Posted on 10/25/2001 7:37:36 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
A few years ago, my wife and step-kids made our annual vacation trip to Massachusetts.
One stop on our itinerary was Salem, famous for the witch trials, in which a group of narrow-minded, yet pious, citizens set up to eradicate a group of people they considered a threat to their supposedly "enlightened" way of life.
Seemed oddly familiar. But I digress.
While touring Salem we happened upon a museum run by self-proclaimed "real" witches. These witches were practitioners of "wicca," that ancient, yet seemingly new age religion that served as the basis for the witch legend.
My youngest step-daughter (we'll call her "Luanne"), nine years old at the time, was fascinated by the witches and the museum. She even bought a souvenir from the witches' store: official "Witch's Brew" brand root beer, bottled for the witches. The root beer's label sported a caricature of a witch with a hook nose, stringy hair and a long, black, pointed hat, similar to "Broom Hilda" from the comic strips.
So, what does this have to do with Ithaca? I'll tell you what.
Two months later, Halloween rolls around. My wife and I asked Luanne what she wanted to be for Halloween. Luanne replied that she wanted to be a witch.
Dutiful mother that she is, my wife proceeds to make Luanne a witch costume. It was pretty much what you would expect a nine year old's witch costume to look like. It was a lot like the witch on the root beer label: all black, long pointed hat, broom, etc.
Luanne didn't opt for a hooked nose, however. By nine she was already a budding glamour girl and wanted to be a wicked, yet pretty, witch.
Either way, Luanne loved the costume and my wife basked in that maternal glow certain women get when they combine artistic endeavors with old fashioned domestic skills.
Everything was great. Happy kid. Satisfied wife. What could go wrong?
I forgot about Ithaca.
A few days before Halloween, I got a call at work from my wife. She was frantic and slightly furious.
"Luanne came home from school today and announced she can't wear her Halloween costume -it's discrimination against real witches."
"Excuse me?" I thought the cell phone had a bad connection.
"The school's 'diversity coordinator' came around and asked all the kids not to wear costumes that might hurt or offend: no hobos, no soldiers, no witches."
"Are you telling me that they are telling Luanne her costume might offend actual witches?"
"I know, it's stupid," my wife replied. "But they say that Wicca is a real religion, so it's not an appropriate Halloween costume. It would be like dressing up as a Jew or the Pope."
"Wait a minute," I said. "If dressing up like something is MOCKING it, why not dress up as a Nazi or a KKK member and mock bigotry? But if she did THAT they'd say she was PROMOTING bigotry. Sheesh...this is the most screwed up city in America."
My wife, normally the "Ithaca booster" in our family, had to agree. "But what can we do?"
Images from the "Calvin" comic strip where he fantasized about fire-bombing his elementary school in an F-14 Tomcat flashed in my mind. But I didn't tell my wife that. Instead I asked her what she said to Luanne.
"Well, I told that it was up to her. I view her costume as a literary character: the witch from 'The Wizard of Oz,' and not as a representation of a real person."
"What did Luanne think," I asked.
"She agreed."
That night, I found out Luanne had a plan. She was going to go to school and tell the "diversity coordinator" (your tax dollars at work) that she had met real witches and this is how they really dressed. She was also going to bring in her root beer bottle to school, to show that real witches used the "wicked witch" image themselves at their store.
Halloween came and she wore her costume. She was the prettiest little witch you ever saw.
More important, she learned how to stand up to the politically correct.
I reckon you can learn something worthwhile from Ithaca public schools after all.
More of us could take your daughter's example to heart. But sometimes its hard to stand up to the PC Police. Thanks for the post.
Go to Salem and see for yourself. It's creepy. On holiday weekends, the Wiccan types parade around. They're inevitably dressed in black, bedecked with silver, looking none too clean -- and virtually all seriously overweight.
Reality Crack. If we all manifested into what we've dressed up as for Halloween, it would be a pretty colorful place. I know a few clowns at work (out of dress) - does that qualify for this train of thinking? Sounds like this little girl is more rooted in reality to buck the system with truth and logic than some of the posters on here.
Are there not a few "reverends" doing that already????
They might be "peace-loving people" but when the time comes for Satan to require their services they will unknowingly, and gladly do his bidding.Whoops, there goes the giggle reflex again.
Christian martyrs to hysteriaMartyrs to Christian hysteria, surely.
I think you'd be happier moving in with the Taliban. I hear they have openings in their purity patrols.
Like all religions, wicca is made up. It is more recent because the originals and their works were killed off by Christians thousands of years ago.
So it is a new made up religion, just like Christianity is an older made up religion.
Come back to reality.
A pretty upstate NY college town in the Finger Lakes region ... home of Cornell University.
Aside from the fact the liberals in town (obviously a majority) voted for "Hildabeast" we shouldn't be so harsh in our judgement of Ithaca. After all at least one "FReeper" lives there ...
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