WARNING - VERY HARSH LANGUAGE - I'M PISSED OFF
High school teacher 'disturbed' by violent content of assignment
By Jeff Long and Carolyn Starks
Tribune staff reporters
April 26, 2007Told to express emotion for a creative-writing class, high school senior Allen Lee penned an essay so disturbing to his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday.
(MG) This fucking "so disturbed" teacher needs counseling and ought to be terminated.
Lee, 18, a straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.
(MG) Misdemeanor essay writing. Christ almighty. I thought I had heard it all.
Neither police nor the school would release a copy of the essay written Monday. School officials declined to say whether Lee had any previous disciplinary problems, but said he was an excellent student. Authorities said Lee had never been in trouble with the police.
(MG) That essay is gonna get a LOT of space on the internet is my bet.
The charge against Lee comes as schools in the Chicago area and across the country wrestle with how to react in the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech.
(MG) Cart the essay writers off to jail! That's how we'll do it. Proving for all time, the pen IS mighter than the AK-47.
Bomb threats at high schools in Schaumburg and Country Club Hills caused evacuations. And extra police were on duty at a Palos Hills high school this week because of a threatening note found in the bathroom of a restaurant a half-mile away.
(MG) Just let 'em write the fucking essays. Then “they” won't have time to make bomb threats.
Cary Police Chief Ron Delelio said the charge against Lee was appropriate even though the essay was not published or posted for public viewing.
(MG) And Police Chief's academic / psychiatric credentials for making such judgments include?
Disorderly conduct, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine, is often filed for such pranks as pulling a fire alarm or dialing 911 unnecessarily, he said. But it can also apply when someone's writings disturb an individual, Delelio said.
(MG) Show me the fucking Illinois Statutes in support of THIS bizarre assertion.
(MG) WAIT a minute. The writings of Charles Krauthammer are a continual source of disturbance to me. Same with Annthrax Big-Adams Apple Coulter. Does this mean ... I can ... I think I can, I think I can, I think I can ...
"The teacher was alarmed and disturbed by the content," he said.
(MG) I'll bet this teacher is alarmed and disturbed by a LOT of things. I'd also bet, the teacher is female, white, fundamentalist Christian (Assembly of God or Evangelical Free Church or Southern Baptist or non-denominational mega-church) and likely not tenured for very long, if tenured at all. This teacher sounds manifestly unfit the profession. (MG) 9:15 p.m. update - confirmed teacher is a first year teacher, teacher is female .. the tea leaves are really working their magic tonight!! -- trending towards the trifecta ... the street teaches you a LOT
(MG) Another thought (12:15 p.m.) I wonder what college or university she graduated from? It would be VERY interesting to know, because, depending upon the university, she is either a disgrace to it, or a hero. Go figure. Maybe I've been too harsh on her ... I'm sure there's a Christian Day school somewhere that she can fit very comfortably into without ever having to change her world view .. and if the little brats get uppity, she can beat them across the knuckles with the cross of God.
The teen's father said he understood concerns about violence but not why a creative-writing exercise resulted in charges against his son.
(MG) Got to go along with dad on this one. Show me the fucking statute.
"I understand what happened recently at Virginia Tech," said Albert Lee. But he added, "I don't see how somebody can get charged by writing in their homework. The teacher asked them to express themselves, and he followed instructions."
(MG) The emperor has no clothes.
Some legal experts said the charge is troubling because it was over an essay that even police admit contained no direct threats against anyone at the school. A civil rights advocate said the teacher's reaction to an essay shouldn't make it a crime.
(MG) I think the charge itself is criminal. I'd LOVE to be a civil rights attorney on this one. This school district has MONEY, deep pockets. Show us some of the love, Cary-Grove. Show us the fucking money.
"One of the elements is that some sort of disorder or disruption is created," said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "When something is done in private -- when a paper is handed in to a teacher -- there isn't a disruption."
(MG) Well, actually there WAS a disruption. The disruption occurred when the feather-brained lightweight masquerading as a teacher went bat shit crazy.
Yohnka also said that it was inevitable that schools would focus on potentially threatening writings in the aftermath of what happened at Virginia Tech, where a gunman killed 32 students and teachers, then fatally shot himself.
