Ya know, a few months ago I would’ve come in here berating DtC for something. Hell, anything I could think of. But since trying to get this knee-jerk supressor ™ to work, I see we’re not that far apart.
Oh, Dio, we still have fundamental issues we disagree on, but I’m proud to say I’m close to ignoring some aspects while agreeing with most other views you have. I hope you feel the same.
Though I’m not sure if that benefits you or me.
Here’s what I wrote to the author of the piece:
Hah! I live in Puyallup and this is the most assinine thing I have ever heard. One of the news stations even interviewed a Wiccan who found this whole thing stupid. Everyone around here just thinks it’s incredibly stupid. They complain that Halloween parties or parades take time away from the students’ learning. That is just a load of crap. Every Wednesday the kids in the elementary schools have half days. The junior high students are released an hour early on Wednesday. Hello??!! Doesn’t this too take away from the students’ learning time?
Everything is just becoming way too PC.
Something tells me that the Puyallup school district’s justification re: witches is entirely bogus. I’d bet good money that the district itself never recieved a single complaint. Still, it’s nice to know that someone is taking steps in the right direction, just in case there is a large subculture of thin-skinned, easily offended witches in Washington State.
Witch no. 1: So, how are you going to celebrate Halloween this year?
Witch no. 2: I can’t, I’m a Baphomet’s Witness.
When we read “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” in my English class, a few of my Wiccan students were bothered by the portrayal of the evil witch. We took three minutes of class to draw stick people on the board. “Storybook witch” with black hat, pointy nose, broomstick, wart “=scary.” “Real witch” as a perfectly normal teenaged girl smiling “= not scary.” The little Wiccans laughed.
Having known a few ‘witches’ in college with their black lipstick and KORN t-shirts, I’m here to tell you: they = scary
Some females do the whole Goth makeup thing and look smokin’ hot! 
I get the same impression from the article. First of all, it says they had 3 reasons for cancelling, the first being that it’s a big waste of classroom time. I think the odds are pretty good that not only was the witch thing a rationalization, but that it was over-emphasized by the author of the piece since two paragraphs about wasting classroom time on parties wouldn’t be spicy enough.
This is pretty silly. I’d love to find out why the Board really decided to shut down the parties.
(Any chance that they were prompted by Fundy agitators, but wanted to create scapegoats to blame?)
Of course, there is an object lesson, here, for anyone who decides to invent their own new religion: don’t pick a name for your members that has always meant “evil doer” or “worker of evil on others.” It tends to make it hard to get any respect. It would be as if we created a new religion and called ourselves Trolls or Sockpuppets or Accountants or Programmers.
I swear, twenty five years from now, Public schools aren’t going to be anything more than a place for The Powers That Betm to play a game. The object will be to build curriculums without using any information that could possibly invoke any emotion in anyone. If a child ends up caring about something, the entire teacher and administration commitee is fired.
I was surprised when my son’s elementary school is having a Harvest Party- no costumes.
I’m going to ask why.
Odd.
Thanks for weighing in, Taters, since it gives me the opportunity to ask the *real * question that everyone reading this thread has no doubt been wondering: what the hell kind of name for a place is “Puyallup,” anyway? It sounds like one of those mythical frontier beasts like the jackalope or the hodag. Is it by any chance a Native American term meaning “land of cranky witches?”
The problem with opposing the witches, though, is they can turn you into a newt.
Or, they could cast one of those spells that cause you to fall in love with really ugly people. I understand that this is what happened to Angelina Jolie.
They should call the good witches “witches,” and the bad ones “wiotches.”
So ban witches instead!!
:eek: :eek:
OMFG
:wally
Honey, is that you? Trippy. Mr. Cinnamon (Norwegian Blue, respectfully) and I were discussing this earlier today. He said exactly the same as you, pointing out that our 5 year old daughter is also a going to be a witch this year. He (being a pagan) is not in the least offended by this. As a matter of fact, we are quite proud she chose to be as I am a witch every year on this one day (the other 364 I’m just a plain ole agnostic).
I reminded him that her school is not allowing costumes to be worn to school. I was going to let it go, but this is getting out of hand. She’s in kindergarten, fer crissakes! Isn’t she entitled to have an imagination? Dang it all if we can’t get her to stop donning her dress-up clothes on daily basis. (“Oh, why can’t I wear my ballerina outfit to the mall? Why?”)
Now, on the one day it’s supposed to be okay to go out in your dress-up clothes, they won’t let ya? I think maybe we should take her to school in her witch costume anyway. With any luck the principal will have kittens when she see’s the Grim Reaper, a Witch, and a mini-witch with black /pink leggings and a nifty purple sparkle broom gliding proudly down the hall.
This world has gone mad, I tell ya. 
OMFG! That slayed me!
You may very well be right, and the district was likely just looking for as many reasons as it could think of. In any case, this is dumb.
If it’s a waste of class time, cancel the parades and don’t let the kids out early. They won’t like it, but nobody will die.
#2 is just more of the stupid, handicapper-general bullshit we’re seeing more and more of in America today.
#3 is also stupid.
I just noticed on Dio’s link, there are several links at the bottom right of the page with “more education news.” Here are the headlines:
> School Afraid Of Offending Real Witches Cancels Halloween
> Migraines Common In School-Age Children, Survey Says
> Teacher Wins Right To Lead After-School Religious Club
Is it any wonder our poor kids are copping migraines? They can only be reeling with all these mexed missages.
I have known both Wiccans and Witches that were bothered by the pointy-nosed portrayal of witches (the ones that really got them were the witches that could be stuck on a tree or post so it looks like they flew into it). They felt that Halloween did feed into the myth that witchcraft and/or magic is inherently evil (because ugly = evil), as does all those fairy tales with the witch in the woods. Many Wiccans trace the name (Wicca and/or witch) back to variants of “wise-woman” and point out that many such wise-women, who lived apart from town and were often knowledgeable on the medicinal uses of herbs, were often the targets for medieval witch hunts, mostly because they did not fit the norm. Of course, these same people often claim to be genetic witches, or believe that Wiccan has been practiced in secret for thousands of years.
Our society has replaced the fear of witches that the original fairy tales celebrated, and has turned to scorn and ridicule, and that may be more difficult to accept (for some Wiccans or Witches) than the fear. They can’t, however, complained because society has taken their power by reducing them to a silly stereotype, so they protest instead that such depictions are disrespectful. In reality, Halloween witches are to Wiccans/Witches what Bugs Bunny is to rabbits–and people can love and laugh at Bugs, and still respect real, honest-to-the-Gods rabbits.
So dress your son or daughter in a business suit, complete with cell phone and leather briefcase, with clean, shiny hair and bright rosy faces, adorn them with pentacles of silver and mistletoe wreaths and send them to school as Witches for a New Generation.