"Quietly in a manger, the baby lay....."

[dolo amber]

Now, granted babies lay in mangers; it doesn't NECESSARILY mean the same manger where our lord and saviour first learnt to dance his merry jig of love....But still. :eyes:

I had to write a note to my daughter's chorus teacher today...her PUBLIC SCHOOL chorus teacher...specifying she's not to partake in any music w/religious overtones, regardless. I had to write this note, because yesterday in class when she made an objection, he told her "There is nothing in this song that says anything directly about Jesus..." :grr:


:nuke:

[radwriter0555]

1. the HYDROENCEPHYLETIC BABY JESUS!

Can you imagine?

[eyesroll]

2. Oy.

That sucks, D. Good for your daughter for standing up!

My very first act of civil disobedience was refusing to stand up and sing, "kneel we before him, for he is our savior"-type songs in music class in fourth grade (yes, public school). I grew up Jewish, but just about everyone else was Catholic or mainline Protestant (very few fundies -- except the music teacher).

I really didn't have an objection to singing stuff like "Silent Night" or "Little Drummer Boy" (but I fully understand why you do) -- but these were songs that the music teacher WROTE HERSELF.

When I protested, she told me that all I needed to do was stand up and sing (we were going to be performing at a "Holiday Pageant," even though there were no non-Christmas songs, not even "Frosty the Snowman," let alone "I Have A Little Dreidel"), not convert. And then she kicked me out (the only time I ever got sent to the principal's office in elementary school).

Well, the principal and I had a nice chat. It ended with me crying and him phoning my parents, not to tell them I was being insubordinate but to tell them that the music teacher had overstepped her bounds as a public-school instructor and that I was distraught (yay principal!). Later on, my parents and the teacher and the principal had a meeting. Words like "ACLU" and "lawsuit" got thrown around, or so I understand.

Boom! I was made a narrator, so I wouldn't have to sing, and they threw in a Hanukkah song to shut me up. Other students called me "Miss Hanukkah" and later "Miss Chaka-Kahn" (?) because of it, but that was OK. I won. Years later, I realized that this was a pretty half-assed solution, but I took what I could get...and, hey...that single act broke me out of my inability to stand up for myself, so I'm grateful for it.

Good luck. (Your kids are back in school already? Wow.)

[Magrittes Pipe]

3. I wish I got to sing Rufus songs in Christmas pageants.

:(

It must have been cool to be Chaka Khan.

[eyesroll]

8. Yeah, but the hair didn't work on a little short white girl

[dolo amber]

10. Oh c'mon...

I have aunts with hair like that...Chaka's got some MOT in her. ;)

[eyesroll]

12. Well, let's see...

Kahn...that could be a corruption of Cohen, right?

If it's humid enough, I have hair like that. It still doesn't work...

(Sorry I seem to have jacked your thread...I think this is my first! Woo hoo!)

[dolo amber]

21. Really...

I'm sure in the karmaic scheme of things, I'm due several thousand threadjackings...

You go on witcho' bad self. ;)

[Magrittes Pipe]

22. There is a first time for everything.

:evilgrin:

[eyesroll]

31. Hmmm....

Yeah, you know, I'm also a copycat thread virgin, and I've never pledged my love to a yak, Oscar or Teddy.

[dolo amber]

4. Lemme rock ya Chaka Kahn

:D

That's awesome. And definitely YAY! principle...you should send him some baked goods. ;) :thumbsup:

We're by tradition/birth whatever Jewish, but we're mostly just non-thiests. Perhaps anti-theists. I'm just sooo dreadfully sick to death of having so many aspects of my life regulated by OTHER PEOPLE'S beliefs. Worship a cheesecake for all I care, just keep it out of my face.

(Speaking of, check out the article on the home page...)

[eyesroll]

6. Actually...

We did send him some cookies! (Small school, and my grandfather owned a bakery -- teacher and principal got cookies every year.)

My sister calls us "food Jews." It fits. (I do make a mean chicken soup...) She was three grades behind me, so she got to sing all the "Frosty" songs -- I guess the fundie teacher decided that the little kids could have fun, and the bigger kids need some of that old-tyme religion or something, :eyes:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

5. I feel for you

I think I love you

[eyesroll]

7. Why, Chavez!

This is so sudden!
(Don't worry...I won't tell Jose...)

:loveya:

:P

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

9. No no - I feel for you. I think I love you

Chaka, chaka, chaka, chaka khan
Chaka khan, chaka khan, chaka khan
Chaka khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you, chaka khan
Let me rock you, that’s all I wanna do
Chaka khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you, chaka khan
Let me rock you, let me feel for you
Chaka khan let me tell you what I wanna do
Do you feel for me, the way I feel for you
Chaka khan let me tell you what I wanna do
I wanna love you, wanna hug you, wanna squeeze you too
Let me take you in my arms
Let me fill you with my charms, chaka
’cause you know that I’m the one to keep you warm
Chaka, I’ll make you more than just a physical dream
I wanna rock you, chaka
Baby, cause you make me wanna scream
Let me rock you, rock you

Baby, baby, when I look at you
I get a warm feeling inside
There’s something about the things you do
That keeps me satisfied

I wouldn’t lie to you, baby
It’s mainly a physical thing
This feeling that I got for you, baby
Makes me wanna sing

Chorus:
I feel for you
I think I love you
I feel for you
I think I love you

Melle mel:
Chaka khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you, chaka khan
Let me rock you, that’s all I wanna do
Chaka khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you, chaka khan
Let me rock you, let me feel for you
Feel for you

