(o) 0 (b) 8 (l) 1 (i) ! (v) v (i) ! (o) 0 (n) n (0) (8) (1) (!) (v) (!) (0) (n) (0) (b) (1) (!) (v) (!) (0) (n) (0) (b) (1) (i) (v) (i) (0) (n) (0) (b) (l) (i) (v) (i) (0) (n) o b l i v i o n I s s u e 7 S p r i n g - 1 9 9 8 "youth culture killed my cat." ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Contents - - ---- -- - ------- - -- ---- - Oblivion Speaks . . . . . . . . . . . Nemomancer (nemo@oblivion.net) News Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . Jestapher (jest@oblivion.net) Clones . . . . . . . . . . . . Maureen Lindquist (starstrail@oblivion.net) Graduated Licensing . . . . . . . . . Eric P. Anderson (master@oblivion.net) The Plight of The Last . . . . . . . The Last (thelast@oblivion.net) Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . you, the reader (oblivion@oblivion.net) Stupid Rules . . . . . . . . . . . l0rdp00 (lordpoo@oblivion.net) Hail Satan! . . . . . . . . . . . . Paulo (paulo@oblivion.net) From My Perspective . . . . . . . . Nazdreg Z (nazdregz@oblivion.net) Zero Tolerance, Zero Intelligence . . . . . Jestapher (jest@oblivion.net) Coke Lovin' Administrators . . . . . . . Tyler (tyler@oblivion.net) ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Oblivion Speaks Nemomancer - - ---- -- - ------- Well, it's been another three, four, six months since the last issue, but that doesn't bother any of us here. We're cool. We can handle it. It's no reason to panic. It's all good. It's all good. Much has been happening here at oblivion. Unfortunately for Jestapher, real life got in the way and he moved to Seattle to further his education. Wheeler, who was living with me due to a motherly desertion, was finally kicked out of my house by my parents and lives in a trailer in a trailer park behind a supermarket somewhere. I on the other hand have had no such social earthquakes come to disrupt my routine. But that's not to say stuff hasn't been happening to oblivion itself. Oblivion is now located on its very own server, which means we can reward our writers by giving them shell accounts with email and webspace all kinds of fun stuff like that. All you angstful readers take note. You could someday be [insert name here]@oblivion.net! This issue is jam packed with oppression, anti-oppression, oppression-based angst and, of course, news. Also, oblivion is hosting gobs of new pro-youth zines and websites, such as YouthSpeak, Undumb, Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions and The Last. We've also got the obv-talk mailing list, which is the premier source for youth rights news. Check the oblivion.net sites out cause they all rock. Anyways, there is really no good excuse for our extreme tardiness, so you'll all have to live with it. In fact, oblivion may get weirder in the coming year due to the fact that the entire original staff will be either in or entering the world of higher education. This excludes Pueblo, the intern Wheeler spoke of last issue who I could never seem to meet. Apparently, he left to pursue a better offer with "Esquire." In fact, only one of the origional writers isn't at this very moment in some higher learning "establishment." For all of you just tuning in, high school sucks. Funny thing happened the other day. I'm a sort of network administrator guy at my school for all the PC's around. So I'm walking down one of the four main halls, far far from the servers, and the announcement lady come on the PA and announces that the school's power is going to be shut down in under five minutes. I had no choice but to sprint down the hall, through another hall and interrupt a class just so I could get to the gigantic bank of servers before they all crashed. To cut a long story short, I saved the day seconds before the room went black. Turns out a telephone pole caught fire. Go me. Go oblivion. ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- News Briefs Jestapher - - ---- -- - ------- April 15, 1998 San Diego, CA San Diego police ended a three-month sting at Mira Mesa High School and arrested ten students on suspicion of selling drugs. - -- ---- - April 9, 1998 Pocatello, ID A 14-year-old who took five classmates hostage surrendered in exchange for a carton of cigarettes and a pizza. - -- ---- - April 8, 1998 San Antonio, TX Two high school girls were suspended and reassigned for getting tattoos above their ankles depicting a woman engaged in a "sex act." - -- ---- - April 7, 1998 Alexandria, VA A federal district judge today rejected a government motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the use of blocking software in public libraries in Loudoun County, Virginia. - -- ---- - April 5, 1998 Albany, NY The New York Supreme Court ruled that the parents of Heidi Reyer, a teen who threw a kegger while her parents where gone, can be held liable for injuries that a girl suffered when she got punched in the face by a drunken partygoer. - -- ---- - April 2, 1998 Thousand Oaks, CA Joe Pawlick, Westlake High School assistant principal, came to school to find his office window broken by a brick and death threat scrawled on the sidewalk outside. - -- ---- - April 1, 1998 Fairfax, VA A 13-year-old has been convicted of attempting to arrange sex-for-pay between girls and boys at his middle school. - -- ---- - April 1, 1998 Lille, France An 18-year-old who brought a gun to school and asked a classmate to put it to his temple and pull the trigger, thinking the safety was on, is dead. - -- ---- - March 28, 1998 Santa Ana, CA Attorneys for the parents of Chad MacDonald, a 17-year-old forced to become an undercover informant to clear his record and subsequently murdered because of it, have received the 97-page police report that includes eyewitness accounts of his beating death. - -- ---- - March 25, 1998 Jonesboro, AR Two middle school boys pulled the school fire alarm, and ambushed teachers and students while they waited outside. Four girls and one teacher were murdered. - -- ---- - March 24, 1998 San Fransisco, CA The California Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America can deny entrance to Michael and William Randall, two agnostic boys. - -- ---- - March 4, 1998 Jackson, MS Verline Stiffic is accused of shooting a gun at her son in the Brinkley Middle School office. She was called in because he was found with marijuana, and apparently, their conversation didn't go too well. - -- ---- - February 26, 1998 Concord, California Keke Kaste and Jordan Stock are suing Concord High School after being sent home from a European band trip for drinking what chaperones said was an alcoholic Irish cream coffee. - -- ---- - February 17, 1998 Milpitas, CA The Milpitas Unified School District is considering a plan to turn drug-sniffing dogs loose in classrooms, hallways and parking lots. Students and parents have vowed to fight it. - -- ---- - February 12, 1998 Olympia, WA State legislators have introduced legislation to make it easier to commit minors to mental institutions. They've been trying it for years, the first attempt was overturned by the Supreme Court and the second attempt was vetoed by the governor. - -- ---- - February 12, 1998 Fullerton, CA Nicolas Junior High administrators have changed their policy on hugging after Alicia Galvan and Katrina Weed , 14 and 15, complained about the policy at a school board meeting. Hugging and other displays of affection were initially banned but now the assistant superintendent said some hugs and gestures such as high-fives are allowed. - -- ---- - February 9, 1998 Collinsville, MO Two students at North Junior High School have been expelled for carrying caffeine pills, Aleve and acne medication. Two other girls caught with the drugs were removed from school by their parents. - -- ---- - February 5, 1998 Olympia, WA House Bill 1407, which would punish merchants who sell minors tape or CDs deemed to contain dirty lyrics, passed the House Law and Justice Committee. The proposal, which has died many times in previous years, probably won't make it to law. - -- ---- - February 3, 1998 Santa Ana, CA The California Supreme Court rejected a request by the Boy Scouts of America to temporarily block any efforts by 16-year-old Michael and William Randall to become Eagle Scouts. The boys, who won't recite a religious oath, have been battling the organization since age 9. - -- ---- - February 3, 1998 Atlanta, GA A 15-year-old boy charged with robbing six Atlanta banks told police he did it for "the thrills" and threw the money away. That's $50,000 in the garbage. - -- ---- - January 30, 1998 Palo Alto, CA More than a dozen teenagers attended a Palo Alto party, but not one attempted to stop five young men from gang-raping a teenage girl in a back bedroom, police reports show. One partygoer said he thought the girl was a