(MG) I don't see why this needs to be inevitable. The secret service profile of shooters at high schools and colleges states that you simply can not tell. This compares to reading tea leaves, or cat entrails to divine the future. The kind of thing the sock-puppet leader of the freep world claims to be able to do: “To look into his heart.”
(MG) There is a hideous attitude of certitude maintained by many law enforcement agents ... cops and attorneys in particular (I've been jailed more than 20 times in my life, mostly between 1984 and 1987, my teenage rebellious phase, which occurred when I was between 33 and 36 years old.) Cops and state's attorneys have a VERY black / white outlook world view. Good guys and bad guys, and anybody they come into contact with is automatically a bad guy. Way more black, brown and red bad guys than white bad guys in their world. I was one of the bad guy white guys. I was honored.
"After so much attention was paid last week to what was written by the shooter at Virginia Tech, I think there is no question people will be paying more attention to things like this," he said.
(MG) Far easier to pay attention to such trivia than to look into the mirror of the violence of American culture. “What do you think of Western Civilization?” Mohatmus Ghandi was once asked. “I think it sounds like a good idea. You should try it sometime,” the lawyer / saint replied.
The goals this month for Lee's Creative English class were for students to communicate ideas and emotions through writing. But students were warned that if they wrote something that posed a threat to self or others, the school could take action, said Community High School District 155 Supt. Jill Hawk.
(MG) The criteria to involuntarily commit a person to a mental hospital in the state of Illinois is four-fold. The subject must be of (1) immediate and present danger to himself and/or others, or (2) the subject must be incapable of supporting himself, and (3) an order must be signed by a court officer, and (4) the subject must be picked up within 72 hours of the signing of the order being signed, the presumption of “immediacy” becoming somewhat moot if all hell has not broken loose within 72 hours.
(MG) Of this, I know whereof I speak. My ex-wife had me involuntarily committed twice within the first five months of our mercifully brief marriage. It's actually not such an easy thing to get implemented, although it helps CONSIDERABLE when one's father is in charge of the Chicago Office of the international law firm of Baker MacKenzie, access to judges being somewhat fluid for those with such credentials.
Essay discussed
Lee's English teacher, whom officials declined to identify, read the essay and reported it to a supervisor and the principal. After a lively discussion, district officials decided to report it to the police, Hawk said.
(MG) Okay. Fire the freaking supervisor and the ass hole principal too. These are the examples being set for our children. Ve VILL teach you VAT to think. Ve have vays to make you come around.
(MG) My now sadly deceased younger brother John came home from 4th grade one afternoon and was so mad at his teacher, a good family friend (her husband taught at the high school, as did my father). John expressed to our mother his thoughts of bitterness and anger towards the teacher. Mom said, “Oh John, you shouldn't think like that.”
(MG) I made a note to make damn good and sure not to ever speak to mother about anything that really mattered to me. Because I KNEW she wouldn't approve of what I thought.
"Our staff is very familiar with adolescent behavior," she said. "We're very well-versed with types of creativity put into writing. We know the standards of adolescent behavior that are acceptable and that there is a range."
(MG) Adolescent behavior back in my day included: underaged drunking, cannibus consumption, heroin ingestion, the taking of psychedelics, tobacco smoking in high school washrooms, codeine chugging in the washroom, fighting, cursing, fucking, driving fast, staying out late, sneaking out at night, throwing Bachnalian parties while the 'rents were out of town, homosexual encounters of the first kind, shooting BB guns through house windows from a moving vehicle, hanging one's ass cheeks out the passenger side window of one's buddy's automobile at the stop light at the intersection of the two biggest streets in town, spitting, puking, masturbation, petty theivery, and even embezzlement (of $150,000 from the parents of one enterprising sadistic bi-sexual independent film maker classmate of my more than passing acquaintance), stealing automobiles, taking automobiles apart and re-assembling them in the gymnasium, cursing, mysogyny, sodomy, creating racist cartoons, breaking and entering, making porn films, giving / receiving blow jobs during an assembly in the HS auditorium, torturing cats, pissing in alleyways, pissing on the school, obtaining fake ID's with which to purchase alcohol, forcing athletes who wanted to join the letterman's club to jack off in front of their peers, dealing drugs, attending the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago and being tear gassed by the police and WRITING about it in the High School newspaper, etc, etc, etc. Aw fuck, it was the 60's. Talking 'bout my generation. At one of the most over-rated high schools in America, but one that today, sends 99% of its graduates on to college, university, or junior college.
