Oh, that wacky Lou Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coalition in Anaheim.
Quote from Prostitute-teacher takes plea bargain, and it's just chock full of fun little bits like that.
Unfortunately, not all of them are quotes.
Or perhaps I'm reading too much into calling the subject of the piece "a $250-an-hour hooker" who "turned tricks in a rented condo with older men" until her "'sting' arrest." Why, those probably aren't sneer quotes around sting in the original, either.
There are some words of wisdom, though, from a (to me) unexpected source:
But the head of the California PTA for Alameda County, which includes Berkeley, wasn't so sure. "As long as she's not bringing it into the classroom, maybe it's not a problem," said Carol-Ann Kock-Weser, who emphasized that her opinion did not represent PTA policy.
More's the pity.
There's also stuff for the conspiracy theorists out there:
[Prostitute-teacher Shannon] Williams said the August bust at her condo was her first prostitution arrest, but that she has been arrested for civil disobedience several times, beginning with protests during the first Iraq war in 1990. She was later arrested during gay rights demonstrations in San Francisco and more recently protesting treatment of terrorism suspects at the U.S. military base in Cuba, she said.
Amazing they didn't try to use the PATRIOT act against her somehow.
Any road up, if you avoided hitting that first link to the Traditional Values Coalition site, can't say I blame you. But at least have a look at this propaganda poster.
I cannot do battle with such unworthy adversaries.
There is no honor in such a victory.
Update: See, that's the problem with early-morning blogging. I forgot that I'm meant to give my opinion on all this in the most leaden, mind-numbing prose possible. Oliver is my role model, and I hope that one day, I'll be a real blogger just like him.
So, *ahem*, the Official Uppity-Negro.com Statement on Sex Work by Teachers: As with many things, I'm too close the the problem, via-a-vis, an ex who felt compelled to give up teaching, something she loved, because of sex work. Ergo, I state up front that my take may be skewed by emotion rather than pure logic. I ain't Surak of Vulcan, ya know.
(And now I managed to fit "concordantly," "vis-a-vis" and "ergo" into entries! I am The Architect! DANCE, PUPPETS, DANCE! BWAH-HA-HA-HA!)
[Fuck, was that the out-loud typing?]
Right, um, what a teacher does out the classroom is, frankly, none of your god damn bidness. And clearly, being a "$250-an-hour hooker" is a hell of a lot more lucrative; what do teachers make? I mean adjusting the per-hour classroom pay for all the work involved outside the classroom, preparing lessons, grading shit, and all that good stuff. Swear to Nubian Goddess, the next ignint mother fucker compares their 9 to 5 to teaching gets pure, 100% nigga all up in they face. . .
Ugh. That's not how Oliver would do it. That's not how Oliver would do it at all.
I've failed.
My apologies.
Changed "apropos" to "ergo," as an Architect should.
... charming.
VA, yeah, I can think of a few things schoolchildren need less. Being molested by a teacher, for example. Or killed by a classmate in a school shooting, although that fad seems to be dying out. Hell, I'd even put being "fixed" from being left-handed to being a good tighty righty, as happened to me back in the Bad Old Days, and I'm sure still goes on with some well-meaning, but ignint, teachers in the boonies.
And you know, she must wear the same clothes in the classroom and when she's moonlighting. Children don't need to see that.
Unless they got a tv in their bedroom, with cable, and no parental lockout in place.
[apropos of the last bit of the post in particular]
You promise?
YEH. He is the Lorax: He Speaks for the Teachers!
Concordantly, why do you keep referring to that ugly extra Brady Cousin Oliver??
["Concordantly" added to offending comment - The Mgt.]
I like this woman.
"Williams has defended her moonlighting career as a prostitute, comparing herself to Martin Luther King Jr. in her fight to decriminalize the vocation.
'As a feminist, I believe in every woman's right to self-determination, and that includes sexually and economically,' she told the San Jose Mercury News in August. "
Concordantly, she taught Biology. How appropriate. Also intersting is, along with her Biology degree, she has a degree in "Religious Studies" from Washington University in St. Louis.
Jason likes to yell "Yay for prostitution" ergo this woman must be set free.