willing participant because the bedroom door was locked. - -- ---- - January 29, 1998 McMinnville, OR Two women police officers searching for stolen makeup, jewelry and cash at a middle school strip-searched about 25 girls, some of whom say they were asked to lift their shirts, shake their bras and drop their panties. They found nothing. - -- ---- - January 29, 1998 Detroit, MI Administrators of the state's standardized education tests apparently broke the law by requiring Michigan's 122,000 public school fifth-graders to submit their fingerprints in class without their parents' permission. - -- ---- - January 27, 1998 Johnstown, NY The Johnstown School District has suspended its DARE program indefinitely and a teacher for two days after she wore the DARE officer's loaded holstered gun around Warren Street Elementary School. - -- ---- - January 24, 1998 Burbank, CA Seven boys, ranging in ages from 12 to 16, were arrested on suspicion of vandalism after they were caught rolling down rails at the newly opened police and fire headquarters. The boys were released to their parents, but their skates were seized as evidence. - -- ---- - January 20, 1998 San Fransisco, CA Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis proposed voluntary drug tests for California high school pupils if both they and their parents agree. Davis has already proposed that students be required to do a certain amount of homework each night, 15 minutes for Kindergartners, 2 1/2 hours for 12th graders. - -- ---- - January 20, 1998 Oakland, CA A couple who paid two strangers to take their son from his bed in the middle of the night and exile him for a year at a Jamaican reform school were acting within their parental rights, a judge ruled Tuesday. David Van Blarigan, 16, will stay in the confines of the Caribbean camp -- out of touch with all friends and neighbors, and subject to strict rules and even a dose of pepper spray if he gets out of hand. - -- ---- - January 19, 1998 San Bernardino, CA A 15-year-old boy fatally shot a 4-year-old because the little boy didn't fetch cigarettes fast enough, police said. The 15-year-old told police the shooting was an accident. - -- ---- - January 15, 1998 Miami, FL Under threat of a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Miami-Dade County school district has watered down its drug testing program to allow high school students to refuse random checks. - -- ---- - January 14, 1998 Burbank, CA Charges of sexual battery against Cory Kessinger, a former Burbank High School campus supervisor involve at least two female students who say they were fondled while on campus, police disclosed. - -- ---- - January 14, 1998 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco sought to reverse the declining sales of its brands by developing aggressive marketing proposals to reach adolescents as young as 14 years old, according to internal company documents. - -- ---- - January 13, 1998 Slupsk, Poland Hundreds of teenagers clashed with police in rioting spurred by the police killing of a 13-year-old. About 460 riot police used tear gas against the young people. Przemek Czaja, 13, died after a police officer struck him with a nightstick Saturday after police responded to what they called reports of hooliganism. - -- ---- - January 13, 1998 Santa Ana, CA An appeals court reversed an earlier decision that said 17-year-old Timothy Matlock was liable for a fire started by a cigarette he gave to a younger friend. Before the reversal, Matlock's father was ordered to pay $44,500 in damages. - -- ---- - January 12, 1998 Texarkana, AR Teenagers who stole up to 100 pounds of mercury from the city's abandoned neon sign plant dipped cigarettes in the shiny, poisonous liquid and smoked them. At least one teen was hospitalized. US officials are struggling to recover all of the mercury. - -- ---- - January 9, 1998 Waynesville, MO Joseph Stanley Burris has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering a classmate at a boarding school for troubled youths. In a videotaped confession, Burris, 15 at the time of the murder, and Anthony Gene Rutherford, 17 at the time, described how they killed their classmate because they feared he would expose their plot to take over the campus, have their way with the female students, start a Branch Davidian-like cult and make it onto national television. - -- ---- - January 8, 1998 New York, NY Raheem Dawkins, a 16-year-old who volunteers at his local police precinct, was shot by a police officer while trying to rescue the officer from a gang of attackers. For a week while he lay in the hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg, he received no official words of thanks. Finally, police said that he was no longer a "possible suspect." - -- ---- - January 8, 1998 Huntington Beach, CA Under the new "Teen Driver Safety Act," minors will be required to hold a learner's permit for at least six months and have a minimum of 50 hours of supervised driving before taking the driver's test. During the first six months a driver has a provisional license, they can't have any passengers under 20 without special permission, or without being accompanied by a driver at least 25 years old. New teen drivers will also be prohibited from driving between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. during the first year of their provisional license. - -- ---- - January 7, 1998 Santa Clarita, CA Michael Egan, 18, and Mark Clark, 23, are both running for City Council seats in April. Ryan Krell, an 18-year-old, has also picked up election paperwork. - -- ---- - January 3, 1998 Hamburg, Germany Six of ten teenagers, aged 14 to 17, face charges of breaking and entering and property damage after breaking into a Boeing 757. The four other teens fled the scene and were being sought by authorities. An airport spokeswoman said the teens would never have been able to take the plane for a joyride because of a lack of mechanical know-how. - -- ---- - December 31, 1997 Mahlow, Germany A gang of seven youths spray-painted a Nazi swasktika on the chest of a 14-year-old girl at a New Year's Eve party. The youths also punched and kicked the girl and shaved off her hair. Police were investigating two girls and five boys aged between 15 and 18 suspected of the crime. - -- ---- - December 22, 1997 Thousand Oaks, CA Westlake High School wrestlers are under investigation for a hazing ritual that included pinning students down and prodding their buttocks with a broomstick dubbed "Pedro." The victims were fully clothed at the time. - -- ---- - December 20, 1997 Little Rock, AR Joseph Colt Todd was charged as an adult with two counts of first degree battery for shooting two teenagers outside a rural Arkansas high school on December 15. Todd told officials he acted in retaliation but had not intended to shoot the students. He said he had been forced by some other classmates to pay money to avoid being beaten and it was humiliating. - -- ---- - December 20, 1997 Fairfield, IA Two teenagers who killed 16 cats and maimed seven others in an attack on a shelter were sentenced to 23 days each in jail, one day for each of the animals they clubbed. - -- ---- - December 13, 1997 Oklahoma City, OK Plainview High School made students pass a sobriety test to get into this year's Christmas dance. None of the 195 attendees failed the tests. Principal Stephen Matthews was so pleased that he plans to keep the tests in place for all of the school's future dances, including the prom. The school also required students leaving the dance to sign out, leaving a record of when they left to allow parents to track their children's evening. - -- ---- - December 7, 1997 Mountain Valley, CA Last week, the Single Gender Academies, Southern California's first state-funded, single-sex schools, opened in a two-story office building with funding from a $500,000 state grant. Run by the Orange County Department of Education, it is the fourth campus of its kind in the state. - -- ---- - December 3, 1997 Doylestown, PA Eight C.B. West High School students were arrested on drug charges resulting from a three month undercover drug sting in which a 26-year-old police officer posed as an 18-year-old senior and bought small quantities of marijuana and hashish. - -- ---- - December 1, 1997 West Paducah, KY A 14-year-old boy shot eight students as a prayer meeting ended in a high school lobby, killing Kayce Steger, Jessica James and Nichole Hadley. The boy, who had three spare clips of ammunition and four other guns, surrendered when the leader of the prayer circle grabbed the teen after he stopped shooting. Afterward, the boy told Heath High School Principal Bill Bond, "I'm sorry." - -- ---- - December 1, 1997 Washington, DC More than 90% of cities