Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

kurt...how old is Erika? George Harrison? Coollio....heh.

16 In April....and a real teenager..........

she's real
just as real as kerouac speaking via computer
and strange emanations seeping through painting laden walls

my teenager said franz ferdinand is cool
along with stevie ray vaughan

who to trust?

my man says hiphop is taking us down
i listen to the words and i think of what the censor would say of:

'nigga' 'cunt' 'ho' 'gun'

if i leave those words blank, the kids will think it's a regular fill in the blanks exercise.
Hey, what's number 6? ..."CUNT", replies a lucky listener
and
what about 9? "Nigga"
what? "NIGGA"
oh, thanks.

hello dear, what did you learn in school today?
-some new words!
cunt and Nigga!
Who taught you those words, dear?
-we had to learn them in english class
who's your teacher dear?
-oh, and 'weed!'
i'm calling the principal, dear - just tell me her name?

(and the teacher goes slinking on...)

judih, you rarely fail to give me a warm smile

this is a very amusing piece

in my free speech meditations I have

turned the question of dirty or undesirable words

over and over in my mind with respect to children in particular

and also for everyone in general

and when the water quits sloshing

in the pan of my meditation

what I usually come to is this:

It's better to de-sensitize these words

by using them casually with no oohs and aahhs

or raising of eyebrows.

This is the language
The little curses that spill out of their mouths during regular conversation has my canadian tempered ears steaming espresso concentrated potency

(translations: ah,your sister's cunt
go get fucked, lesbian
just a homo
etc)

this is language for the class? my wohrd!

so, what does a teacher do? answer their questions:
What are boobs? (no problem - i tell them)
What is fuck off, you ho? (problem begins - i blush when i have to swear in hebrew)

Not make a thing of words, i agree. But there is the thing about register - with whom to use the words. That's where i can have my say: kindly refrain from using these words in compositions, or formal letters, or in correspondence to strangers.

Yet, what was once riske to bring into class as song lyrics, is now part of the kindergarten normative linguistic pool. (help me, i'm turning into an in-tell-lec-tu-al)

In short, it seems better to leave the words in the songs, than to deliberate deny their existence.

thanks for the feedback, lrod - if the lord had hair and a hat, he'd wanna be an lrod.

well judih
you are on the front lines
you have to cope with the awkward questions

and I know it is a subtle lesson to teach
how to use what language in which situation

I know you work for your money