Two new issues of The Tattoo online now

We have published two more issues that are chock full of advice on how to survive high school. In our September 15th issue, you'll find two Justin Skaradosky cartoons making fun of motivational posters, a piece by Wisconsin teen Emily Mongan about Freshman Kill Day, an essay by South Africa's Mariechen Puchert urging teens to make friends to cope with high school, Tennessee teen Sarah Heath's warning not to make your life an after school television special and West Hartford, Connecticut teen Wesley Saxena's sage advice on the bridge into high school. "It Ain't Like In the Movies," warns Mariah Pulver of Arizona.
In our September 22nd issue, you can read about how teens in Kuwait scrape by during the hunger of Ramadan, thanks to Sana Ali's report. Also featured in the issue are New Jersey teen Shekinah-Glory Dhanie-Beepat's take on homeschooling, another Justin Skaradosky cartoon, Katie Grosser's piece from Germany about being the new foreign kid in school, Harsha Mishra's account from India about the horrors of acne, Georgia's Donicea Johnson's advice to freshmen to get involved and Zhu Qin Zhe's personal tale of making a choice in China.
Talk about spanning the globe!
We have dozens of new writers who are dripping with talent so, please, keep an eye on what they do in the weeks and months ahead.

September 22nd issue and September 15th issue.

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Copyright 2008 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Back to school again!

By Justin Skaradosky/ The Tattoo

The all-new 2007 edition of The Tattoo's Insider's Guide to High School is online now. As always, it's full of great advice for anybody who's heading to high school (especially freshmen, of course).

In this year's edition, there are three -- yes, three -- cartoons. Justin Skaradosky chipped in two while Julia Reichard produced another.

There's a great overview piece by Caroline Liu -- who also gave us some wonderful photos -- as well as Kathryn Middleton's advice to "crack your shell" if you want to get the most out of the high school experience. And Donicea Johnson recommends seeking your passion.

Rachel Glogowski weighs in with a piece on what it's like to have a sibling suddenly tagging along.

From Peshawar, Pakistan, Edrees Kakar points out that playing sports is a great way to make friends. (I can't help adding that joining The Tattoo is a great way to make friends, too, and some of them will be half a world away!)

Don't miss all the earlier advice The Tattoo's provided in seven previous years' worth of back-to-school issues. It's a real wealth of information.

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Copyright 2007 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Freedom on the line in Indiana

It is time for everyone who cares about the First Amendment and a free press to stand up for Amy Sorrell, the Woodlan Junior-Senior High School journalism teacher in Indiana.
Sorrell received notice on March 29 of her possible terminations as a teacher for allegedly violating school rules because she stood against the outrageous censorship of a student’s column that called for tolerance toward gays.
According to a story published by the Student Press Law Center, students refused to print the paper, The Tomahawk, at all after Principal Edwin Yoder insisted on future prior review of all articles.
Sorrell, showing ingenuity and smarts, began teaching the students First Amendment cases with an eye toward making suggestions for a revised district policy on student publications.
“Changing ‘the prescribed curriculum’ was one violation noted in the letter along with her alleged use of the district's e-mail system to transmit ‘false or misleading statements to the media,’ casting Yoder ‘in a false light’ and her refusal to retract and replace the Tomahawk's current editorial policy,” the SPLC said.
"The journalism program...would be better served by replacing you with a teacher willing to work collaboratively with, not in conflict with, the building administrator in carrying out the prior review curriculum requirement for school sponsored publications," the letter said, according to the SPLC story.Sorrell said that the district, East Allen, “is trying to turn this into a personnel issue," but it’s not. "This is about East Allen's stance on tolerance and disregard for the First Amendment," she told the SPLC.A hearing, which Sorrell asked to take place in public, is expected soon, with a final decision likely at the May 1 school board meeting.
This is as sickening an abuse of power by a wayward principal as we’ve seen.
Not content with just censoring a perfectly reasonable column, Yoder is now taking aim at a teacher who is not just good, but great. She’s teaching her students – and the rest of us – that standing up for freedom demands that we take on tyrants, whether they’re commanding armies of evil or running schools like private fiefdoms.
This isn’t a personnel issue. It’s about whether or not the schools, students and teachers in East Allen, Indiana will taste the liberty that nourishes our country or if they’ll be forced to bend to the dictates of a principal with no principles.
The world is watching.
Amy Sorell is worth a million Edwin Yoders.


