After saying such good things about our students at UMM, it pains me to have to admit that our local community has a few, errm, problems. The university tries hard to reach out to the region and contribute to the local culture; as an example, every spring the Theatre Arts discipline puts on a children's play, and the elementary schools send students to see it. Last year, they had an excellent production of The Hobbit (even some of us semi-adults go to see these things, I will admit, and it was fun). In the current theatre season, they are offering a play called Cootie Shots, billed as "Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry for Kids, Parents and Teachers".

I was surprised to learn how far backwards our theatre department had bent to accommodate the Morris biases, though—the play is about tolerating differences, and after negotiations with the local principal, they had edited out any references to tolerance for homosexuality (I can imagine how much the director agonized over that decision…but he must have decided that it was more important to get the general message out, even if the specifics were diluted.)

Well, we just learned that the schools are planning to boycott the production anyway, after some members of the community protested. I know many of the townies are supportive and think the play was a great idea, but there are a few hateful, reactionary slugs lurking here. They like to hide behind the cover of the churches and so-called "values" and "decency". As individuals, they tend to be petty, spiteful, and inconsequential, but they speak as if they wield all the clout of GOD and AMERICA, and too many people, despite being decent and well-meaning themselves, are willing to surrender authority to anyone claiming the authority of those two powerful totems.

This is the message those people found offensive and in violation of community values.

COOTIE SHOTS carries the message that every man, woman and child deserves to be treated with dignity and respect - or, as one of its verses states, "You can't get cooties by being nice to someone different." The show's scenes, songs and poems create opportunities for children to observe and discuss sensitive issues in a creative, constructive context. COOTIE SHOTS is all about early hatecrime prevention and anti-bullying.

Hmmm. I guess I can understand how the town bigots would find inoculating kids against bullying and hate would be offensive—it would undercut their favorite tools.