surveyed find curfews a useful tool for police officers, with several California cities reporting dramatic decreases in juvenile crime, according to a national survey of 347 cities. The report, from the U.S. Conference of Mayors did not include a statistical analysis of the effect curfews have had on crime. Rather, it canvassed opinions of city and police officials, and offered a largely anecdotal view. - -- ---- - November 22, 1997 Baltimore, MD Two-thirds of the Northern High School student body was suspended for two days after defying orders from their principal to go to their homerooms for the last fifteen minutes of the day to pick up their report cards. The students complained that it would have forced them to miss their buses. Instead, the 1,200 students amassed at the doors and chanted "Hell no, we won't go!" - -- ---- - November 22, 1997 Princeton, NJ The New Jersey School Boards Association voted to support giving school districts the power to conduct random drug testing for students. The 188 delegates decided not to vote on whether testing would be limited to high school students. - -- ---- - November 15, 1997 Pontiac, MI A judge ordered an 11-year-old boy to stand trial as an adult on murder charges in the death of a teenager who was shot as he walked out of a liquor store last month. - -- ---- - November 15, 1997 Mount Vernon, WA James E. Winkler, 21 pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of attempted third-degree child rape for having sex with a 15-year-old when he was 20. A year later, when the girl was 16, the age of consent in Washington, the two married. - -- ---- - November 14, 1997 Kent, WA Mary Kay LeTourneau, 35, a teacher who had sex with a sixth-grade boy and gave birth to his child was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of outpatient treatment. - -- ---- - November 11, 1997 Collins, OH At least 18 fifth-graders used the same needle to take their own blood during a science class experiment. The needle was disinfected with alcohol, but the Western Reserve School District later found out that may not have been enough to stop the possible spread of disease. - -- ---- - November 10, 1997 Washington, DC Two Alabama girls who say they were forced to submit to strip searches after a second-grade classmate accused them of stealing $7 lost their Supreme Court appeal. Lower courts ruled that the teacher and guidance counselor who conducted the strip searches were immune from being sued because strip searching 8-year-old students was not clearly unconstitutional five years ago. - -- ---- - November 8, 1997 New York, NY 17-year-old Andre Burgess was shot in the leg after passing a car full of undercover law enforcement officers who were hunting for a drug dealer suspected of killing a Customs agent. One of the marshals apparently mistook the silver wrapper of the Three Musketeers bar in Burgess' hand for a pistol. Burgess complained that the marshal who shot him did not even apologize, and said he had been handcuffed on the ground for 10 minutes while bleeding. - -- ---- - October 28, 1997 Accidently Deleted, USA A group of six boys, ages 9 to 14, were playing a game that involved pouring rubbing alcohol on the ground and setting it on fire with a candle. Two of the boys then poured the liquid on another player and set him on fire. The two were arrested and the victim suffered second degree burns. ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Clones Maureen Lindquist - - ---- -- - ------- Let's have a look through my wardrobe, shall we? Hmm, what do we find: a few old cordouroy slacks purchased cheaply at a Salvation Army store; some tattered t-shirts; an oversized sweater; one barely suitable, "nice" outfit used only for "special" occasions, such as Grammy's unveiling of her new dentures or Uncle Jack's new toupee. Wait a minute, that can't possibly be all there is! I'm a typical, shallow, superficial teenager, at least that's what the media tells me! I should have closets upon closets full of trendy, hip, fasionable brand-name clothes. Where are they? Oh, look! There's a rather large pile of clothes over there in the corner that I somehow managed to miss. Silly me! Let's have a look through them and see what we find. Perhaps some expensive Calvin Klein jeans, or a pair of chic, hip velvet bell bottoms, or maybe even a cute baby tee. What! What is all of this? Some fasion nightmare? Why, there's nothing here but navy blue skirts, white blouses, and tights! In fact, they're all navy blue skirts, white blouses, and tights! Oh, I understand now. Yes, this makes perfect sense. The reason my wardrobe is so limited is because money spent for my clothes has gone to paying for these uniforms. Um, may I please speak up for myself on this subject? No? Well too bad, because I'm going to anyway. I am an original, creative, unique, and special individual. I do not appreciate having that uniqueness stifled by someone else's choice to "conform" me to "standards." I am my own person and can, no matter how shocking this may sound, make decisions on my own without being told by someone else what to think. Whew. Well I guess I should present some form of a rational argument for my opinion, shouldn't I? In case you, the reader, did not catch it from my purely blatant sarcasm above, I am not a robot of the media. My every moment of every day is not consumed by fantasies of Fila sneakers and Adidas pants. I do not "live" at the mall. In fact, I don't even remember the last time I went to the mall or even the last time I bought clothes at any place other than my good ol' Salvation. What does this have to do with my hatred of uniforms, some of you may be asking. The main use of uniforms is to make all of their wearers "equal"; to reduce jealousy, rivalry, and rage; to keep everyone from knowing who can afford brand-name clothing and who must shop at the thrift store. Are we all that shallow? Who actually cares if someone has more expensive clothing than someone else? I mean, if some deranged person actually does care about that, and actually does waste their money on clothing, I myself would start to question this person's mental capacities. Let's look at the opposing side for a moment, just to be fair. Pretend for a minute that all of us really are that superficial and fake, and that we really do need to be "equalized" in order to function througout life, otherwise we'd be mad, foaming-at-the-mouth, jealous, raving lunatics. Our solution would be to wear these all-powerful equalizers -- uniforms -- or would it? No, it wouldn't, because uniforms can only "equalize" so much. Underneath the scratchy wool and stiff-necked collars are countless numbers of unique and, gasp, different individuals! Some of us are tall, some of us are short. Some of us are thin, and some of us are not. We each have our own personal shades of eye, hair, and skin color. We each have our own unique and beautiful smiles that no one else on earth can duplicate. If we were all meant to look the same through the use of uniforms, then we would already be the same physically. If there are people that need to look the same as everyone else so that they don't get upset, then I am sorry because I do not have a solution for their problems; however, it is not just to clothe all humans in the same garb simply because of a minority's difficulties. Perhaps an educational maturity course would be more suitable than allowing this minority their crutch of a uniform, which only hides their problems without solving them. The only solution that I am sure of is that until all people can find the true priorities in life though, give me my uniqueness! Being able to be myself is my right! It is a part of my freedom! ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Graduated Licensing Eric P. Anderson - - ---- -- - ------- One of the few vestiges of freedom available to teenagers is now in grave jeopardy with the widespread passage of various "graduated license programs". Numerous states, including California, Illinois, and New Hampshire have already passed these draconian measures. Graduated license programs generally include a long period of supervised driving with an adult, a night driving curfew, a limit on teen passengers, freeway driving restrictions, and zero blood alcohol tolerance. Politicians everywhere are touting this as yet another magical panacea for an problem which simply cannot have an easy "band-aid" solution. It is no coincidence that politicians throughout the 50 states began proposing graduated licensing programs in great numbers during the 1996 election year. This is yet another example of election-year politicking taken to the extreme at the expense of the rights of a politically unrepresented group. It is yet another example of fear-mongering used to push an oppressive agenda upon our nation's youth. The easiest way to dispense with the arguments of graduated license supporters is to state the facts. Proponents of these measures essentially claim that teens are the only dangerous group of drivers. This is simply untrue. There are two groups of drivers which are much more dangerous than teens; the intoxicated and the elderly. I don't want to seem like I'm bearing down on the elderly, because I am not. I love them dearly. Unfortunately, supporters of these programs feel that it is completely alright for someone who can no longer see to be driving at 10 miles per hour down the highway. Very few states have any restrictions on elderly driving and whenever it is proposed, it is widely condemned as age discrimination. Yet, it is supposedly alright to discriminate against teens on the basis of age. Teen drivers are, in many cases, safer than elderly drivers. As a group, teens have faster reaction times than anyone older. Sadly, this causes some teens to believe they are immortal and they take unnecessary risks. The purpose of this article is not to defend poor teen drivers. In fact, this article is a defense of the good teen drivers. Secondly, while a good percentage of accidents involving teens are caused by intoxication, the percentage of drunk drivers that are teens is relatively small. Many older drivers continue to drive after their licenses have been suspended or revoked due to drunk driving. Some drive without any insurance. In some cases, these delinquent drivers even drive to their court appearances. No one seems to want to do anything about this. Without a doubt, drunk drivers evade their punishments more often than any other group of offenders. Another unfortunate aspect of this problem is the greed of insurance companies. I have never had an accident or any kind of ticket. In other words, I have a spotless driving record. I have never taken driver's education courses. In addition to all of this, I am 18 and I have been driving for nearly three years. Yet, I still pay over three times the average insurance rate for other age groups. People in their thrties and forties which have had multiple accidents or tickets still have lower insurance rates than I do. This problem is widespread, and it is not an issue of driving at all. It is purely an issue of discrimination. If someone suggested that blacks were poor drivers and insurance companies increased the rates for black policy holders, there is no doubt that it would be widely condemned. In fact, any insurance company which attempted this would probably lose a large sum of money to lawsuits. There is no denying that there is a serious problem in this country with poor drivers in general, especially drunk drivers. Unfortunately, programs such as zero blood alcohol tolerance for those under 21 do little to help the problem. Zero tolerance programs often list limits that are so low that over-the-counter cough medicine or even communion wine can lace someone over the legal limit. Drunk driving should be no more tolerable from someone who is 46 than it is from someone who is 16. Any reasonable strengthening of drunk driving laws should apply to all age groups. I have heard that my home state of Missouri is considering a graduated license program that will not allow full driving privileges until the age of 20. It really makes me feel good to know that I can pay taxes through the nose and be drafted and then get killed or maimed in a war, yet not have the right to drive my car when and with what passengers I see fit. Had they enacted such a program in Missouri before I had earned my license, I would have been unable to commute to college. That seems to be a grave infraction on my civil rights. I am certain that my case is not unique. Now is the time to stand up and be heard. Call or write to your elected officials and let them know how you feel. If you have a good driving record, let them know that too. Above all, don't let anybody argue with you about statistics. Statistics have been used to justify all manners of things, including slavery. Does that mean that it's right? In the case of graduated license programs, the ends simply do not justify the means. ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- The Plight of the Last The Last - - ---- -- - ------- In the late 60's and early 70's, the freedom of students in America was at an all-time high. The student press, in particular, was given incredible latitude in what they were able to print. Those liberal students and their peers have become today's parents. Frightened by their memories of excesses and compelled by generalizations, many of them continually push for stricter control of students, even if that means compromising those students' rights. It is in this age of paranoia, generalizations, and widespread fear of the youth, with concepts such as "zero tolerance," "immediate action," and progressively more restrictive curfews, that it is most important for the students to empower themselves. Sadly, there are many more parents who sit at home, watch football, and tell their kids not to get in trouble than those who truly care about their childrens' rights and development as citizens of a democratic country. The real tragedy, however, is that most students do just what they're told and grow up not being troublemakers, but not being active citizens either. It all began for us last Spring at our public high school in Greenfield, Wisconsin. Last year at the end of first semester our principal of many years retired and we got a new one. Our school has implemented a few odd policies since then and experienced an inordinately large amount of expulsions (many for stupid things like squirt guns and inch-long pocketknives) and a committee for beautifying the school. They've spent an extraordinary amount of money on such things as plants and new paint for the hallways. This would be nice, if our teachers weren't some of the lowest paid in the state. Our official school newspaper, because of the incredible limitations on what they can print, really doesn't cover the issues at the heart of the student population. If it does, it is usually in terse statements of obvious facts. One day I was sitting in my Japanese language class with a couple of my friends listening to my teacher preach about morals and how we can be successful. I thought the speech was a little out of place (it felt like one of those guidance lectures you get in grade school). That's when we realized how badly the students at our school needed a medium for expressing their true opinions. Since we had some knowledge of desktop publishing, we decided to get together and work on it. Thus, "The Last" was born. We've had six issues since then which we've distributed at school by passing them out through friends. We also post them on our webpage at http://www.oblivion.net/thelast. We've made it our policy to accept writings and drawings from anyone, about any subject, as long as they aren't strictly for harmful purposes and don't blatantly violate the law. The concept is that people can express their ideas freely and anonymously without fear of retribution. To say that our school's administration has been less than hospitable to us would be a major understatement. Although the administration publicly says that they have no problem with the paper itself, they have found ways to persecute us. We've heard that there have been various other independent papers before us and that those were crushed by attacks similar to the one made against us. It happened on the last day of regular classes (before exams) just after the second issue was distributed. We had been talking on IRC (Internet relay chat) to a student in Minnesota who was interested in our paper for about a month. Imagine our surprise when those IRC logs were used as evidence against us and we found out that the supposed student from Minnesota was actually someone from our school (we still can't figure out who, possibly one of the administrators themselves) who disliked the paper. Everyone mentioned in the IRC logs and anyone else who was known to be one of our friends, even though most of them had nothing to do with the paper, were called to the office individually. I remember walking into the principal's office and being immediately told that I was going on suspension and I would have to leave the building. I had to ask her what I had done wrong. I also asked to see whatever evidence they had that I had even written the article in question, but I was refused. They cited my article about the incompetency of my Japanese teacher and another article about a teacher being forced to leave because of making an off-color joke as