Vannoy / Bronco Shirt update

Mr. Josh Vannoy has once again appeared in our local paper, Beaver County Times. This is the second time in the the last 3 days, and again with a new photograph. Mr. Vannoy has had at many different photos of himself published within the last 30 days, along with at least 16 separate articles in the local paper alone. Some of those articles are "letters to the editor", both supporting and not supporting Mr. Vannoy. Most of the "staff" articles have done their best to show the school and the teacher in a bad light, and Mr. Vannoy the victim. Who is Mr. Josh Vannoy? Let me refresh your memory. He is the student that was "humiliated" when he wore a Bronco's jersey to a "Steeler Country" school, right before the AFC Championship game at the end of January between the Steelers and the Broncos. Mr. Vannoy and his family have, according to this latest article, moved to a different school district. They left because he still felt harassed, and because he was getting the silent treatment at school. I suppose that's what a person would expect to happen when the school officials threatened the entire student body with expulsion if they were physical with him, spoke inappropriately to him, or even "gave him dirty looks". Yes that's right, not detention, not suspension... Kicked out of school forever! Heck, I would have been afraid to talk with him let alone look his way, if I was threatened to be kicked out of school against my will. Of course, regardless of the school's good intentions by attempting to protect Mr. Vannoy from being hurt or further harassed, and to prevent possible litigation, it only made matters worse. Mr. Vannoy was now being "treated differently", and he didn't like it. Personally, I think Mr. Vannoy missed the attention, and since he couldn't get it at school, he decided to use the newspaper! So maybe the family moving to another school district is for the best for everyone. He has placed our school on the national map in a negative light. He has created the perception that Beaver Falls High School is a school that will not "discipline" an obviously bad teachers, that it condones teachers to harass and humiliate students, and what may be worse, that it can't prevent students from harassing other students. Of course, that's not reality, only perception, but reality apparently doesn't matter when it comes to selling newspapers. Of those all of those local articles and countless other articles across the country (not including the opinion articles), only a few articles I saw actually gave the real story, and even then those articles were given negative headlines like: "BF teacher won't be disciplined". There doesn't appear to be a single journalist who is willing to spend the time to check the facts, ask the questions, or "search for the truth" before publishing... Instead they all seem to want to get the story to press as quickly as possible and make it sound as good or bad (depending on your point of view) as possible, regardless of facts. (Yeah, I know this is my perception, but it works for them, why not me?) The reason the teacher was not disciplined is because the teacher actually did not do anything wrong, except decide to allow Mr. Vannoy to attend his class. The class is an elective class, which requires parental approval before taking the class, because students in the class will be intentionally placed in situations that make them feel outcast, excluded, or segregated. The teacher states up front that he will use various activities, both planned and unplanned to teach the effects of discrimination in our culture. Is that not what happened to Mr. Vannoy? If you sign up for a class knowing you are going to be put in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable, why would you scream "foul" when it does? Mr. Vannoy apparently didn't learn the lesson being taught in that class. Instead he turned the tables, and taught the rest of us that if you are discriminated against, you should take your issue to the press, discretly forget a few facts, take a picture of yourself looking sad, and if you are white and have a little "influence"... You can get all kinds of public support... You can make a good teacher look like a moron. And if you are really lucky, you can even get national attention and a massage chair from a football legend. I am sure there are people facing daily discrimination in this world, my town, and even Mr. Vannoy's old and new schools, but they aren't getting the publicity he is. Why? Because, in my opinion, Mr. Vannoy and his family enjoy the publicity. Why else would you allow your "sad looking" face to be photographed and published in the newspaper so many times. What did he gain? Notoriety? Fame? Money? I don't know but he is still milking this as long as possible. I wonder if he is working on a book deal? Oh no... I just had a horrible thought... My son could be expelled because of my opinions, and apparent "harassment" of this glory seeking, media savvy family. Maybe I should move?

St. Valentine's Day

Today is the day "us guys" are expected to buy the flowers, give the chocolate, take her out to dinner, or buy her some jewelry. Of course being guys we need a holiday in order to remind us to do this at least once a year! So, if you haven't gotten the flowers, the chocolate, the jewelry or reservations for dinner out... You better hurry... The good news if you don't get it done by the end of the day, you have an entire year to apologize... Just don't do it again next year!

Addicted

I am addicted. I am addicted to my new DVR. I have spent way too much time watching TV this past week. One of my favorite television shows is Star Trek. Yeah, I know that’s geeky, but that’s me. Well it’s not on in the evenings so for years I haven’t been able to see it. Yeah, could have used my VCR to record the shows, but making sure that both the cable box, and the VCR were on the same channel was a pain in the rear. The good news is that I can watch a 60 minute show in less than 45 minutes when I bypass the commercials, but the bad news is I am watching 5 times more TV than before.