Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2002-08-28 03:35 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2002-08-28 03:35 pm
Entry tags:
Meme: Free Oleg!
The American craze on prosecuting terrorism and anything even vaguely smacking of it got off to its start for me a few months after the Halloween of 1995. Oleg, an older student in my drama class, had come up with an innovative Halloween costume. Using a vest with a few road flares and wires strapped to it, he was a disgruntled postal worker. The costume was clever, delightful, politically sharp, and, according to administration, not appropriate for school: please take it home.
Unfortunately, Oleg forgot the costume in his gym locker, and it remained at school until a fellow student noticed the suspicious-looking item and reported it. West Valley High School of Fairbanks, Alaska went into a complete lockdown, with everyone ordered to remain inside a room with the door locked until administration could figure out what to do. Finally, all the students and teachers walked through the -20F and below temperatures over to the neighboring Hutchison Career Center until the bomb squad was done examining the item.
As the story goes, Oleg heard the rumors that it was a bomb scare, and came to the sudden Awful Realization that he had forgotten about his Halloween costume. He told administration, and it turned out that the supposed bomb was in fact his costume.
Oleg was suspended for two weeks.
I saw one sign at school, posted on a window, calling out to the students, asking them to show support for Oleg and protest his suspension, which was a complete overreaction, by wearing a shirt that said "Free Oleg!" to the assembly on Wednesday.
When I came to school on Wednesday, the school was already buzzing. There were students wearing the shirts, and more sporting quarter-sheet signs with the slogan. Students who hadn't come to school with a sign of their own already drew a sign, or photocopied a friend's. The assembly was disrupted at several points by one young man standing up and yelling "Free Oleg!" at intervals.
Oleg himself did not argue with the school officials' decision to suspend him, admitting that he should have remembered to take the costume home.
Oleg's suspension was reduced to one week.
If you spot injustice, make a fucking fuss. They listen.
http://azurelunatic.livejournal.com/876147.html
Unfortunately, Oleg forgot the costume in his gym locker, and it remained at school until a fellow student noticed the suspicious-looking item and reported it. West Valley High School of Fairbanks, Alaska went into a complete lockdown, with everyone ordered to remain inside a room with the door locked until administration could figure out what to do. Finally, all the students and teachers walked through the -20F and below temperatures over to the neighboring Hutchison Career Center until the bomb squad was done examining the item.
As the story goes, Oleg heard the rumors that it was a bomb scare, and came to the sudden Awful Realization that he had forgotten about his Halloween costume. He told administration, and it turned out that the supposed bomb was in fact his costume.
Oleg was suspended for two weeks.
I saw one sign at school, posted on a window, calling out to the students, asking them to show support for Oleg and protest his suspension, which was a complete overreaction, by wearing a shirt that said "Free Oleg!" to the assembly on Wednesday.
When I came to school on Wednesday, the school was already buzzing. There were students wearing the shirts, and more sporting quarter-sheet signs with the slogan. Students who hadn't come to school with a sign of their own already drew a sign, or photocopied a friend's. The assembly was disrupted at several points by one young man standing up and yelling "Free Oleg!" at intervals.
Oleg himself did not argue with the school officials' decision to suspend him, admitting that he should have remembered to take the costume home.
Oleg's suspension was reduced to one week.
If you spot injustice, make a fucking fuss. They listen.
http://azurelunatic.livejournal.com/876147.html
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