societal demise...

The following is a series of e mail exchanges between myself and certain county administrators who shall rmeain nameless. For the sake of this post, said administarator will be dubbed: Yogi, and the other Boo Boo. Enjoy:
PLEASE HELP ME RIGHT NOW!!! -
I need to know right now if any of you are using or have used graffiti art in your instruction. If so, where are you obtaining the instructional materials. Please respond immediately. MANY, MANY THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Yogi
(notice the absence of a question mark at the end of the interrogative sentence)
RE: Please Help Me Right Now!!! -
I (Earl Grey) have mentioned it in class beofre (last year) and shown examples of some graffiti art work but never based a lesson on it. As far as materials, I used my own books and examples of work.
RE:RE: Please Help Me Right Now!!! -
(Earl Grey), going beyond the adopted curr[iculum] should be approved by Park Ranger or me. Do you copies of the lesson plans? Yogi
RE:RE:RE: Please Help Me Right Now!!! -aka GRAFFITI SCAREHey Boo Boo -So I received this e mail from Yogi asking if anyone had used graffiti in their lessons before. Not sure why they were asking (I guess I idealistically and stupidly believed there was going to be some inclusion on the high school level) I responded and stated that I had shown an example of graffiti in my class before which came from my own personal library. Well - I guess I really got Yogi's goat, because he wrote back essentially reprimanding me for "straying from the approved curriculum."I politely explained that the graffiti was used as a visual reference piece alongside famous artists' work and corporate logos... not in a "Graffiti Appreciation" lecture or lesson.I guess I just want to know if I was directly responsible for inciting some form of vandalist-malice or is this a curriculum-related crack down.I have to plead ignorance because I (mistakenly) assumed that part of being an art educator (especially in culturally secluded Yellowstone Park) was to expose learners to art from all cultures and walks of life, be it Art Brut, Folk Art, Classical, or Contemporary Urban. I have also mentioned names like Vito Acconci, Tesla, and Pavlov to my students before who certainly were no where near the content in the approved curriculum.Never did I encourage my students to go out and scribble on private property and any work I showed was prefaced with an explanation of the difference between commisioned art and tasteless vandalism. Not to mention that once would-be-street vandals are increasingly entering the art world and being sold at auction houses and galleries world wide as respected contemporary art.I understand not wanting kids to view nudes in the classroom. I also understand certain reading material being considered inappropriate prior to a certain level of maturity attained with growth and age. But at no point did I expose any of my students to anything that could have been considered distasteful, illegal, or inappropriate - spare the fact that it was not listed as "required" by the curriculum. I feel that my use of a graffiti photo in my class was no more or less harmful than mentioning hip hop to a music class or break dancing in a dance class. Part of being a successful educator is helping the learners relate to the material, and if using cartoon characters or graffiti art as an example aids in said effort - I personally see no wrong. However, I understand that policy is policy. I meant no harm and I certainly dont expect you to respond in length to this rant. I simply was flabbergasted (i could not think of a more appropriate word) and needed to vent to someone who might offer some incite as to the origin of this matter.Hope this dissertation finds you well,BestEarl Grey
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Now see here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY&hl=en&fs=1]