Politics and Other Naughty Words

From: demikoz@aol.com
Subject: pandora's box
Date: July 28, 2007 12:03:18 PM EDT
To: king@tempest.coedu.usf.edu, jlwelsh2@gmail.com

Here's another idea that's been filling my head since last night. I'll call it a parody of "Defecation Hits the Rotating Oscilator" and the "opening of pandora's box. In speaking to a variety of groups (counsellors and students alike) during the afternoon session yesterday, I noticed an interesting loosening of hte conservative teacher reins/reigns/rains (what a great word!) that usually stop the third space from leaking into their private worlds. After talking with a couple of the counsellors last night (briefly) they mentioned the one claymation video shown during the afternoon class, where the word "crap" was used. Apparently, the kids in some groups really wanted to use this word (at least two) and I heard it at least five or six times as I circulated post-movie. In fact, one group used the word "crap" IN their movie. Another group used the word "fart" in their movie. Would they have ever dared to use these words in the land where teachers live in their castles (schools)? By hearing the word"crap" in a demo video, did something (eeee-ew) begin to leak out of Pandora's box???? Hmm.
While discussing htis with three counsellors, the discussion went something like this. The one in charge said the kids really wanted to use it. She respected their wishes and really didn't see that much of a problem. One looked uncomfortable until we discussed the origin o f hte word and the fact that Mr. (can't remember his first name) Crapper invented the toilet. Then she laughed and said it was kind of like a tribute word. We all laughed...maybe nervously...did we jump out of the middle ground? What did this mean? That grou palso created a monster called "Mr. Fricken Awesome". fricken spelled like chicken (fricken chicken-already modified through pop culture ) rather than fricking .

Then there is the Political Animation group. One of hte kids (particularly brilliant and film savvy) originally brought in multiple pictures of Kenny (south park) as an idea of a movie (multiple deaths of Kenny). He also brought two other pictures...an image of George W. Bush and a Monkey. He said to me, don't they look the same. Then he looked at his paper where he had written P.A. to stand for paper animation and wrote the P.A. beside his Bush idea and said "p.a. paper animation or political animation" and laughed. When speaking with the kids aftwards on the interview the alluded to a reference in the credits about the name for Bush. They also said they hoped they wouldn't be sued and that Bush wasn't offended and maybe he really liked tacos (they had decided he could say 'I like tacos' on the screeen) . They also said they were both democrats and "everyone" loved to make fun of Bush...that is why they used his image in the movie. When speaking to the counsellor later, she said they actually wanted Bush to appear and say stupid things and actually say he was stupid. At the end of hte movie, they gave credit to "Dubya" instead of namoing Bush. The inside scoop from the counsellor is that they actually wanted to give credit to "Dumya" and she had to censor their work. You could tell she had an extreme dileme on her hands...on one hand she wanted to allow their creative genius...this was film camp not school. On the other hand, what was appropriate when the worlds collide? In convergence culture, when the kids have so much knowledge, what is happening?

So then we spoke about the political nature of the talking head showing up on the scene. Without going into the "text-to-world" connection of Bush being a talking head while all the killing goes on around him, these kids seemed to really be world intelligent. I mentioned their talk about being democrats and two of the other counsellors said that must have come from their parents. But then again, I wonder if it is just parents? I remember being in third grade and having political difficulties with my best friend. We eventually parted ways and I became friends with another girl whose political ideology was more in line with the one I was developing based on my father's strong influence (he has always talked politics and war with me). I was eight atthe time and can distinctly remember feeling saddened by this parting. I also remember why I couldn't agree with her. I took what my father taught me and applied it to the real world. Obviously these kids (at 10) can have these strong political beliefs and feelings. Except now with the internet they can actually become more literate about the situations ( much more than I could in the 70's). The god-like quality of government during hte time of war has diminished to demi-god. The public is becoming more educated world-wide. They are beginning to realize that most "truth" fed to them in the past as news or history is really faction...a semi-fictional account of fact told from a specific ideology. A fictional world does not need to be created for them. When people tire of the real world, they can easily escape into a "second-life" kind of world. Fact does not need to be disguised so much in a world where people are increasingly more intelligent and able to use their "inner fairy godmother" to resolve conflicts rather than waiting for the "wizard of oz" to tell them what they can or cannot do.

So what's a counsellor to do? Waht Are the leaders of the camp to do? Does this make its way onto the website???? Did we open Pandora's box. If so how far open did it actually get? Will the sh*t hit the fan? How do we respect the voices of these intelligent and creative children and still keep it "cute"...without really letting hte world know how insightful and intelligent they really are???????

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