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Copyright 2007 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

More on Fort Wayne travesty

For allowing students to print a thoroughly reasonable school newspaper column advocating tolerance on gays in the school paper, teacher Amy Sorrell received a written warning for "insubordination and not carrying out her responsibilities as a teacher," according to the Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Ind.
She was threatened in writing with "disciplinary action or possible termination should another incident like this occur," the paper said.
God forbid she should again allow the publication of inoffensive columns advocating tolerance.
This is a picture perfect example of why school administrators should have absolutely nothing to do with newspaper content. They apply ridiculous reasoning to apply warped political views on student journalists.
Sorrell did her job well. Her "superiors" are the ones who ought to be terminated.


Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Halls of Shame, Part 10

The St. Francis High School newspaper, The Crier, this week has a big blue box on its front page with these words listed inside: “Originally a photo was to be placed here, but was censored by the administration.”
The Anoka County, Minnesota paper had planned to run a picture from a school play that appeared to show the destruction of an American flag, though it was really only bunting.
In the picture, which the St. Paul Pioneer Press published on its website, actress Becca Bennett can be seen holding the red, white and blue bunting in shreds, from a scene meant to depict “how a country could be torn apart by affecting the youth.”
It’s actually a pretty good photograph.
As the Pioneer Press reports: “According to a front-page article written by Editor in Chief Eric Sheforgen, who also took the picture, as well as an editorial in the paper and a statement made today by the editorial board, Principal Paul Neubauer threatened the paper with legal action and froze its funds after the paper gave him a heads-up that they were planning to run it.”
Neubauer, like sissy principals everywhere, dodged the Pioneer Press reporter who tried to get him to explain his actions.
But the school superintendent, Ed Saxton, told the paper the photo was “like a quote being taken out of context.”
“That particular picture, although it’s a snapshot of what was in the fall play, standing in isolation, it could be taken in many different ways. It could be pretty offensive to veterans or people who served in the military. It’s kind of a community standards thing,” Saxton said.
What’s especially amazing about this censorship is that the district actually has a pretty good policy on this sort of thing. It reads, “Official school publications are free from prior restraint by officials except as provided by law.”
That makes it, by law, an open forum that school administrators can’t touch.
So St. Francis High School has the right policy. It just has the wrong principal – and the district has the wrong superintendent.
What’s important to “veterans and people who served in the military” is that America remains free. That’s why they fought and that’s why so many have died on so many battlefields across the globe.
They didn’t sacrifice so that Neubauer and other censorious jerks could treat our freedom as if it were a dirty napkin to be tossed in the trash can.
But let’s give Neubauer and Saxton some credit. It’s not every day that school administrators earn a spot in our Halls of Shame, but today, this pair of doozies made the cut. Congratulations, guys!

Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2007 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

High schools need to rock and roll

The Tattoo's got a scoop today from America's coolest deejay, Little Steven Van Zandt.

In a Tattoo exclusive, reporter Zach Brokenrope breaks the news that Van Zandt, a rock and roll legend, is planning to put the music that made him a star into the curriculum of high schools from sea to shining sea. Van Zandt is a prophet of rock 'n roll, a true believer in the power of music to remake the world.

And as the guy who led the anti-apartheid music movement in the 1980s, which helped to free Nelson Mandela and South Africa itself, Van Zandt may be on to something.

In any case, check out the fabulous stories that Brokenrope brought back from Van Zandt's New York City studio, where "Little Steven's Underground Garage" takes to the airwaves each week. It's great stuff, including audio clips and our first-ever Tattoo video.

This is great journalism on a great subject. Don't miss it.

Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2007 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Playing around on Thanksgiving

By Rachel Glogowski
The Tattoo
For my 12 younger cousins and I, today – the Wednesday before Thanksgiving – is a time of preparation.
Although most of us cousins don’t do an extreme amount of cooking for Turkey Day, we prepare in our own way for another family tradition – the annual Thanksgiving Play.
The Play, which deserves a capitalized title, is a cute little production that has been performed for the adults for many years on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
You see, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, my dad’s entire side of the family goes up to Vermont, where my aunt and uncle and two of my cousins live.
We run through the script, mostly written by my two younger cousins and I, on Friday and Saturday. Then it is performed in the basement, which has ample seating for the many adults that watch, after dinner on Saturday night.
Over the years, the play has snowballed – it keeps getting longer, more creative, and more intricate as Thanksgivings pass.... Click here to read Glogowski's entire Thanksgiving story

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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Windows on the world

Port Saint Lucie, Florida

Above is the view from Tattoo alum Eric Simmons' window in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. It's the first of what we trust will be many photographs taken by Tattoo staff, alumni, friends and readers across the globe. If you'd like to join our effort to show the world one little piece at a time, send us a digital picture of the view out YOUR window. Just tell us where you are and, if you like, your name. You can email the photographs to thetattoo@gmail.com.

