I’ve been to Fulton, Missouri. It’s close to Columbia, home of the main campus of the University of Missouri. Winston Churchill delivered the famous “iron curtain” speech there, which is its chief claim to fame. Like most little Missouri towns it’s very conservative and very insulated.
But this spring, high school students in Fulton will be presenting a shockingly provocative play. A play featuring juvenile runaways, couple swapping, and the wanton seduction of a human-animal creature (A hybrid? Who can say?) by a supernatural pagan female.
The town of Fulton is outraged. But not about the play described above, a sexy romp called “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by some guy named Shakespeare. No, they’re messed up because the high school dramatists produced a sanitized version of “Grease.”
The drama teacher cleaned up profanity and substituted standard tobacco cigarettes for “weed.” But that wasn’t good enough. According to Diana Jean Schemo of the New York Times, a few people complained
… that scenes of drinking, smoking and a couple kissing went too far, and glorified conduct that the community tries to discourage. One letter, from someone who had not seen the show but only heard about it, criticized “immoral behavior veiled behind the excuse of acting out a play.”
The school has cancelled a production of “The Crucible” (of course) and will produce “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” instead. So instead of pilgrims battling witchcraft (the Fultonites won’t know it’s an allegory if nobody tells ’em) they’ll produce what is, essentially, a sex farce. Will the drama teacher edit out some of Bill S.’s more obvious double entendres? And will Titania still seduce Bottom, or will she take him to an all-night revival?
What Puck said: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
This IS 1956, right?
This IS 1956, right?
Last I heard.
Sometimes a fire needs stoking, others, it just needs a good poking.
Fulton, Missouri…..memories…..first post-grad job…..state hospital #1……….in the late 60’s that place still had underground tunnels with chains bolted to the tunnel walls; the staff person showing me the tunnels said those very chains which once bound mental patients were later used on captured soldiers during the Civil war.
Gosh, Fulton has had at least one other very great person, but not one known world-wide like Churchill. The very best professor I had the privilege of studying under {I called him John the great Mitchell….no, not that known Mitchell] left Mizzou and went to a quieter time at Williams Woods in Fulton. John the great coined some phrases like ‘button down collar, button down mind’ and ‘neo-Dairy Queen houses’.
Oooh, as my grandmother used to say, ‘I better stick a pin in this’…no sense letting my sudden rush of memories flood off-topic on a blog.
So many wrongs, so little rights.
I wrote on another site today that “ahh it was some lefty anger well deserved but not worth reprint” but as I read the blog traffic it is clear what the right wing sound machine does, it is an echo chamber of misinformation. But as we all learned in 2004, information is only bad when we can’t hear it? As a feminist I believe the supreme court story should still be front and center. After all the bush crowd has proven they will continue to provide us with many o scandle in the future. Liberals should not run away from what they believe, if we let them side track us they will. Here’s a little diddy I have written about freedom:
Right Vs Left. Does a fetus evolve in the womb, wait we don’t believe in evolution.
It’s ok to put people away as long as we have enough prison cells. If the public really thinks that abortion is murder then, we believe that anyone who is involved in abortion is a murder, i.e. mother, father, doctor, friend. And since murder has no statue of limits, all who have or will abort a fetus in the future or past should be tried and punished for murder. Build more prisons, Construction jobs? What will the pro-lifers do with the certain abortion lawbreakers in the future? What will be their punishment? Death? If you think abortion is wrong, don’t have one. God doesn’t want you to save the world, just save yourself.
I think the immigration issue can be tied to the abortion issue. The same people who shout that the poor from Latin America should stay out of our nation, openly and unknowingly invite the unborn. In fact I’m sure illegal ( or undocumented) fetuses would be welcome in our country. Surely both will most likely end up on welfare. So the logic follows that we will accept the unborn legally but we will arrest the illegally born? Interesting, that only unborn life deserves a chance at greatness, and we will do everything to make sure that he or she is born, that it’s life is not forsaken. But it seems once the baby has breathed the air of “gods green earth†it’s on its own. Then if the reluctant mother has no means, she and her son/daughter become a burden on society.