(MG) That was my high school, in my little town, oh so lily white, oh so lily pure. Those were the days my friend/ we thought they'd never end/ we'd sing and dance forever and a day/ we'd live the life we'd choose/ we'd fight and never lose/ for we were young and sure to have our way.
(MG) Somehow the fuck or another, I must have missed the part about the connection between “adolescent behavior” and IN CLASS creative writing. Not paying attention.
But Hawk added, "There can certainly be writing that conveys concern for us even though it does not name names, location or date."
(MG) Of course, you ass clown. That's why the cheney administration is hell bent on attacking Iran, which would be so many degrees of dumb and stupid. We just can't imagine why a county would have a nuclear reactor unless they wanted to build a bomb, to drop, no doubt, on us .. given the malfunctioning state of our missile defense system. Jesus Christ. White people are simply bat shit crazy.
Simmie Baer, an attorney with the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law, said the school's action was an example of zero-tolerance policies gone awry.
(MG) THANK YOU SIMMIE BAER. No fucking shit.
Children, she said, are not as sophisticated as adults and often show emotion through writing or pictures, which is what teachers should want because it is a safe outlet.
"They should be able to show their feelings or thoughts without fearing they will be arrested because of them," she said.
(MG) 1984 – Big Brother Be Watching You
On Wednesday, some students at the school rallied behind Lee, organizing a petition drive to have him readmitted. They posted on walls quotes from the English teacher that encouraged students to express their emotions through writing.
(MG) The only silver lining from this story. Some of our children have learned HOW to think and what to think. Be very careful, white American, they could grow up to be JUST LIKE ME!
"I'm not going to lie. I signed the petition," said senior James Gitzinger. "But I can understand where the administration is coming from. I think I would react the same way if I was a teacher."
Albert Lee came to the United States from China 30 years ago and has lived in Cary for 16 years. His son, Albert Lee said, posted $75 bail Tuesday and later met with a psychiatrist. The teen was not suspended or expelled but was forced to attend classes elsewhere, his father said.
(MG) Okay. Unless Albert Lee or his father gave this information to the police, this young man's medical confidentiality rights have been violated LARGE, big time, and if so, someone needs to PAY big fucking time.
"The teacher graded [the essay] and was disturbed," Albert Lee said. "She reported it to a department head, who reported it to the principal. The first contact I had was by the police, when they arrested him Tuesday."
(MG) Okay. Disturbed teacher. Check. Department head – I wash my hands of this – let's take it to a higher authority. Principal – oh, yellow kid, violent writing, yellow kid, violent shooting, take this to a higher authority. CALL THE COPS BEFORE HE SHOOTS US ALL! And I might be held criminally negligent for not doing something. The joke principal is covering his ass.
Arrest outside school
Chief Delelio would only say that Lee was arrested outside of school, near his home on Ardmore Drive.
(MG) REAL fucking good one here. Now, just in case there are more than one Lee families in the Fox River Grove / Cary area, and somebody wants to cause some mischief, they'll know it is the Lee family on ARDMORE FUCKING DRIVE. What the fuck is up with the Chicago Tribune including this information in their article. Ass clowns. Totally clueless ass clowns. (But I DO agree with their decision to include the story on the front page.
Albert Lee said his son, a wrestler at Cary-Grove, was "very upset" about the incident, adding that the boy would have no comment.
(MG) LET me get this straight now, in my head: Straight A student / athlete (oh, wrestling season's over) CHINESE ... got it .. yellow skinned terrorist violent shooter wanna be.
The essay may have been a joke on his son's part, but he can't say for sure because he hasn't read it, Albert Lee said.
(MG) Albert Lee, you should have kept your fucking mouth shut here. Save it for the defense. Whether or not you read the essay, you could have always ASKED your son. He's Chinese too, right? He'll tell you what the fuck it was about, and he won't lie.
"That's the only logical explanation," said the father, who would not say whether his son had ever had disciplinary problems at school.
(MG) Well, if the father would not say, then I'm gonna say .. likely the kid has had some disiplinary situations at school. Because, if not, the father would say.
