[boingo82]

<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070425essay,1,696682.story?coll=chi-news-hed" target="_blank">http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...l=chi-news-hed</a><br><br>
A teacher gives a "free-writing" assignment, asking students to write whatever rolls through their heads with no censoring, no limits, no corrections. Student does. Teacher reads it, finds it disturbing. Calls a review panel. Calls the police. Student is arrested and charged with 2 counts of disorderly conduct.<br><br>
Your thoughts?

 

[holyhelianthus]

total BS.

 

[Mamma Mia]

Hmm. The fact that his last name is Lee is a little off-putting to me, since that is a common last name for folks of Chinese ancestry. I wonder if a part of this is racist backlash. I find it interesting, and by interesting I mean seriously upsetting, that a kid writes something "disturbing" and is arrested because another person who committed violent acts also wrote disturbing things.

 

[NaomiLorelie]

So now people exercising their right to free speech can be arrested for "disorderly conduct"? Slippery slope anyone?

 

[tboroson]

Mamma Mia, I wondered that, too. I googled his name and found another <a href="http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2007/04/26/news/local/doc4630304f12dd7798473383.txt" target="_blank">article</a><br><br>
Sure 'nuff, he appears to be of Asian ancestry <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/irked.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="irked">: I wouldn't doubt there is some racial bias involved here.<br><br>
That said, there have been other examples in recent years of similar things happening, with kids who were lily white. This is a really disturbing trend in our schools. Another reason to keep my kids far the hell away from the things.<br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">Allen Lee said he had a 4.2 grade-point average, wrestled on his high school team and planned to join the Marines after he graduates later this year.</td>
</tr></table></div>
*sigh* If the "good" kids are treated like this, how are the kids like me treated these days???

 

[L&IsMama]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Mamma Mia</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7976337"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Hmm. The fact that his last name is Lee is a little off-putting to me, since that is a common last name for folks of Chinese ancestry. I wonder if a part of this is racist backlash. I find it interesting, and by interesting I mean seriously upsetting, that a kid writes something "disturbing" and is arrested because another person who committed violent acts also wrote disturbing things.</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
That's what I thought,too. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"> Absolute BS.<br><br>
And I really don't understand the "disorderly conduct" charges,when all he did was write?? There's plenty of horror novels that are worse than what he wrote. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/dizzy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Dizzy">:

 

[boingo82]

I thought it was ridiculous too.<br><br>
If Columbine and V.Tech had occurred before I was in High School I wonder what kind of trouble I'd have gotten in.

 

[TCMoulton]

Did you read his essay? It is seriously disturbing, he discusses stabbing people to death and then having sex with the dead corpses. I'm not sure that he should have been arrested but I definitely believe that they should have taken some kind of action through the counseling staff at the high school.

 

[holyhelianthus]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>TCMoulton</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7977856"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Did you read his essay? It is seriously disturbing, he discusses stabbing people to death and then having sex with the dead corpses. I'm not sure that he should have been arrested but I definitely believe that they should have taken some kind of action through the counseling staff at the high school.</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
why? there are so many works of fiction that are like that and we praise them. the sad truth is that there are human beings in the world that behave that way. as long as they exist people will be intrigued by them and write about them. i don't see that as unhealthy. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/shrug.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="shrug"> i wonder if the writers on Law and Order: SVU will be the next to be arrested. only seems fair.

 

[blessed]

I think most Chinese use 'Li' unless they've chosen a more anglicized version, while 'Lee' is often Korean.

 

[lotusdebi]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>TCMoulton</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7977856"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Did you read his essay?</div>
</td>
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Not yet. Where can I find it? I like reading things that evoke strong emotions in others. I didn't realize that writing such things was against the law... or indicated the need for psychiatric treatment. Shall we lock up all authors? Throw creative writing exercises out the window?

 

[2Sweeties1Angel]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">he discusses stabbing people to death and then having sex with the dead corpses.</td>
</tr></table></div>
I wrote a story like that when I was in high school <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/bag.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Bag">:

 

[simonee]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>2Sweeties1Angel</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7978245"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I wrote a story like that when I was in high school <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/bag.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Bag">:</div>
</td>
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The real reason why you're banned here <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"><br><br><br>
wagon....nothing...nothing....nothing....horse.

 

[boingo82]

The teacher's instructions:<br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">A copy of the assignment obtained Thursday night included the following guidelines for a "free writing" exercise:<br><br>
• "Write nonstop for a set period of time."<br><br>
• "Do not make corrections as you write."<br><br>
• "Keep writing, even if you have to write something like, 'I don't know what to write.' "<br><br>
• "Write whatever comes into your mind."<br><br>
• "Do not judge or censor what you are writing."<br><br>
The assignment included additional guidelines such as, "If your free writing is neat and coherent, you probably haven�t loosened up enough."</td>
</tr></table></div>
The essay (though calling it an essay is really misleading):<br><br><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070426student-essay,1,6366371.story?coll=chi-news-hed" target="_blank">http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...l=chi-news-hed</a>

 

[illumini]

Well I was almost arrested for something doing something similar in high school.<br><br>
I had an English paper due on Sylvia Plath and I needed to type up some of her poems (<a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15291" target="_blank">Daddy</a> to be specific) so I decided to do it in first period typing. Printed it out...went to class...turned in paper. Next period I get called to the principals office where there were two cops waiting for me. I sat down with them as they started talking about my father. After about 5 mins of "huh, wtf is going on?" from me, I asked, point blank, what this was all about. They slid the poem I had been typing up earlier and said we have to take you down to the station because of this poem you wrote. I couldn't help but laugh in their faces (mean I know) as I pulled out my book of Sylvia Plath poems to show them I didn't feel like killing my father. Come to find out, my typing teacher had seen me print it out and somehow got her hands on a copy of it and thought I wrote it! The next day I thanked her for the compliment of comparing my writing to Plaths! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"> I still laugh at the ignorance of some people, but this news story sobers me to what could have happened.

 

[~MoonGypsy~]

Does anyone know if the English teacher in the essay is the one that assigned and read the "essay"?<br><br>
If so, I think that explains the over-reaction on the instructors part.

 

[kate42]

My undergrad degree is in English, so I took a lot of creative writing classes. I just read through some of my writings from my first two years of college and they are very similar in tone to Lee's assignment. I went through a very angry and macabre phase as well.<br><br>
I can't believe that they arrested this kid. Sure, his writing may show some underlying issues (or just general teen angst) but I don't see how he committed a crime.

 

[MissAnnThrope]

Wow I better not let anyone read my note book full of disturbing writings if I could be arrested for disorderly conduct because they disturb someone. It is not right. I thought we lived in America where we have a freedom of expression, or am I wrong?

 

[Mamma Mia]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>blessed</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7978152"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I think most Chinese use 'Li' unless they've chosen a more anglicized version, while 'Lee' is often Korean.</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
Not in my area, I think coming through Angel Island made everyone a "Lee" and very few people "Li", regardless of their coutry of origin. But to be honest I am much more versed in Japanese American history.

 

[lotusdebi]

Okay, I just read the "essay" and I really don't see what the big deal is. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/shrug.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="shrug"> Nothing in what he wrote screamed "major threat!" to me.