This article talks about goth students trying to change the dress code at their high school. Which I'm all for, within reason. The problem I ran into was this...

"Amaris -- a soft-spoken sophomore who said she'd never been suspended and had never received a grade lower than a C -- argues she has a right to her style of dress. She said her clothing is part of her Wiccan religion, a neo-pagan, Earth-centered faith.

"I get pulled out of classes, stopped in the hallways, all because they say our makeup is a distraction," Amaris, who signs the "A" in her name with the anarchy symbol, told the Brevard County School Board. "I think basically it is a ploy against people who are different. I am very tired of the unfair treatment that we've been given."

First off, Goth outfitting and makeup are a separate entity from Wicca. That statement alone makes you as big of an attention whore as the little girls protesting dress codes that prevent them from wearing abstinence rings or shirts prolethetizing Xtianity. You know, the ones who claim that their religious beliefs are being repressed because the school dress code was designed to not allow ANY tee-shirts or jewelry. Also, why in the hell would you wear full crow style makeup during daylight hours anyway?

What I feel like saying to this person is "If you want to dress for Wicca, shouldn't you go skyclad? I'm sure that would get you much more attention."

I mean yeah, I attention whored myself 10-15 years ago...I seem to recall taking Anton LeVay's The Satanic Bible and whatever passes for The Necronomicon with me to school (Borrowed from my brother's bookshelf, but still...), as well as Fangoria and Gorezone magazines. (The latter got confiscated because there was an exposed nipple. Which I missed.)

I recall being hypersensitive anytime I got around the Xtians in college. Like somehow their beliefs invalidated my own. Any mention of G-d in my prescence was obscene in some unknown way. I think a lot of that was due to being new to a faith, which generally makes people rather sensitive to begin with. (An example. My aunt Riette converted to Catholocism when she married uncle Tony. Tony loved Catholic jokes, whereas Riette would fume at anyone finding humor in her faith.)

I suppose it's because I have grown up and have grown into my faith that this girl's statement annoys me to no end. I'm all for self-expression in High School, but I also understand the need for limits in the name of not distracting from learning. I'd probably be even more irritated had this been a uniform school and she was pulling this crap. You want to be a goth? Cool. I assume you can find outfits to wear that don't violate the dress code. Then you can also figure out makeup is usually for social outings at night, not for school functions.

And please, don't bring a religion you found by looking at the cover of $ilver Ravenwolf's Teen Wicca into this. It embarasses all of us and makes you look like a horse's arse.

If you post it, leave it up. That goes for comments, too. MODS delete, and rarely. Don't assume that just because you have access to delete your own posts, that you have permission. Anyone deleting a comment or a post who is NOT a mod? Banned.

This was always the rule. For all of time. If we say it's off topic? Leave it up. If we say we think the content is stupid? Leave it up. If you get responses from all 1,837 1,836 EDIT: 1,841 members in this community, discussing who has the best Izzard icon? YOU LEAVE IT UP.

We do not edit posts. We do not screen for intelligence. We are not your mother and have no vested interest in making you look intelligent or interesting. You post it, it doesn't break the rules (or the spirit of them), then we will probably approve it.

Probably.

You post? You live with the consequences.

*this is not news*

Why....oh why oh why....are people not following directions when applying to NFP?

How is it possible to miss the big red letters on the info page?

::bangs head repeatedly on desk::

Really, people...we don't like rejecting applications. (Well, only a certain few, maybe...) But we keep having to do so because we're not being emailed when journals are locked down tighter than a Shrub cabinet meeting.

Hello, I'm an off and on lurker for a few months now. This is my "Hello" post, and a warning to you. I will probably piss folks off. It seems to be my super-power, according to some folks of a druid grove, and 3 different wiccan covens that I have since left behind me in disgust and/or rage over the last decade. I may not stay white-hot angry forever, but I carry a grudge to my grave. Many pagans I've met piss me off. For a lot of reasons. Mostly for just being polyanna-ish, hypocritical, lying, self-inflating, uninformed, deluded, back-biting, and truly, sadly, insane. For starters.
I will probably not stay here for long because of those reasons. But I thought I'd give it a try, since the community is supposed to be about pagans with "common sense" and all that happy horse sh*t. We'll see. *crossing arms in judgement*
Sigh.
Give me a reason to believe that pagan is NOT another word for dumbass.