Seung Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech killer, was from South Korea. Albert Lee would not say whether he thinks the fact that his son is Chinese-American had any bearing on the incident.
(MG) Diplomatic.
"I can't tell you what they were thinking," he said.
(MG) No. It's RUDE to attribute motive. Fact of the matter is, they clearly WERE NOT THINKING.
During a short interview at his family's two-story home in a Cary subdivision near the high school, Lee said he felt administrators did the right thing.
(MG) Umm .. hmm .. now was this before or after he read the essay, and before or after he asked his son the motivation for writing the essay ... okay, I understand this response. The kid still has to graduate from HS and THIS could be one hell of a BLACK MARK on his transcripts. (Although, I can think of several universities that might give him a scholarship for causing such a stir ... I mean, damn, you GOT to be one hell of a writer to stir up all this toxic waste.
He added, however, that he does not think his son is a threat to anyone.
(MG) Neither do the authorities. If they did, they should have had him involuntarily committed for testing and observation. Trust me. I know THAT fucking drill.
"I definitely think that there is some misunderstanding," he said. "That's my only interpretation of this."
(MG) Over reactive racist response, if you ask me.
Lee said he was confident his son will graduate as scheduled this year with his class.
(MG) And that clearly is a priority to Lee Sr, and his son too.
"With Virginia Tech, everyone is more sensitive to these kinds of issues," Lee said. "I'm sure if he wrote something last year, nothing would alarm anybody. It's just the timing."
(MG) WHAT THE FUCK kind of issues are we discussing here? The issues include over-reaction. The issues include freedom of speech. The issues include law enforcement gone nuts. The issues include a teacher manifestly unfit to teach. The issues include a HS principal covering his ass in case the kid were to come back and do something.
(MG) The likelihood of poor young Mr. Lee doing violence before this episode was REAL low. But, if he reacts as I have to injustices, well ... instant karma's gonna come around. And for a bright, young, alienated young man, who desires payback, there are MANY creative opportunities. For example, if any of the high school teachers / administrators children are compromised (i.e. known to engage in illegal activities), or if any of the high school teachers have been dumb enough to party with under age 21 students and buy booze, bust 'em. Embarrass their holier-than-thou white asses to hell and back. Just sayin. Payback, retribution, comes in all sorts of flavors.
(MG) Just curious, how many Cary-Grove students (grade school, junior high, senior high) get counseling for bullying? Do bullies get this kind of attention? Because I'd bet that this young man has taken some abuse all of his life here, because of his ethnicity. And now I'd say, he is REALLY taking it on the chin, for his ethnicity.
(MG) post script: My soon to be 21-year old nephew graduated Cary-Grove HS. For years he and my son would visit me on Saturdays, staying up until all hours of the morning, playing video games, telling stories, talking about life, girls, bullies, jocks, relatives. As a sophomore, he was remanded to a shrink on the basis of remarks he made in class. This pissed him off GREATLY for a number of years. He attends Knox College in Galesburg, IL and will go to the University of Aberdeen his junior year. He has only ever wanted to be a writer. I've read a lot of his stuff. Some might call it disturbing, but knowing that Scott's strongest literary influences include Jack Keroak, Hunter Thompson, William S. Burroughs and H. P. Lovecraft, all of whom he has read (continuously and reread) since his junior high school days.
(MG) I watched a LOT of bad TV in the 70's. One line from a Kojak episode is permanently etched on my soul. A murder suspect was a sculptor, whose works dealt with death and violence. Stavros suspected the sculptor. Kojak rejected the idea. “He expresses his violence in his art. That's how he gets it out of his system.” Was the explanation.
(MG) Being human means we ALL have the capacity to commit incredible acts of destruction, mayhem, murder, etc. Almost all of us have outlets. There are sadly, two very distinct groups of beings that can and in fact DO commit incredible acts of mayhem, murder, and destruction. The desparate, weak and powerless loners who have been bullied, oppressed and not loved well who become serial killers, such as Seung Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech killer. The deluded, born to the lap of incredible luxury, growing up with a sense of entitlement, but also, a sense of inferiority, but nonetheless pathways to power and influence with few obstacles. To this latter category, of course, one easily can name a few names. I'll let the interested reader fill in a few blanks. The kind of people who were BORN on third base, and believe they hit a triple.
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