mr alger what does cock taste like?

The saga continues...

So today, a student accessed another student's account and posted "mr alger what does cock taste like?"  However, this time the posting happened on the 10th grade Echo page as opposed to the 9th grade, so I didn't have the opportunity to respond.  The teacher in charge, sadly, deleted the comment before I was able to send him my response.  Nevertheless, I would have said:

It tastes like chicken, only more masculine and gamy.  My favorite preparation is authentic Coq au Vin.  Try it.  You might like it.

Bon appetit!
Mr. Alger

In this case, the student was caught and has been suspended.  I look forward to speaking with him upon his return.  Naturally, I cannot truly answer his original question without crossing the line into the seriously indecorous, but I am nevertheless curious about the root of his curiosity.  I was wondering the exact same thing when I was his age.

mr alger is a fuckin fagget

One of the classes I teach involves an online classroom tool called Echo.  On this website I can post agendas and assignments.  There is a place for journals as well as a discussion forum, and there is a place for shared resources and ideas.  It is this shared space that is oftentimes used, to my dismay, for mindless banter.  However, this past Wednesday, one student accessed another students account and posted "mr alger is a fuckin fagget" (sic).  Normally I would merely delete inappropriate threads in our shared space, but I felt this posting warranted a response.  I posted the following:

Actually, the word I believe you mean is "faggot," and yes, I am gay. You will find it hard to intimidate or shake someone that is fully comfortable with his own identity.

Meanwhile, anonymous poster, you are clearly afraid of both me and yourself. Perhaps you have a deep fear of an identity that lies within, in which case, I feel deeply sorry for you. Perhaps you have a legitimate concern but lack the maturity to express it--again, I feel sorry for you. 

One day, perhaps you will have the strength and courage that I have, and perhaps on that day, you will be a man (or a woman), until that time, you are but a scared little boy (or girl) and I believe we all feel sorry for you.

Respectfully,
Mr. Alger

Ps- "Mr." should be capitalized and should be followed by a period. "Alger" should be capitalized, and f**king has a "g" on the end. Additionally, all sentences should end with a period. I'm less upset about what you wrote and more upset with the abysmal way in which you wrote it.

I hope my reply taught the poster a lesson--at the very least a lesson in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  I hope it also served as an inspiration to any of my students that face harassment over their own identities.  It was met with a rather enthusiastic show of support from my students, and I even got a supportive e-mail from a parent.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Decide

What gives already?  On the one hand, we have the President and the Defense Secretary calling for the end of DADT, while we have the head-honcho of the Marines and the Chaplains say to keep it in place.  Meanwhile, leaked reports of a survey of military personnel as well as widely available civilian polls show that the majority of people are in favor getting rid of DADT.

We nearly did.  Then the Obama administration messed it up.  Yes, Obama, I blame you.  I hold you personally responsible not only for killing the repeal effort but for every service member to be discharged from here on out. Some people try to come to Obama's defense and claim that it is his defense department and not him we should blame, but I say BS.  Obama was the one that wanted Congress to repeal DADT and insisted that the appeals court issue an immediate stay on the federal judge's overturning of DADT while surveys were conducted and meetings were held.

Meanwhile, what happened?  Obama lost control of Congress!  Sure, he's not personally responsible, but on the other hand, his bullheaded tactics were like political torpedoes to the democratic party and he admits that he sunk quite a few of their ships--and with them, hopes for congress to repeal DADT.

We have two hopes now.  Hope one is that the appeals court will uphold the ruling that struck down DADT as there is no good reason why it should remain in place when just about everyone (that doesn't have a religious vendetta against homosexuals) is opposed to it.  Hope two is that Obama does what he should have done from the get-go--sign an executive order striking down DADT (Or if that's not legal at least an order halting dismissals until the matter can be otherwise resolved.)

DADT ruins lives.  I guarantee you that a LGBT soldier is more afraid of being discharged than heterosexual soldiers are afraid their neighbor might be queer.  I can certainly say that our LGBT soldiers show more bravery every day of their lives than their commander and chief has ever shown in standing up for their rights.  And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that bigotry will never make our Armed Forces stronger.