Again? No, Just Continuing.

Yesterday was my "Bum Day" from school, and while I should have spent it commenting about what I'm going to this morning, I didn't. I spent it getting out a game idea from my head before my imagination took over my dreams and I began to see and play the game.

So what big event happened yesterday that I should have blogged about but didn't? I got a letter. A rather disturbing one.

At the risk of making myself look like an ass, seeing how the last time I voiced my opinion on this matter I was slammed for being a heartless bastard, I decided to hold my opinion on the matter until I felt I could articulate my thoughts in a well-thought out manner.

This isn't going to happen here. Prepare to be offended.

The letter begins by telling the reader that the video piece that caused so much negative press towards the end of the Fall Semester finally was shown to the public after being the first piece to be banned from the school under the "no censorship" policy. The letter doesn't say where it was being shown, but I have this feeling it was at Cheekwood. The last thing that was going on outside of our little controversy was a Video Artist Gallery call for the Contemporary Art Gallery at the Cheekwood.

Word apparently got out to everyone but those of us that pushed away the world to be with family and friends, and those that were and probably still are offended by the piece called to have it yanked from the show. One of these people was Dean Hinton.

That's right. The Dean of the school. My school. The guy that is suppose to be the one that supports what we make and show in public space.

Furthermore, the Dean apparently said around December that my teacher Terry, who is also the head of the Fine Arts department, isn't coming back after this semester. Reading this and learning this sucks, because I just now got to like Terry as a person instead of as a teacher and head of my major. The letter says that it is Terry who is responsible for several students early success in the field of art, pushing them to produce and put out their own galleries. No school in our area has done that with their Fine Arts department. Not Fisk (an all African-American college). Not Belmont (primarily upper middle class). Not even Vanderbilt (ivy-league and conservative college)!

In short, because of how Terry wants us to succeed early in the field of art by pushing our pieces and ourselves to the best we have to offer, he is being chosen as the escape goat. Because a controversial student work actually was shown to the public, despite the fact the public didn't want to see it, the Dean feels that this is in the best interest of the students.

It is not!

Without teachers that do more than tell us the bare bones of the subject, you cannot promise success. Without someone like Terry backing you up when you don't think you have a piece that will even be looked at, some people will have a hard time just getting things out. For some of us, again. However, the fact that you have the support of an instructor, as well as the head of the department, does boost your esteem about the piece. This is a good thing!

This is the kind of encouragement we should be getting in schools but aren't because we are worried about hurting other's feelings. Teachers should give more than just A-'s and B's! They should tell us what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong. No, they are not our parents, but rather friends we learn from. However, they are not because they hold the title of teacher above us. This invisible rank doesn't apply to people with a masters or even a doctrine in Education! Even students can teach "teachers" things they never knew before.

The fact that this is happening, that a really good teacher is being let go of because there has to be someone to blame for a video piece featuring a beheading, isn't right. Fire the World Civilization teacher! People hated him last semester from what I gathered. I mean, doesn't a comfortable environment with minimal stress make a great place for educational growth? At least, that is what I've been told.

I could go on about how unfair this is, but there's the other side of the coin that I'm expecting to hit me after I publish this for the world to read. The idiots out there that actually believe that showing a male nude masturbating isn't art given the context and intent of the person that produced it. Jackasses that actually think that art schools should be producing still life paintings and self-portrait drawings instead of real art. Morons that think that my opinion doesn't matter because I don't meet the standards of society.

And maybe my opinion doesn't matter in the end. The fact of the matter is that I still have one. If you agree with it or not is your opinion. One that I can respect.

However, it would appear that my opinions are not respectable.