We'll soon have a special page devoted to what we get at www.ReadTheTattoo.com. Thanks.

Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Sign up for The Tattoo's mailing list

Find out what's going on with The Tattoo!
We're setting up a new mailing list to let loyal readers know when new issues or special stories are available online. We'll only send something about about once a week except in the rarest of circumstances.
We'll keep your email address private. Nobody else will see it. Just us.
Help us serve you by signing up now to receive Tattoo updates in your inbox. Just follow this link -- http://groups-beta.google.com/group/Readers-of-TheTattoo -- and click on the "Join This Group" link on the right side of the GoogleGroups page you reach.
Thanks for your support!

Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Another Tattoo issue hits the streets

Featuring two journals, a profile, a cartoon and a review of "Stranger Than Fiction," there's a variety of material in this week's great new issue.


Tattoo writer Rachel Glogowski, one of our Bristol contingent, turned out both the review and a journal about the end of marching band season on Thanksgiving Day, when the two rival Bristol schools face off in the decades-old rivalry at historic Muzzy Field.


Another Bristol writer, Beth Pond of St. Paul Catholic High School, wrote a profile of a teen who's turning heads as a twirler.


There's also a journal from Miami writer Jenny Coloma, who writes movingly about her mother. Don't miss it.


Oh, yes, and there's also Justin Skaradosky's cartoon.

ABOVE: Jenny Coloma.

Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Another Justin Skaradosky cartoon published today

For a whole lot more of Justin Skaradosky's work, check out www.ReadTheTattoo.com. You'll find our writer's index on the right side, about halfway down. Just look up Skaradosky to see all of this cartoons. And poke around. There's an awful lot of other great stuff!

Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

A potential Halls of Shame contender

In the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer photograph to the right, Stephanie Moreno, center, is handing out what may be the last uncensored copies of the Holly Springs High School paper, The Hawkeye.
According to a Nov. 15 news story in the Raleigh daily, the school's principal, Luther Johnson, plans to start reviewing the paper before it goes to press to make sure it is "factual and reflects our school ... in a relatively positive light."
The young journalists who turn out the paper aren't stupid. They know what he means -- and they don't like it.
"I don't want to turn it into fluff," Kathryn Watson, 15, a sophomore and editor in chief of The Hawkeye told the Raleigh newspaper.
According the News & Observer story, which is particularly well done, "Students at Holly Springs High were glad administrators didn't review their first two editions. In those issues, The Hawkeye told about construction delays, gas leaks and water leaks since the school opened in August. Other stories and editorial cartoons focused on rules typically found in elementary schools, such as how to walk and which side of the stairs to use."
Jennifer Hall-Lewis, adviser for The Hawkeye, told the newspaper that other teachers have joked to her about when she will be fired.
Hall-Lewis said, according to the Raleigh paper, "parents have praised the newspaper for providing a balanced view of the school. But Johnson, the school's principal, said parents and teachers have complained that the newspaper isn't portraying the school in a positive enough light."
The News & Observer said that Johnson is meeting with Hall-Lewis next week to discuss the student newspaper and says he hasn't made up his mind, though the six other Wake County principals he asked for advice all told him they already censor their students' papers.
It doesn't look promising.
But perhaps Johnson will see the light.
The Raleigh paper talked to Steven Unruhe, adviser to The Pirate's Hook at Riverside High School in Durham, who said censorship typically makes newspapers so boring that students don't want to read them.
Unruhe told the News & Observer that in his 16 years at Riverside High, he's never had a principal yank a story.
As a result, he told the paper, The Pirate's Hook covers topics such as profanity, public displays of affection and other R-rated behavior at school.
"If you want to know what kids think, you've got to let them write about it," Unruhe told the News & Observer, proving he's one of the great student paper advisors.
Riverside High Principal James Key told the News & Observer that he isn't always thrilled with what he reads in The Pirate's Hook. But, he told the paper, he weighs the controversial topics, including criticism of himself, against all the good he says the newspaper does for the school.
"I'm not going to squelch an article simply because it looks unfavorably upon the school," Key told the Raleigh newspaper. "It may help bring to light something that's not widely known by administrators."