“An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.” ~ John Buchan (1875 – 1940)
When I was in high school in Omaha in 1975, the spring musical was “Godspell.” A friend of mine was in the cast, and the production was a lot of fun. I certainly don’t recall the controversy that a neighbor woman (and noted crusader for censorship) described to me a couple of years later, saying, “You remember, when you were a senior and they did ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’….” I tried to explain that the production was in fact “Godspell,” but no, my neighbor apparently remembered my own senior year better than I did. Also she could not be convinced that there are some distinct attitudinal differences between “Godspell” and “Superstar.” So, at the age of 19 or 20, I was introduced to the important fact that most people don’t have a freakin’ clue about the work of art or entertainment that they’re protesting.
Please take the photos of Donald, and Douglas off the site, It is very spooky!
The rise of the neo-puritans?The bunch that arrived near Plymouth Rock was tossed out of England because of their religious intolerance. One of their greatest feats, once established in the new world, was to try and execute young women for the crime of witchcraft.
Ignorance,intolerance, meddling in the private affairs of others, adopting strict interpretation of Biblical law. Sound familiar?
And one “head” of the beast gave a sermon entitled “God is Pro- War”.
It appears the good people of Fulton fear Sandy and Osama.Perhaps they should get their daughters burkas.
Several months ago, I told my wife that in Texas,vibrators are considered more dangerous than hand guns. She laughed and asked what in the world I was talking about.
I explained that in certain parts of Texas, you cannot buy vibrator, you can go to jail for selling vibrators. I guarantee you will never see a vibrator show advertised in the news paper or on t.v., no one will proudly show you their vibrator collection, and it is doubtful that anyone will admit to even having a vibrator collection.No one will allow themselves to be photographed proudly holding their vibrator, and I’m sure it is punishable by death to assault someone with a vibrator. You will never see anyone doing tricks with a vibrator at a county fair, and no one will buy their kids a vibrator for christmas. You cannot get a concealed vibrator permit, but I’m sure that if a man was found to be carrying one in his fanny pack or glove compartment, the local police would be asking questions.
It is doubtful that anyone would brag about having the biggest vibrator available, nor is it likely that someone would take their vibrator to a machinist for conversion to “fully auto”.
The video rental stores have a “special” room for the movies featuring actors holding vibrators on the cases. Actors brandishing guns on video and dvd cases are common sights, even on comedy videos, and are NEVER hidden from the eyes of our children.
Elmer Fudd never pointed a vibrator at Buggs Bunny….
Imagine what would happen if he did!
While there is no constitutional amendment regarding the right to bear a vibrator, one might argue that vibrators weren’t around during the framing of the constitution, but neither were machine guns or 50 cal. rifles, the arguments about the latter continue.
FOR GODS SAKES PPL. Look Your friends of the new york times didn’t ask all of us our opions. We are not lying down as you said. If we did we’d be a bunch of disconbobulated kids who didnt know how they felt. We had almost everything done. In fact we were ready to go. We are obeying as you say it because we love our drama department and we dont feel like losing it. Joe Potter a professor of William woods has said we can audittion at for those plays. Before you say things of lack of intelligence get to know us first. In fact without Ms. Devore we wouldn’t have been able to do some of the things we have done. Its one play not a million. We even did arsenic and old lace last year. So plz before you speak, listen to all. AND THOSE WHO SAY WE DONT KNOW THE ANNOLGY LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. WE DONT LIKE THE FACT CERTAIN GROUPS DONT LIKE IT. Look i’m wiccan im not christian. Dr. Enderle didnt ask all of the parents. We know this because i could go through fulton and ask twenty who would say go for it. So plz unless you really know what your talking about. Butt out. Thank you
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