Conference moira::naturism

401.0. "Local news..." by LIOS01::SAPIENZA () Sat Feb 27 1993 17:37

    
    [Reprinted without permission. Long Island (NY) Newsday, Feb. 27 edition]
    
    
    SCHOOL VISUAL AID HAD NUDITY - Board bans Sag Harbor lecturer
    by Mitchell Freedman
    
       A mathematics lesson has turned into a lesson in human nature for a
    Sag Harbor school board member, who was banned from classrooms in his
    own district after some film strips he used as a visual aid turned out
    to be more riveting than intended.
    
       George Silano wanted to illustrate how the human eye can look at
    pictures projected at a rate of 24 frames a second and get the illusion
    of motion.
    
       Instead, the guest lecturer ended up with some tenth grade students
    going home and talking about "porno" in the classroom.
    
       Silano, who has spent much of his life as a producer and cameraman,
    brought some footlong strips of film to the class earlier this month
    from one of his own films, "Recess", which won first place at the 1967
    Atlanta Festival.
    
       And one strip of film seen by 11 youngsters did, indeed, contain the
    frontal image of a young woman, nude from the waist up, sitting on a
    box. And, Silano says, she was one of five people similarly dressed,
    and all compressed onto the three-quarter inch film frames.
    
       And, the filmmaker adds, there really wasn't too much to see. "I
    used a number three fog filter and overexposed two f-stops," he said.
    
       Still, several of the students looked closely enough to mention it
    to their parents. And, when school officials questioned the class the
    next day, five of the eleven students who saw THAT film strip said they
    were "somewhat embarrassed" by it, according to Superintendant Thomas
    Roy. "Many parents are mad. Some don't much care. . . He made a serious
    error in judgement."
    
       Roy said that, all things considered, the lecture Silano volunteered
    to give was a "pretty good lesson," except fpr the nude image that some
    of the children focused their attention upon.
    
       And, he added, it was the unexpectedness, rather than the subject
    matter, which created the problem. "Our English class has a
    three-by-four poster of a [nude] Greek statue," Roy said. "You could
    have the same situation in an art class with lead-in instruction that
    would not be offensive to anyone."
    
       Still, Roy has banned future classroom visits by Silano for the rest
    of the school year. The school board member can still go to plays and
    basketball games and do his regular board work, Roy added.
    
       And, earlier this week, the school board voted 6-0 to censure Silano
    for his action, citing his "poor judgment." Silano -- who missed the
    meeting because of illness -- said yesterday that he had asked the
    board not to vote until he could speak to them.
    
       And, he blamed politics for the board's action.
    
       Silano campaigned for the school board on a pledge to reduce school
    spending, and said his "political enemies" were trying to use the
    incident to discredit him. "They're making a mountain out of a
    molehill," he said.
    
    -- End of article --
    

    
    I thought many of this conference's readers (and writers!) would find
    the base note article interesting. I found it curious that even though
    the Superintendant of Schools brought up the point that there were
    other nudes on display in the school, it would appear that an
    award-winning film strip is not considered in the same "artistic" vein.
    
    Like the lead paragraph says, "a lesson in human nature".
    

    
    only in the USA can people get so bent out of shape over something
    so trivial -  of course, thats because it involved (oh my god) nudity!
    Gee, meanwhile their kids go home and watch R rated flicks on HBO at
    night with 10 times the nudity!
    
    paul

The following reply is posted for a conference reader who prefers to
remain anonymous.

	-Neil Faiman, NATURISM co-moderator

==============================================================================

	High school math class is not the forum to take a stand on the
	benefits of nudity and beauty of the human body.  Whether these
	are noble points to support or not, it was simply poor judgment
	to play social football with this issue.  Award-winning artwork
	notwithstanding, it was displayed in an environment not usually
	associated with such work.

	Actions like this give a bad impression to the push for acceptance 
	of nudity -- most especially in a society already hostile to (or at
	at least cool to) the concept of naturism.

	You can't antagonize and influence at the same time.