Baby, baby, when I lay with you
There’s no place I’d rather be
I can’t believe, can’t believe it’s true
The things that you do to me

I wouldn’t lie to you, baby
I’m physically attracted to you
This feeling that I got for you, baby
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do

Chorus

Yes sir, one more time
Say yeah
I feel for you (I think I love you)
I feel for you (i, i, I think I love you)

Melle mel:
Chaka khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you, chaka khan
Let me rock you, that’s all I wanna do
Chaka khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you, chaka khan
Let me rock you, let me feel for you
Chaka khan won’t you tell me what you wanna do
Do you feel for me, the way I feel for you
Chaka khan let me tell you what I wanna do
I wanna love you, wanna hug you, wanna squeeze you too
Let me take you in my arms
Let me fill you with my charms, chaka
’cause you know that I’m the one to keep you warm
Chaka, I’ll make you more than just a physical dream
I wanna rock you, chaka
Baby, cause you make me wanna scream
Feel for you

I feel for you (oooh, feel for you)
I feel it too (oooh, feel for you)
I feel for you (oooh, feel for you)

But the gallery does show how cute you are :loveya:

[eyesroll]

11. You don't know how many times in elementary school

I'd hear the boys in the class do the rap part as I walked by...(although I'm sure you could imagine that).



(yeah I knew that was what you were talking about....but, hey...:loveya:)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

34. Mellie Mel

I just wanted an excuse to read the lyrics!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

13. Yeah, judging from the photo, eyesroll has the 'foxy nerd' look down pat.

[eyesroll]

15. Awww....

:loveya:

I hijacked Diane's earnest thread and all of the kool kidz like me! Watch out or I'll become insufferable!

:puffpiece:

[dolo amber]

18. And then you'll

be like ME! :P

[eyesroll]

20. You think *a certain someone* could handle that?

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[dolo amber]

24. Honey...

We would destroy him.

:D

[eyesroll]

32. no subject line, just

:evilgrin:

[redqueen]

23. Damn, that's awesome for a 9 year old...

I admire your courage! I hope I can raise my kids to be so principled. :)

[eyesroll]

25. I was scared shitless.

I was the type of kid who turned down membership in the snow fort because I refused to say the password -- "fuck" -- lest I get caught.

But I also had attended a bunch of religious school, and although I was never Firm Committed Jew, I knew something seemed...wrong.

Of course, since then, it's hard to get me to shut up. ;-)

[redqueen]

28. There ought to be more women like you!

We should never, ever... EVER shut up. :)

It's of paramount importance to speak the truth, especially when our voices tremble.

[eyesroll]

30. Absolutely...and, boy, was I trembling.

In high school, I managed to stage a protest at a pep rally, tell my principal (not the nice one from the elementary school, but a standard big-school bureaucrat) to go take a flying leap, and not get into any trouble. That was fun. I wouldn't have been able to pull it off, had my reluctance to speak up not been broken.

Edit -- Not that I'm advocating teaching your kids how to tell off the principal. But it was still fun.

[shrike]

14. A note of dissent here

Some of the greatest choral music ever written is pointedly Christian. (Most of the dreck was written more recently.) Your daughter will miss out on some great stuff if she is instructed to avoid all music with religious overtones. (And there's probably music of other faiths out there that I'm not aware of.)

I was raised Catholic, but I enjoyed Grimm's Fairy Tales, Arabian Nights, the Greek myths, etc. I knew it was all fiction, of course, but that didn't lessen my enjoyment of it. I also know some atheists who loved the work of C.S. Lewis, who was a Christian writer.

Since you are a non-believer, you can guide your daughter to focus the sheer force and beauty of the music, rather than any messages therein. (I realize the "baby in a manger" song is not high art, but I think you get my drift.)

[Beware the Beast Man]

16. I have to agree.

When I was in grade school, this wasn't much of an issue. On the other hand, we also did Hanukkah songs as well.

[dolo amber]

17. I totally understand and agree

She's in the 9th grade...at that level, they're not really up to doing any of the great choral works. It's more as you say the *dreck* at this point. She and I have discussed this very point and both agree that should she stay with it through the upper grades and on into college that will be a different matter.

For her, as it's her first *stand* as it were, it's far more about the principle of the thing.

Good of you to bring this up, however. :hi:

[Screaming Lord Byron]

33. I love CS Lewis.

(and now the Police are starting to ask questions)
No, seriously. I love CS Lewis.

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. This happens really often in public schools. I am wondering if

our old chorus teacher is your new chorus teacher.

Good luck.

Laura

[redqueen]

26. My daughter's kindergarten teacher was like that

What is with public school these days?

Glad you sent the note... it's infuriating that so many teachers seem to think they can just blithely overrule their students' better judgment based on age alone.

:grr:

[ScreamingMeemie]

27. I was lucky. We had an awesome kindergarten teacher for us son

last year. Very vocal Democrat with the other teachers and employees of the school. Our district is a great district, that is getting hit hard by "No Child Left Behind"

:hi:

[redqueen]

29. I'm soooo jealous

Our school is the worst in the district - I kid you not. I applied for a transfer to a magnet school, but not surprisingly, there's a waiting list. So we're keeping our fingers crossed for next year.

[TrogL]

35. There's nothing wrong with singing religious songs as a lesson

as long as they're teaching the genre, not the content.

I loathe fundie religion (see website) but Gospel is fun to sing.

Most of the great choral works are religious in nature - various Requiums, the Messiah, Bach's Passions, Masses and Cantatas. You are doing her a disservice by not allowing her to take part.

[DS1]

36. Yeah! BABY MANGLER PARTY!!!

awwww shit, nevermind