Thursday, May 24, 2012

Words, Over Exposure & Not It!

I suppose it's now safe to scream it from the mountain tops, bellow it from the valleys and holler it across those amber waves of grain… NOT IT. 

Definitely, most certainly, absolutely, NOT IT!

My Things Folder
Those of you who are fans of this blog know that May brings out storms of the spring delivery yearbook kind with newscasters reporting the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it because of some yearbook debacle across the country.
So far, a nearby suburb made the news for not only using the incorrect term "mentally retarded" instead of the currently correct term "special needs," but also running photographs of said children without the necessary permission.
Despite Mesquite school officials scurrying about confiscating the offending yearbook, the damage, of course, was done.

A school official told the The Dallas Morning News that there "was an oversight in the editing approval process."

I can honestly tell you as a publications adviser with a rather chunky "Things-That-Will-Get-You-Fired" folder in her bottom left-hand drawer that I live in fear every May of finding myself smack dab in the middle of that "oversight in the editing approval process." (And if you are a publications adviser, you know exactly what I mean. Because that "oversight in the editing approval process" ends up being the publications adviser. That would be me or you.)
 
However, that yearbook fiasco pales in comparison to this little ditty coming out of North Carolina. In fact, it rivals the underwear-less girl from Florida back in 2009.

According to news reports, a girl exposed herself at Lake Norman High School’s 2011 graduation ceremony and was captured for all eternity on page 14 of the recently distributed $100 yearbooks.

But what really caught my attention was the school district's response. According to those news reports, it went like this…

"At the main office, the district’s public information officer, Dawn Creason, said Wednesday afternoon the photo was probably an accident.
She also suggested the bare genitals may just be an illusion created by the girl pushing her thighs together.
“Really looking at that image, we’re not sure that’s what it is at all. We think it was the way she was sitting and the angle of her gown,” Creason said. “We’re not convinced at all that you’re seeing what you think you are.”

My new folder
I don't know about you, but I'm stuffing that little ditty in my new file entitled, "Things To Say When You Print Things That Will Get You Fired" folder.

You know, just in case. 

Too bad that made the news after the Mesquite thing. Those officials there could have said something like this: "I'm not convinced at all that you're really reading what you think you are."

All I know is that I think I'm absolutely, positively, thankfully NOT IT!