Oh High School, some things never change.

Mrs. Fuji was kind enough to forward a couple hilarious stories to me today. Both stories were in reaction to the following story.

The story is quite timely considering just three days ago I lent Mrs. Fuji a bag of books from the Twilight series and the Southern Vampire series. So far Mrs. Fuji is very entertained by Twilight, we all know how I feel about them. In any case this story is great.

From the Metro staff at The Boston Globe

Boston Latin officials seek to quash 'vampire' rumors

By Martin Finucane and Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A school administrator wants to set the record straight: There are no vampires at Boston Latin.

The headmaster of the prestigious exam school took the unusual step today of sending a notice to faculty, students, and parents saying that "rumors involving 'vampires'" had begun spreading through the building Wednesday, causing disruption and anxiety for a number of students.

Lynne Mooney Teta asked everyone's help in calming the school community down.

"I seek your cooperation in redirecting your energy toward the learning objectives of the day. Please do not sensationalize or discuss these rumors," she said.

She also said she was concerned that some students' safety might be jeopardized because of the rumors, and asked students to report if any student is being harassed.

"At no time was anyone's safety in jeopardy," she said.

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the case said a group of girls at the school had been bullying at least one other student who likes to dress in the style known as "Goth."

The official said the girls began spreading a rumor that the student was a would-be vampire, who had cut someone's neck and sucked the person's blood.

When Boston police went to the school Wednesday for an unrelated matter, that only fueled the rumor as students began speculating that the so-called "vampire" was being arrested.

The headmaster's notice, which was addressed to faculty and students and forwarded to parents, did not say exactly what the rumors were. Teta's office referred questions to a Boston schools spokesman.

Chris Horan, a spokesman for the Boston Public Schools, would not confirm reports of bullying.

"My understanding is [Teta] got reports that the teenage rumor mill ... was getting out of hand and she wanted to help the teachers and students and families put an end to it and get back to the business of teaching and learning," Horan said.

Officer Eddy Chrispin, a Boston police spokesman, said police went to the school Wednesday after hearing that some students were spreading rumors.

"We did go over there and speak to some of the students and quelled the rumors that were going and kind of told them the effect those rumors could have on the rest of the student population," he said.

Teen interest in vampires has surged in recent months with the release of "Twilight,'' the first movie from a popular Stephenie Meyer book series. Last weekend, "Twilight'' sleepover parties were held in many US cities coinciding with the DVD release of the movie, starring teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson.

The prestigious Boston Latin public school was founded in 1635, and its students have included Ben Franklin, Sam Adams, John Hancock, Louis Farrakhan, Sumner Redstone, and Nat Hentoff.

Megan Woolhouse of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

Did anyone see the South Park Ungroundable episode about the Goths and the Vamps? It was a lot like this story and made fun of Twilight and Hot Topic. I'm not a big South Park fan but this episode is really really funny. A lot of great lines to quote.
















Honestly, this is all so hilarious to me. When I was in high school Witches and Devil Worshipers were the hot topic (no pun intended). If you wore a lot of black you would get comments about casting spells and eating babies not sucking blood.

In high school I was interested in all things supernatural, and wore a lot of black, did I mention how things never change? Anyway, just like many teenagers now, anything supernatural was cool because it is unknown and mysterious. It does not mean that we ate babies, killed cats on an alter, danced naked in the woods or sucked blood. Sure, some truly unbalanced kids do, and those are the ones that also give rock music a bad name (Iron Maiden, Ozzy and Marilyn Manson would agree). As long as the kids aren't forcing anyone to do anything against their will and are not killing anything (babies or kitties) then let them be into what they want. Let them read books about Vampires, Demons and Witchcraft, who the heck cares, at least they are reading. Let them play roll playing games, let them dress "funny". Most of them will probably lose interest and move onto some other fascination in a few months anyway. A lot of kids are doing it for show, some do it because their friends are and some just like what they like. Burning candles and chanting while reading tarot cards is not going to kill anyone, so relax adults.

I find it pretty amusing that parents and school administrators actually get worked up about this shit. Shouldn't they be wise to teenagers by now? Kids are looking to either "belong" and "fit in" or to be an "individual" and be "different". Sure that means that sometimes they just do the opposite of what the so called "cool" or "popular" kids are doing (which they consider to be conforming), but who cares. The more you tell a teenager that what they are doing/liking/believing is wrong they more they want it.

Besides, $10 says that the whole rumor is totally made up, as 99% of high school rumors are.

Now that I am done with my rant, let me say again, so no one tells me that I'm suggesting letting kids run amok. I would not condone their actions if people or animals were harmed or forced to do anything against their will. And of course I would not agree that they should be allowed to drop out of high school or do so poorly they essentially flunk out, some intervention would be necessary.