that-picture-wont-hunt.html"},"modified":"2004-10-13T10:09:52","modified_gmt":"2004-10-13T17:09:52","slug":"that_picture_wo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/10\/13\/that_picture_wo.html","title":{"rendered":"That picture won’t hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"gunphoto.jpg\"Because, obviously, if other kids saw that gangsta pose<\/a>, who knows what sort of terrible violence might break out at the school.<\/p>\n

The school board has voted to ban a photo of a student from the senior section of his high school yearbook because he is posed with a shotgun.<\/p>\n

But Tuesday’s unanimous vote also backed a compromise: Blake Douglass can have the photo published in a “community sports” section, and a new photo ? without the gun but featuring other elements of skeet and trap shooting ? can appear in the seniors’ section of the Londonderry [New Hampshire] High School yearbook.<\/p>\n

The compromise wasn’t good enough for Douglass, who wanted his senior photo in traditional sportsman’s pose, wearing an oxford shirt, navy vest and holding the shotgun over his shoulder.<\/p>\n

“I don’t see anything wrong with the picture,” Douglass, 17 said at the hearing. “I just want my senior picture in the yearbook.”<\/p>\n

I’m not a gun enthusiast, but the following things kinda bug me about this.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Presumably skeet\/trap shooting is a legal activity in the area in question. In other words, no crime is being committed in the photo.\n
  2. There appear to be no restrictions, aside from legal ones, on what can be shown in a student photo. The school board’s policies state, “We encourage the use of school sponsored publications to express students’ points of view. They shall be free from all policy restrictions outside the normal rules for responsible journalism.” It’s not clear how showing a kid in hunting garb with a open-breech shotgun is “irresponsible.” That some folk think it is “inappropriate” doesn’t seem to be a worthwhile restriction.<\/p>\n
  3. The photo itself is not so inherently horrific (or “inappropriate”) that they school board wasn’t willing to let it appear elsewhere <\/em>in the yearbook.<\/ol>\n

    I mean, what is the school board trying to protect folks from here? What’s the compelling interest?<\/p>\n

    According to this story<\/a>, the teacher and yearbook advisor suggested that the picture was inappropriate due to the school’s zero-tolerance policy on violence, drugs and alcohol.” Since none of those aspects is present in the photo (is trap shooting inherently and overtly violent?), that seems a bit lame. The principal, too, weighed in, saying, “I just felt that the picture with the skeet shooting rifle was something that should not be in a yearbook, and it would be something that would create controversy.” Ah, well if that’s how you feel<\/em>, that makes it all right. A shame it created controversy anyway.<\/p>\n

    The superintendent has also commented. “Taking into consideration all the things that have happened with school violence, it’s not appropriate even though skeet shooting is a fine hobby.” And, doubtless because of all the tragic auto accidents that have taken the lives of so many teens, no kids will be allowed to pose with their cars, even though driving them is, of course, another “fine hobby.”<\/p>\n

    And, again, that the school board was willing to let the photo run elsewhere in the yearbook, and to let the kid pose in the regalia of his “fine hobby” sans gun, indicates to me that they see the flaw in the argument and are looking for a butt-covering<\/s> face-saving way out.<\/p>\n

    If nothing else, another reason why high schools should return to the standard mug shot type of senior photo. It would certainly avoid “controversy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Because, obviously, if other kids saw that gangsta pose, who knows what sort of terrible violence might break out at the school. The school board has voted to ban a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6389,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/09\/13\/picture_imperfe.html","url_meta":{"origin":7178,"position":0},"title":"Picture imperfect","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Sep-04 8:19am","format":false,"excerpt":"When I reached college, I was amazed to find out that seniors got to decide what their yearbook photo would look like. That's a heavy responsibility, and I stepped up...","rel":"","context":"In "School Daze"","block_context":{"text":"School Daze","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/school-daze"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2097,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/03\/12\/chinny_chin_chi.html","url_meta":{"origin":7178,"position":1},"title":"Chinny-chin-chin","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Mar-02 6:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Why do publicists insist on that goofy fist-tucked-under\/against-chin pose for stills? It always looks bad, and it always screams, \"Hey, I'm trying to hid my double-chin.\" It's even worse when...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42505,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/11\/because-duct-tape-was-easier-than-scissors-i-guess.html","url_meta":{"origin":7178,"position":2},"title":"Because duct tape was easier than scissors, I guess","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 11-Jun-14 11:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"Really? The principal didn't bother to review the year book before it went off to the printer, then decided some of the senior comments were (for whatever arbitrary reason) inappropriate, and then decided to set the yearbook staff to putting electrical tape over the offending passages?That's goofy. And, honestly, an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10504,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/03\/but_what_if_he_wanted_a_p.html","url_meta":{"origin":7178,"position":3},"title":"But what if he wanted a picture with a pointed stick?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Jan-07 11:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Kid wants a yearbook picture with him in his chain mail and prop sword. School administration says that violates its \"no weapons\" policy. Mix in the ACLU, \"photo deadline\"...","rel":"","context":"In "School Daze"","block_context":{"text":"School Daze","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/school-daze"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/yearbook.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":136668,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/03\/the-evolution-of-yearbook-signatures.html","url_meta":{"origin":7178,"position":4},"title":"The Evolution of Yearbook Signatures","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 3-Jun-18 7:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"The headline isn't quite right -- the article doesn't delve much into the why of people signing yearbooks, or why it has changed over the decades. But it does cover the trends of change over time, which is itself interesting. (I would guess it is also US-centric. I would think\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/yearbooks.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135854,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/15\/agitation.html","url_meta":{"origin":7178,"position":5},"title":"Agitation","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 15-Jan-18 6:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A thought for an MLK, Jr., Day, from Frederick Douglass: The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims, have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/historic-news-frederick-douglass-obit-1c4085d45B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/historic-news-frederick-douglass-obit-1c4085d45B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/historic-news-frederick-douglass-obit-1c4085d45B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}