My *words read so hillbilly that I should stick to just talking to children. Instead, I am going to be at Gay Street’s Versus on Saturday, May 10th from 7 until 9 pm for a local blogger gathering. I won’t be playing Guitar Hero, but I will cheer you on if you want to try it. Versus is family friendly and the owner is a charming ex-puppeteer. Bring the gamer in your family and enjoy this charming little geek playground. Afterwards, maybe someone can point me in the direction of a good dessert spot.

*I tried not to offend the school board, avoided using the word homophobic and used examples that I thought they would understand. My letter:

Dear School Board & Superintendent,

Last week, the Franklin Graham people were in two of my children’s schools. Not just visiting the school, but having assemblies during school hours so that the students could watch a skateboarder and get invited to win prizes at their weekend revival. I have several problems with this. First, whenever I ask any teacher (except a kindergarten teacher) why they can’t do more experiential learning and less worksheet activities, the answer is always, “we don’t have time.” If this is true, they really don’t have time to watch someone skateboard. Second, skateboarding has zero academic value. It wasn’t accompanying any lecture on physics or science. It was purely fluff. Third, no matter how good a person the skateboarder is, skateboarding is not a lesson in character. The schools have the character counts program to enforce good character traits. Fourth, if one religious group is welcome in the schools, then all religious groups have to be welcome in the schools. I personally think that some of the groups are dangerously stupid (Scientologists), while others are primarily hate groups (W***boro Baptist Church). I am sure that someone with children in our schools supports those groups. They don’t want their children listening to the people I approve of and I don’t want my children listening to them.

I have no problem with people and organizations using schools to distribute information. I have a problem with them interrupting the school day. Having a religious group interrupt schools for something as silly as skateboarding sets a bad precedent. I don’t want the church of flying spaghetti monsters suing to have programs in our schools, too. Please consider establishing a protocol for what type of events are allowed during school hours.

Cathy McCaughan

I got back only one answer. He told me to talk to the school principals. I also got one phone call from a teacher who agrees with me but isn’t allowed to complain.