If only there were more principals who think like Key and fewer who hold students and parents in such contempt that they would rather hide the truth than face it.

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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Another young writer censored

A couple of weeks, a student reporter named Kelly-Anne Howe was at an Edward Milne Community School Halloween dance when she suddenly and unexpectedly found herself in the middle of some breaking news.
As she wrote for the Sooke News Mirror in British Columbia, despite the presence of "four police officers" to keep things on the straight and narrow "more drunk kids got through the Sooke cops then ever before."
She reported that four students were caught drinking by teachers and a chaperone "found a mickey of Smirnoff raspberry in the girl's bathroom."
Needless to say, in today's no-tolerance world, some students got in big trouble.
Of course, though, administrators cared more about Ms. Howe's reporting the news than they did about the students drinking.
According to the Sooke News Mirror, Ms. Howe "was taken to task for writing what she thought was an event that had serious consequences for the student body as a whole and the drinking teens in particular."
She was reprimanded, the paper reported today, "and received a far harsher punishment than the students who were sent home from the dance. She has been barred from writing about what she sees and hears in the school."
As the Sooke News Mirror rightly points out, "To limit what a student can write about is censorship and as editor I will not condone such a tactic from the school or from anywhere else. To limit what a student can participate in for fear of a unflattering story takes censorship too far. Things happen in schools, in town, everywhere and to stick one's head in the sand and pretend everything is perfect is just plain silly."
The Sooke News Mirror says it "stands behind our young reporter and we are watching to see what happens. If she has been threatened in any way, by anyone, for her writing, then something is terribly wrong on some level in the community."
That's the spirit. Don't give up, Ms. Howe. The truth will prevail and the censors will lose. They always do.


Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Going to Guatemala and more in The Tattoo's new issue

There's another great Justin Skaradosky cartoon, of course, but the November 13, 2006 issue also has a freshman diary by North Carolina's Taylor Isenhour, a profile of a Maine teen by Sebastianne King and a terrific travel piece by Oscar Ramirez, a Tattoo writer in El Salvador. Ramirez wrote about the historic city of Antigua, Guatemala and took a slew of photographs, too. If you have a high-speed Internet connection, be sure to check out all of the pictures on his Antigua picture page (the link is at the bottom of his story). It's another wonderful issue that deserves your attention.

Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.

Halls of Shame, Part 7

We knew it couldn't last. The school year has gone on a long time without some horse's ass masquerading as a principal taking a whack at the First Amendment.
But William Orr, principal of Tampa's Hillsborough High School, managed to step into the gap and earn his position in our Halls of Shame recently.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, the most recent issue of the school paper, Red & Black, has "a gaping hole on page 3" and a note stapled to the each copy saying the missing piece was "deemed inappropriate."
Mr. Orr, of course, did the deeming.
Was he axing some juvenile humor? No. A sickening invasion of privacy? No. A hideously reported and probably libelous story? No.
Instead, he took a razor to Editor-in-chief Emily Matras' piece on the sadly dramatic divide between white and minority student achievement on state standardized tests.
According to the St. Petersburg paper, her article "used government-provided numbers on Hillsborough High students" and also mentioned that test scores are linked with income nationally.
The story even quoted Mr. Orr "on the complexities of the issue and the school's efforts to 'raise the achievement of all students,'" according to the St. Petersburg Times.
Mr. Orr refused to let it run.
He told a St. Petersburg reporter that the barred news item had "a potential to hurt students' self-esteem."
"I don't think it's the job of the school newspaper to embarrass the students," he said.
I suppose, too, that the Red & Black should not report when the school's athletic teams lose, since God knows that can be embarassing as well.
Mr. Orr seems to have a reality problem. The scores are what they are. Erasing them from print doesn't change the facts.
And who was he really trying to protect from embarassment? Students? Or the principal whose school isn't doing well enough in educating minority students?
What's truly embarassing is not that Hillsborough students have the same test achievement gap that hits too many schools -- mostly for reasons beyond the control of educators. It's that it has a principal without principles.
Mr. Orr, read the First Amendment and ponder what it means. If we can't tell the truth about what's going on, whether it's in Washington or Hillsborough High, then we're not free.
We'd like to think Mr. Orr's idea of protecting "self-esteem" by keeping facts at bay doesn't even begin to approach the proven value of a free press.
So hold your head high, Mr. Orr, and walk proudly through our Halls of Shame. You've earned your place.
And to the student journalists at the Red & Black, keep trying!

Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.