libelous. The student accused of writing the article about the teacher and I were suspended for three days. My suspension stuck and I had to make up my exams. The other suspended student, however, had his suspension lifted after he proved that he didn't even write the article. The principal called my mother while I was on suspension and told her that I could get it lifted under two conditions: I didn't make a scene (I said something about talking to the ACLU while I was in the principal's office) and I apologized to the teacher. I didn't take her advice on either point. The article that they took the biggest issue with, though, was one by Justin Boucher about hacking the school's network which contained some obvious computer tips and some starting points for guessing passwords. They called it a disclosure of restricted information and he was subsequently expelled. We went to the the local ACLU offices with him and they appointed him a lawyer to appeal his expulsion. He was in school for a while on an injunction pending the court's decision. Recently, however, a seventh-circuit court upheld his expulsion. What happened last year left me with a feeling of utter disgust. Despite it all, though, we've managed to keep the paper going. We continue to print every month and we're getting together some people to take over for us next year when we graduate. We also recently won the Youth Civil Libertarians of the Year award from the Wisconsin chapter of the ACLU. There have been many difficult decisions and I've questioned whether it is worth it on various occasions. I always come up with the same answer though, and it keeps pushing me forward: If students don't fight for the rights guaranteed to them, nobody will, and people who grow up without those freedoms entitled to them by this country do not grow up to be citizens who believe and participate in it. The Last P.O. Box 21898 Milwaukee, WI 53221-0898 thelast@oblivion.net http://www.oblivion.net/thelast/ ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Letters you, the reader - - ---- -- - ------- I picked up a copy of Oblivion #6 at the Zine Fiend Festival, good work! I especially dug the article on blocking software. As an old-school punk (class of '77, retired undefeated) and parent, I've had to think long and hard about what is the most responsible policy for kids accessing the net. I decided to make sure my kids have unlimited access to information, not because to do otherwise is a violation of their rights ("rights" are a legal and social construct only valid in an authoritarian system, only the ruled have rights, the unruled have freedom), but because it would be a grave disservice to the furtherance of their education. They sure as hell aren't getting a balanced picture of the world and its possibilities from the public schools. The main objection people have to uncensored access is that kids might decide to check out some porn, but I can't see how pictures of people screwing could be anywhere near as damaging to someone's psyche as the pornography of greed that pours from the t.v. day and night. "Protecting" people from information doesn't make them safe, it keeps them ignorant. I figure this world already has enough idiots. Damian Carr Editor, Disgrunt Webzine - -- ---- - You're damn right I'm paranoid of Big Brother! Every one of the filthy bastards is trying to kill me, and for all I know, you're in cahoots with the Mafia, the CIA, and The Man Upstairs, whoever he is. But in any case, I thought you might want to consider exchanging permission for displaying links. With your relatively high distribution network, you should stop writing this crap about friggin' high school. We must focus our efforts on the real enemy, and avenge the unlawful actions of this country's resident institution. There are more pressing issues at hand, such as the high-grade plutonium in orbit above our heads this minute. Nuclear weapons are banned in outer-space, but if one of these satellites were to fall on a large city, it would be devestated. I think, technically, that this counts as a nuclear weapon since the radiation originates from the nuclear segment of the atoms. BJKing - -- ---- - I think you're totally right. The teachers and Principal at school need to be taught a lesson. They are totally clueless when it comes to teens and what goes on in our heads. Sometimes all I want to do is stand up in class and deck a teacher really hard. I just don't see how they think they have the power to punish us like they are our parents or something. I really hate it when a teacher comes off on this attitude or something. And I have had a teacher like the one you described. We teased him constantly! We'd write things about him on the board and when he read them and asked who wrote them, we'd all just sit there and not pay any attention. Well, good luck on the zine!!! Genus - -- ---- - Someone asked about Teenage Liberation Handbook in Oblivion #6. For your info: Genius Tribe is a catalog/newsletter of materials for "unschoolers" and homeschoolers, put together by Teenage Liberation Handbook author Grace Llewelyn and her partner. Box 1014 Eugene, OR 97440-1014 541-686-2315 FAX: 541-686-2315 http://home.aol.com/GTcatalog Solidarity, Chris D. - -- ---- - A few opinions on blocking software. I'm 15, I'm allowed to use my computer and the Internet freely, my parents trust me. 1) The V-Chip is blocking hardware not blocking software, and as I remember it's meant for TV. 2) Internet access @ school, anywhere, is a privilege not a right. If the school wants to use blocking software then they can. It's their computers and their connection. 3) Blocking software is the way to go, maybe you forget but blocking software is made by independent companies, not the government. And as was demonstrated by the CDA, the government seems to want to destroy any "inappropriate" material. The blocking software for now is the only answer, second to parental monitoring, to keep the government from having to do something. For closing, I would just like to say, we don't need Internet censorship we need Internet responsibility. Adam http://www.yippi.com/ - -- ---- - Hi, I would very much appreciate a copy of your zine. I only wish I knew more zines with similar content. If you know of any, please send me all the information you have on them. I wish you the best of luck in doing what you want to do. Thanks, Andrea P.S. I'm telling everyone I can about your zine. - -- ---- - Hey there, Yes, people are interested in the shit people put up w/ in high school. Saw the review in PP and I figured this is a zine we should support. I'm starting up a small scale zine distro + might be interested in your zine. Please send all the relevant info when sending me my copy. I'm looking forward to reading it! Take Care, Greg - -- ---- - To the good folks at Oblivion, Hi. I got in the mail an issue #6 and a request for copies of my zine. I'll send you copies of some of my older ones cuz I think you might like some of the subjects. If you like them, I'll send you more. Issue #10 will be done soon --- I hand-print them all so it takes me a couple of weeks just to print 'em. I'm also recording a record version of issues 8 & 9. I really dig your zine. I expecially liked the last essay, the one on graduations, oh and the youth news in the beginning. If you ever have 10 bucks you should get a subsc. to The Match, a killer zine with a "Who the Cops Beat" section. Pricey but worth it. (PO Box 3012, Tucson, AZ 85702). Well I hope you enjoy the zines, and I also hope you'll keep me on your mailing list. I'll keep trading as long as I get stuff to trade. Thanks, Karen (artnoose.) ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Stupid Rules l0rdp00 - - ---- -- - ------- "Excuse me son, but you'll have to put your name on a slip of paper for me." Shit, I thought. It's the first day of school and I am already getting in trouble. I can't believe this. Well I had to argue, since I had no idea why I was being asked to put my name on a slip of paper. The guy responds, "because you are wearing a hat." First day of school and I already lose my hat. What is next? Now don't get my wrong, usually I'm pretty shy and won't argue with a teacher, but this just didn't make any sense. So I started arguing with this guy. Little did I realize he was the head of the ROTC thing in my school. (ROTC is the army type training program in our high school.) I didn't care though, all I wanted was my hat, and I had lost it because I had walked into the cafeteria to buy breakfast and forgot to take it off. I lost it. The man told me that I'd have to ask my parents to call the school to get my hat back. This made me really angry. I just didn't understand it, but I have to do what they say, so I gave in. First day of school, lost my hat, and my parents are going to be mad because they have to call the school and ask permission to get my hat back. When I got home I told my parents. They thought it was pretty strange that my hat was taken away because I forgot to take it off, but they really didn't say anything to the principle. All they did was tell her something like "He will remember next time to take off his hat." Or some shit like that. Hey, but I got the hat. My school has never liked hats, but what's wrong with them. The only distraction they have ever caused me is the fact that they get taken away from me. I have long hair, my hair is more of a distraction that my hat, that's what keeps my hair out of my eyes. I thought to myself, why are they enforcing the rule of no hats so strictly when there are other problems? These include the fact that you can't even go into a bathroom because it stinks so bad from cigarette smoke, the fact that people steal from our bookbags and lockers, and that people are intimidating us to the point that we think we are going to get beat up. I guess people look at all the little problems and forget the big ones. (Kind of reminds you of our government, huh?) Why must my school, and many others, enforce a rule that is so pointless, when they could be helping the actual students live their school lives a little bit easier. Why? Because it's something to do. ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Hail Satan! Paulo - - ---- -- - ------- It all started when I was kicked out of school for five days. I won't go into details--basically it involved some 7th grade pieces of shit throwing out disses and not being able to handle what comes back. They made up some stories, got some of their friends as witnesses, and reported me and a friend to a vice-principal who hated me anyway. No attempt was made by them to prove anything. When you're suspended from my school, you don't sit at home, you have to go sit in a little shack that doubles as an animal shelter and triples as an ambulance station for the county. It was in this shack, secluded from the rest of the world, that I drew the comic that traveled the globe, leaving in its wake millions of corrupted youth... well, I guess all it really did was get me in trouble with a bunch of fascist idiots. The comic was called AMF. It secretly stood for "angry motherfucker," but in the comic the main character was reffered to as "Al M. Farmer" to throw people off. It was three pages of your average punk getting harrassed by a group of jocks, killing them, getting harrassed by the vice-principal, killing him, and then getting harrassed by a cop (you guessed it, he gets killed too.) Suprisingly, this comic contained no profanity and was actually moderately tame. Sure, it was extremely violent, but the art made it more humorous than anything else. Basically, I made this comic to release some of my pent-up hostility. I find that making comics is a healthy alternative to flipping out and killing lots of people. When I came back to school, all was well for the rest of the grading period. I showed the comic to a lot of people, and a few of them were inspired, drawing what were basically crude rip-offs (kids get sick of taking crap and kill their oppressors.) One of my newer friends, Jason, saw this and decided he wanted to put it with some of his and publish his own little comic. I introduced him to zines, pulling a wad of them out of my backpack along with a copy of Factsheet 5, and this motivated him even more. I told him about my zine, undumb, and he thought it was cool that people from all over can read what I have to say and write back and send their stuff. He wrote AMF really big at the top of my comic, with an anarchy symbol for the A. I told him that was stupid because the title was in the first frame of the comic, and it wasn't an anarchist comic anyway. He started using a school scanner and printer, and he got caught. He told me this lady had taken the comics and told him they were filled with Satanic references and asked him about his affiliations with cults and Satanism. I thought this was a crock of shit and wanted my comic back. I told him to point this lady out to me, so he led me to the office, showed me the lady and boltled. I confronted the woman. "You have something of mine and I would like it back. I want my comic." She got in my face and told me that wasn't an option, and that it was in the hands of the vice-principal. When she told me this, she was literally inches from my face. I didn't like it. She was a short, fat lady with a small head. I don't like that sort of thing very close to me. "Why did you steal my comic?" I asked, trying to step back a little. She got back in my face as she told me, "It's not a matter of stealing, it's a matter of discipline. Mr. Reich has it." "Can I talk to him?" "No, he's busy right now." What a bunch of bullshit. I stepped away from that lady and asked another one if I could have an appointment with Mr. Reich, the vice-principal. She said I could and that he would probably call me down during fourth hour. I said thanks and she wrote me a pass back to class. Third hour, I'm sitting there taking a test when I'm called down to student services. Not the office, student services. My teacher says I'm taking a test and that I'll come down when I'm finished. I finish my test and go sit in student services. I sit there until a few minutes into fourth hour, when the fat lady with the small head appears and brings me into the nurses office. "I'm using the nurse's office because I don't have one of my own. My name is Mrs. Allah, I'm working with the other guidance counselors, not the office. So...what's your connection to all this?" "I made the comic entitled AMF." "This comic is entirely innapropriate for school. It is violent and vulgar, and filled with obscenity." She sat there rambling about how bad it was, all the while I'm thinking she's just stupid. Here's where it starts getting even weirder. Amidst her mindless rambling is more mindless rambling, and amidst that is mindless rambling about the Satanic references in my comic. "Wait a minute...where are you getting that it's Satanic?!" "That symbol you're using! Did you know that symbol is used by Satanist and occult groups?" "What symbol?" "The one with the A. We have documentation that tells us that this is linked to Satanism and the occult." "Anarchy? Anarchy is political, not religious." "It's innapropriate. Just like swatzikas are innapropriate." As she mentioned swatzikas, she pointed at the anti-nazi patch on my backpack. I told her I have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and tried to ask her about the people wearing Jesus shirts all the time. She told me it was school policy and I wasn't allowed to debate it. She also told me "this is a Christian society." She kept rambling about Satanism and how it wasn't permitted. I held up the horned hand and said, "Hail Satan!" "Like that! That's innapropriate!" She told me it would help my case if I just went along with everything and stopped being beligerant. I asked her how the hell I'm supposed to act when she won't even let me say anything. She told me I was allowed to say anything I wanted to. Then she went on telling me that she knew AMF stood for "profanity." I told her no, it stands for Al M. Farmer, and she could find that out by reading the comic. She went on asking me if I was Satanic. I told her I had a copy of Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible. She quickly wrote it down and asked me if I was involved in a cult. "Why, yes, actually I am in a cult. It's called the Church of the SubGenius. I'm an ordained minister of this cult." She started writing down what I was saying as quickly as she could. She asked me questions about the Church and it's beliefs. I was trying not to laugh and even when I talked you could tell I wasn't entirely serious. Apparently she didn't notice my manner of speech and took it all way too seriously. "So who is this "Bob"? What is "Slack?" Does Bob have a last name? Who is in charge of this cult? Etc., etc." After she was done questioning me about this horrible evil cult, she went on trying to figure out what the hell a zine is. I tried to explain it to her but basically all she got was, "So...you people making these 'zines,' you're just trying to spread a message of violence and satanism?" "Is there any information you'd like me to pass on to Mr. Reich? I'm talking to him later." "Yeah, this is a load of crap." "That's your opinion. Anything else?" "You're a fascist." "Oh, that's fine." "I should call the ACLU." "Call whoever you like, file whatever you want. We have our policies, I'm just doing my job. Now, where are you headed?" I told her and she started writing me a pass. She asked what my name was again and I told her. "You can write "Reverend Paul Saylor" if you want." "No, I don't think I will." I left and started walking back to class. I guess the bell had rung for lunch so I threw the pass in the garbage and went to lunch. I started telling my friends what happened. My friend Lewis was quite pissed. Me, Lewis, and my other friend Doug walked down the hall and started talking to another guidance counselor. He apparently used to be a social studies teacher. Lewis asked him about the connections between Satanism and Anarchism.. He said that Anarchy is just another political group, like being Republican or Democrat or Fascist. We talked to him for the rest of lunch and then walked to the office to make an appointment. I told the lady that Lewis should come down with me when I get called down. She said okay and sent us back to class. The rest of fourth hour I sat there having a feeling the vice-principal was going to be his usual asshole self and not talk to me. I was right. However when I got home, my parents asked why he called. He had his secretary call and leave a message for my mom to call him. They said he was scared to talk to my dad, that's why he did it that way. I told my parents about how I was accused of being a Satanist and being in a cult, and that apparently that's against school policy. I talked about how it was retarded and she wouldn't let be debate anything. My dad was fairly pissed and talked about how Mr. Reich was going to try to kick me out again, and that he could because he has police power. ("They kicked him out for a yo-yo!") He said he was going to expose the asshole for his record of frivolous suspensions. My mom said she was going to go in and talk to him. Will I be suspended? Will I be sucked deeper into the cult I'm in? Will Satan steal my soul? Find out in the next episode of I WAS A TEENAGE SATANIC ANARCHIST IN A CULT DRAWING FOUL COMICS TO CORRUPT THE WORLD!!!! ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- From My Perspective Nazdreg Z - - ---- -- - ------- It seems that our generation is very intent on gaining more rights, especially a lower voting age and the abolishment of curfews. I personally agree with these movements, but I also see that in reality, we do not deserve these rights. When adults contemplate whether or not we are fit to be granted these rights they inevitably compare us to their generation. This spells big trouble for us. When compared to any other generation, we have the worst crime record. Terrible drug use, irresponsible DUI, violence, are just some of the blotches on our record. Sure all of these infractions have been committed by other generations, just not on such a grand scale. When one looks at the 60's the subject of drug use comes to light. Sure, this was wrong but everyone was doing it, including adults, and aside from that the teens of that time were generally good people. To gain the rights that we need, people need to shape up and show the older Generation that we are responsible enough to handle such rights. This strategy is guaranteed if everyone makes an individual effort. The idea of cleaning up the reputation of an entire generation seems daunting, but if every individual worries about himself or herself and keeps out of trouble there is no way our constitutionally granted rights can be violated. Sure, it is easier to continue on our current course whiling kicking and screaming to be heard, but who will listen to hypocrites? Soon, if we can change, the world will know what we are really about, a new, exciting group of people that can do anything. United we stand, separate we fall. I propose that a branch of this e-zine be opened with the specific intent of encouraging youth to take responsibility for their actions in a massive attempt to clean up the reputation of our generation. By creating an open movement where are all invited to have a part and take active interest I'm sure the tides will change in our favor. I suggest a web page be opened with the intent of spreading this message. It will include information, articles, suggestions, special events and much more. If you would like to help drop me a message. ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Zero Tolerance, Zero Intelligence Jestapher - - ---- -- - ------- Can you imagine the shock and confusion on the face of 6-year-old Seamus Morris after being suspended for bringing lemon drops to school? Why would a school suspend a first-grader for bringing tasty lemon candies to class? Officially, the lemon drops violated district drug policy because they were "unfamiliar" and "unfamiliar" products are treated as controlled substances. Administrators have to draw the line somewhere, you may say, but should it include all of the asinine rulings we've seen lately? Does a 6-year-old deserve to be suspended for bringing lemon drops to school? Besides reaching new lows in the judgement field, these ignorant administrators and their zero-tolerance rhetoric are teching us that such policies don't work, especially when implemented by fanatical zealots such as themselves. Take, for example, the case of Joey Hoeffer, age nine, suspended in September for handing out breath mints. Administrators at Weems Elementary in Manassass, Virginia said the mints resembled illicit pills but Joey assured them he was handing out Certs Concentrated Mints. A mother of one of the boys who recieved an "illicit" mint took the evidence to school and Joey was interviewed by the Principal and the police, who confiscated the candy for further analysis. Guess what? Joey was telling the truth; they were Certs Concentrated Mints. Oh, well. too bad for Joey. The school suspended him for one day. He violated the district policy on "look-alike drugs," they said. Apparently, Certs are now "look-alike drugs." In November, Colin Dunlap was suspended for three days from DuPont Junior High School in Belle, West Virginia for giving a classmate a cough lozenge. School policy requires a parental note for any non-prescription medication and requires suspensions for violation of this policy. Lozenges are included, so Colin got the boot. "Cough drops appear harmless. But none of them are," head-nurse Brenda Isaac said. She cited the fact that zinc can cause abdominal pain, rashes, and breathing problems for people allergic to zinc. In reference to the suspension, Jennifer Dunlap, Colin's mother said "A cough drop? I think that's the most asinine thing I've ever heard." John Wiley, an eigth-grader at Mannford Middle School in Mannford Oklahoma, was suspended for 6 months when he turned in a small bag of marijuana to school officials. The dime-sized bag of marijuana was given to him by another student in a school bathroom just before his first class. What school policy creates a criminal out of a student who informs officials of a crime and turns in the evidence? This one: "A student may not sell, possess or use a narcotic or dangerous drug..." Although he was turning in evidence to administrators, he still possessed the evidence, making it a suspendable crime. What about John Cahani of Atlanta who gave his French teacher a bottle of French wine as a Christmas gift? The present was boxed and all wrapped up, topped off with a red bow, and when the teacher undid all these wrappings to find her student had brought alcohol to school, she notified the principal who suspended John for 10 days. Ten days for anyone bringing alcohol to school, the policy states. Should a gift-wrapped bottle of wine be treated the same as a student sneaking vodka to school in a pop bottle and taking shots during class? John's parents were so upset with the suspension of their straight-A son and the subsequent refusal to overturn the suspension, they announced that they would take John to Paris for two weeks, during which time he would not be allowed to attend school. Patty Noble was enraged when her 14-year-old daughter was expelled in January for giving a classmate Advil to help with menstrual cramps. Both of the girls were suspended from Sacajawea Junior High in Federal Way, Washington. The school eventually reversed their decision, but Patty Noble says it's not enough. "This has affected her self-esteem and her reputation, and all because she had Advil. I want to know how the school plans to make this up to her." In February, two girls were expelled from North Junior High School in Collinsville, Missouri for carrying caffeine pills, Aleve and acne medication. "If the school board believes that caffeine is harmful, then the board must remove all caffeine from the schools including the soda vending machines, chocolate milk, candy bars, chocolate chip cookies, brownies and coffee from the teachers' lounge," said Dan Burton, a Collinsville parent at a school board meeting. Does a 13-year-old girl in Fariborn, Ohio deserve a nine day suspension for having Midol to help with menstrual cramps? Does the girl that gave her the Midol deserve a fourteen day suspension for distributing drugs? Should a 13-year-old honor roll student in Humble, Texas be suspended for having Advil in her backpack? Because of the suspension, her grades dropped 20%, and the school board refused to restore them. Is that fair? If you're an eighth-grader, should you be suspended for having Alka Seltzer on campus? It happened to one unlucky Pennsylvanian. Remember the boy who was suspended for using mouth wash at school last year? Did they stop the illegal flow of alcohol? Are these administrators thinking? Where do we make a distinction between candy and drugs, drinking and gift-giving? Right now, we seem to have drawn the line way too far to the "crazy, suspend everyone we can" side. It seems that the parents of these and other wrongly-suspended students are the only ones using sane judgement. Shana Morris, mother of "little Seamus, the cough-drop pusher," after the fire department and an ambulance were called to the school and she was urged to take her son to the hospital for testing, tried to calm the situation by assuring the school that the lemon drops were harmless. "Complete hysteria," she called it. "I can't believe these people are educating our kids." ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Coke Lovin' Administrators Tyler - - ---- -- - ------- There are some rights that, far too often, you are forced to give up when you attend a public school. Especially when your principle is a fascist. Such is the case in Greenbrier High School in Evans, Georgia, where 19 year-old Mike Cameron was suspended from school for wearing a Pepsi shirt on Coke Day. In an effort to win $500 dollars and be included in the pool for the $10,000 national grand prize, Principle Gloria Hamilton invited four Coca-Cola exectutives to the school's first (and probably last) Coke Day. The Contest offered $500 to the Columbia County school that could come up with the most creative method of distributing promotional discount cards to students. GHS decided to make a day of it. To open Coke day, students of GHS spelled "Coke" in huge letters while photography students took photos of it. Home-economics students slaved over hot ovens all day baking Coke cake. Chemistry students spent the day analyzing Coke's sugar content, while Economics students spent their day listening to a Coca-Cola marketing executive. Mike Cameron, who sported a Pepsi shirt during the photo shoot, spent the latter half of the day in the principal's office, Where he was informed that he was suspended. Mike Cameron states "It was just a joke." And that's really all it was. "The Coke executives did not even see Cameron's shirt and were not offended by the prank," said Coke spokeswoman Diana Garza. Pepsi thought it was a pretty funny joke, too: "Without knowing all the details, it sounds like Mike's obviously a trendsetter with impeccable taste in clothes. We're going to make sure he's got plenty of Pepsi shirts to wear in the future once we track him down." "In the past, when kids have decided to ruin a school picture -- occasionally we have some who decide that's the time to do an obscene gesture-- they've been given six days of suspension," the principal said. "So it's not a new situation." Is it just me, or is principal Hailton comparing a hand gesture which means "Fuck You" to wearing a shirt that says "You Got the Right One Baby, Uh-Huh"? Obviously, no one was offended by this prank. Why then, did Hamilton go out of her way to persecute this boy? As a student who annualy wore the rival high school's colors during Spirit Week, I am totally baffled by Gloria Hamilton's actions. Her intolerance for anyone who dares to raise above (or step sideways of, or duck below) the norm disgusts me. Part of me wonders if she had a hand in selecting the school's mascot- they are the Greenbrier Wolfpacks. Not the Wolfs, but the Wolfpacks: a bunch of animals that survive by all acting the same. I fear, however, that she is just one of many, many public school administrators who do this. In a coutry founded and thriving on both the similarities AND differences between people, it is a tragedy to see how many educators go out of their way to produce (their concept of) the perfect cookie-cutter citizen. At this point, as an Oblivion reader, you should be asking yourself "What can I do to fight this from happening again?" The answer is to make it happen again. And again. And again. Don't get sucked in to the norm. Nuke the norm. If enough people dare to raise up off the beaten path, then the path will cease to exist all together, and instead become a not-so beaten giant feild of footsteps. Even if we get knocked down at first, it won't matter. Eventually, public education will realize "It's a good thing that our system of making everyone the same doesn't work, because if it did, society would be pretty screwed. Let's scrap this shit and let students try to figure out who the really are, not who we want them to be." And don't just do this in schools. No, it goes much further than school. This is a societal issue as well. The same problem exists, and the same solution will work. So let's get out there, people. Spike your hair for the symphony concert. Wear Airwalks to prom. Bust out your purple and gold on Cougar day. Wear a Jewel shirt to a punk show. And dammit, wear a Pepsi Shirt on Coke day. ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - --- Oblivion Information - - ---- -- - ------- - -- ---- - copyrights - - ---- -- - ------- Please distribute Oblivion everywhere you can. Do not steal little bits and pieces without consent from the author of the bit, byte or nybble, for they retain full copyrights to their work. If you just ask, they will probably give permission. - -- ---- - contributors - - ---- -- - ------- editors Jestapher - head editor, writing, design, graphics, art Nemomancer - editor, writing, graphics, network - -- ---- - writers Amar, Antitrend, Arhat, Avi Hein, Belial, das, Eightball, Eric P. Anderson, Jaimee, Jane Doe, l0rdp00, Maureen Lindquist, Maureen Rada, Matt Walcoff, Mr. Orange, Nina, Nazdreg Z, Paulo, The Last, Trippy Kid, Tyche, Tyler, Warren Apel, Wheeler - -- ---- - art & graphics Brian Kappus, Dagda, Gould, Jess Wyer, Juanune, Wennis - -- ---- - support , Akai, Eggnog, iMAGER, The Retro Ranger - -- ---- - locations - - ---- -- - ------- mail: Oblivion P.O. Box 95227 Seattle, WA 98145-2227 web: http://www.oblivion.net/ email: oblivion@oblivion.net ftp: ftp.oblivion.net /pub/ ftp.etext.org /pub/zines/oblivion/ mailing list: majordomo@oblivion.net "subscribe obv-zine" submissions: nemo@oblivion.net - -- ---- - review quotes - - ---- -- - ------- "There have been a small handful of new zines written by and about teens and the issues they face. This one does a great job rounding up current news stories and providing articulate arguments to support youth rights." -- Factsheet 5 "One of the most focused, intelligent teen zines I've seen. Any kid who's tired of being under his/her owner's thumb should send for this." -- Zine World "The rants are fairly entertaining..." -- Ten Things Jesus Wants You To Know "Eye-opening." -- RALPH RECOMMENDS - -- ---- - music - - ---- -- - ------- David Bowie, Durge, Pain, Radiohead, Sicko, Suicide Machines - -- ---- - zines - - ---- -- - ------- Book of Letters, Ker-bloom!, Puberty Strike, Universe of Truancy - -- ---- - thanks - - ---- -- - ------- Olympia Networking Services (www.olywa.net), PHAT LIP! YouthTalk Radio - -- ---- - about - - ---- -- - ------- Oblivion started in 1995 as an underground student zine and was immediately attacked by administrators. We've gotten bigger over the years and now focus on youth rights around the United States and the world. Oblivion is published quarterly by a group of dedicated kids. If you have a story to tell, contact us either through the postal service or over the Internet. Writers published in Oblivion recieve a free shell account on our phat linux box, oblivion.net. We provide services for a number of youth rights organizations and youth zines. If you want to stay up to date on all current youth rights news, subscribe to the obv-talk mailing list by sending email to majordomo@oblivion.net with the message "subscribe obv-talk" in the body. You will get articles from major newspapers around the world dealing with youth issues. ------- --- - - ------ - - ------ ---- --- - ------ --- ------- - - -- - - --- ------- ---- -- --- - --- ----- ---- - ---- ----- -- ---- --- - eof